Leofwine_draca A delightful kiddie fantasy in the mould of the SINBAD films - and just as good as, if not better than, any of them! This production has a quaint feel to it of a make-believe world which never existed, a world full of weird monsters and heroic peasants. Non-stop action and plot twists help to keep things running along smoothly, but the icing on the cake is the sheer quantity of weird and wonderful creatures appearing at every opportunity! The evil villain of the piece, Torin Thatcher (complete with moustache, beard and high collar) has himself surrounded by all manner of zombies, witches and demons. The makeup used is effective-looking and quite possibly scary for younger viewers. Animation is used to make the witches glow and shoot various flames and rays at people, delightful in a tacky sense. The real fun comes from the stop motion effects, which are spectacular. Although lacking the finesse of Ray Harryhausen's creations (probably due to lack of time and money), these are still something to behold and quite passable for a children's film. We get giant horned monsters, a funny-looking serpent, and even a flying demon for the finale.Kerwin Matthews stars as the heroic lead and even has a glint of charisma about his wooden persona. But it's Judi Meredith who dominates things as the squeaky clean princess who eventually gets transformed into a witch herself - in a novel twist, a mirror reveals her secret, true self - that of a pale woman in a red dress, with yellow serpent eyes! There is something about Meredith's appearance as a witch which makes her strangely beautiful - compare her to Barbara Steele in CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR and Amanda Donohoe in LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM and you'll see what I mean, these serpent-like ladies are irresistible! Support comes from a Viking (!) and a young orphan boy, who are turned into a dog and a chimpanzee respectively! You'll never see anything quite like this. Also lurking about is an annoying leprechaun (aren't they always...) offering advice while being trapped in a bottle.It's the visual, fantastic images which remain in the memory after watching. Highlights such as a corridor full of sword-wielding arms and a helpful skeleton pointing the way are truly excellent, a shame there aren't more films around like this. Who can forget the scene where Jack whips an army of armoured knights with a skeleton's arm, turning them into clouds of smoke? JACK THE GIANT KILLER is a superb children's film, one of the best I've ever seen, and eminently rewatchable. It's even on par with JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, which is saying something! For kids of all ages, see and enjoy.

grizzledgeezer "Jack the Giant Killer" has long had a bad reputation. It was only last night that I learned just how much it deserves it. My one-star rating is not so much for the film (which is mostly sub-mediocre, with a few clever things), but a condemnation of its being a terribly obvious copy of "7th Voyage of Sinbad" -- so much so that Columbia threatened to sue "Jack"'s producer, Edward Small."7VS" was one of the few Harryhausen/Schneer films that made money on its initial release. Small must have figured that lightning could strike twice at exactly the same spot, so he "borrowed" (ie, stole) many of "Sinbad"'s elements * -- and not very well.I won't go into the details (fans of fantasy films will want to discover them on their own). But the giants are so-obviously copies of the Cyclopes in "Sinbad", it's embarrassing. Jim Danforth was supposedly told to have them move like Harryhausen's critters, and they do. Exactly. (This would probably have been a major legal point had Columbia sued.) Danforth was never as good an animator as Harryhausen. His work is often stiff/jerky and missing the wit that animates Harryhausen's characters. The gulf between mechanical skill and true talent is obvious.It doesn't help that the stop-motion figures are Just Plain Ugly. I don't mean ugly as in "nasty and frightening", but ugly as in cheap- and shoddy-looking. Parts of them look as if they were made from junk found in a trash can. The human costumes are similarly ugly, gaudy, and excessive, rather than fanciful.The one thing Small shouldn't have borrowed was Kerwin Matthews. Matthews has long been in the running for "Dullest Movie Actor of All Time".The script is mostly dull exposition and verges on the inane. About a third of the way through the film becomes actively boring (despite the on-screen action), provoking a "When will this be over?" reaction.In fairness, Pendragon's "vanishing cloak" is a superb optical effect, absolutely seamless (at least on a TV screen).Had Small tried to create something original, it might have been a classic. It is, instead, a classic example what happens when you mindlessly steal from your betters.* He even swipes from the Cocteau "Beauty and the Beast".

skybrick736 Jack the Giant Killer is an adventure fantasy that I feel stands the test of time better than a lot of animation monster movies out there. The assortment of witches, giants and magical beings is a great mix that had terrific special effects for the early 60's. The music assigned to the witches is enchanting as well as creepy. The main characters of Jack and Elissa are a good duo but the cheesy love lines shows its date. The supporting characters are exceptional and it hooks the viewer from the start. Most of the junk on TV is not worth anyone's time, so check out Jack the Giant Killer! It can be watched with the entire family!

dbdumonteil Although a Cornwall legend,the screenplay makes me think of Perrault's "Sleeping Beauty" revisited by Disney a couple of years before .Like Maleficent,the evil sorcerer is not invited in the king's castle . Like Princess Aurora ,the king's daughter must hide ,disguised as a peasant. In the sorcerer's den ,the gnome in the bottle plays the part of the three good fairies . A raven carries the villains' news . The sorcerer's den ,with his devils, resembles that of Maleficent. And ,last but no least ,when he goes for broke,the evil character turns into a flying monster,just as Maleficent changed into a dragon.This is good entertainment for the whole family ,although some pictures might have seemed a bit scary for yesterday's kiddies (the same can be said of Disney's "Sleeping beauty")much of which (the reflections in the mirror)has been blunted by the passage of time.The special effects are still good (except for the cardboard giants and monsters )and Kerwin Matthews had plenty of go .Even adults can dig it.