Year: 1902
Director: Edwin Porter
Country: US
Language: N/A
You may have heard this story before; the son of a hardworking single mom, Jack is charged with selling a valuable cow in the village market, hopefully for a hefty price. Instead, he sells it for magic beans. When the beans turn out to produce a giant beanstalk, Jack climbs it to find a magical kingdom of giants. Its a tale as old as Cinema itself (likely older)
Jack finds himself in trouble when he climbs a beanstalk into the (sky?) land of giants.
The director of this film adaptation is Edwin Porter, who had become an international sensation with his greatest hit The Great Train Robbery. He expected the 1900's audience to be very familiar with the story, but would still be intrigued to see Jack and the Beanstalk onscreen. It is a very primitive looking film though, with a fixed camera and uneven pacing.
Jack and the Beanstalk opens on a very stage-like set, featuring an obviously painted backdrop of a medieval village and countryside. We don't get the fortune to see real animals in this picture, rather the titular cow is two men in a costume. His scenes unfortunately tend to meander on, and we find that the bulk of the 10 minute run-time has scenes that could have been left on the cutting room floor.
This film has a few interesting scenes, like the giant chasing Jack down the beanstalk, but ultimately it is disappointing and forgettable. I expected a little more from the legendary film pioneer Edwin Porter, but I suppose not all his films could be hits.
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