Jack and The Beanstalk - Film Adaptations

Film Adaptations

The first film adaptation was made in 1902 by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company.

Walt Disney made a short of the same name in 1922, and a separate adaptation entitled Mickey and the Beanstalk in 1947 as part of Fun and Fancy Free. This adaptation of the story put Mickey Mouse in the role of Jack, accompanied by Donald Duck, and Goofy. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy live in "Happy Valley" which is plagued by a severe drought, and they have nothing to eat except one loaf of bread. Mickey trades in the cow (which Donald was going to kill for food) for the magic beans. Donald throws the beans out the window in a fit of rage, and the beanstalk sprouts that night, lifting the three of them into the sky while they sleep. In the magical kingdom, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy help themselves to a sumptuous feast. This rouses the ire of the giant (named "Willie" in this version), who captures Donald and Goofy and locks them in a box with a singing golden harp, and it's up to Mickey to find the keys to unlock the box and rescue them. The story villainizes the giant by blaming Happy Valley's hard times on Willy's theft of the magic harp, whose song kept the land prosperous; unlike the harp of the original tale, this magic harp wants to be rescued from the giant, and the hapless heroes return her to her rightful place and Happy Valley to its former glory. This version of the fairy tale was narrated by Edgar Bergen, and later Sterling Holloway.

Warner Bros. adapted the story into three Merrie Melodies cartoons. Friz Freleng directed Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk (1943), Chuck Jones directed Beanstalk Bunny (1955), and Freleng directed Tweety and the Beanstalk (1957). The 1952 Abbott and Costello adaption wasn't the only time a comedy team was involved with the story. The Three Stooges had their own five-minute animated retelling entitled Three Jacks and a Beanstalk (1965). In 1966 Hanna-Barbera produced a live action version of Jack and the Beanstalk, with Gene Kelly that won an Emmy Award.

Gisaburo Sugii directed a feature-length anime telling of the story released in 1974, titled Jack to Mame no Ki. The film, a musical, was produced by Group TAC and released by Nippon Herald. The writers introduced a few new characters, including Jack's comic-relief dog, Crosby, and Margaret, a beautiful princess engaged to be married to the giant (named "Tulip" in this version) due to a spell being cast over her by the giant's mother (an evil witch). Jack, however, develops a crush on Margaret, and one of his aims in returning to the magic kingdom is to rescue her. It is interesting to note, that in this version, the characters have all five fingers, instead of only four, as animated cartoons typically do. The film was dubbed into English, with legendary voice talent Billie Lou Watt voicing Jack, and received a very limited run in U.S. theaters in 1976. It was later released on VHS (now out of print) and aired several times on HBO in the 1980s. However, it is now available on DVD with both English and Japanese dialogue.

Michael Davis directed the 1994 adaptation entitled Beanstalk, starring J. D. Daniels as Jack and Stuart Pankin as the Giant. The film was released by Moonbeam Entertainment, the children's video division of Full Moon Entertainment.

A TV miniseries adaption of the story was Jim Henson's Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story (directed by Brian Henson) which reveals that Jack's theft from the giant was completely unmotivated, with the giant being a friendly, welcoming individual, and the giant's subsequent death was caused by Jack's mother cutting the beanstalk down rather than Jack himself. The film focuses on Jack's modern-day descendant, Jack Robinson, who learns the truth after the discovery of the giant's bones and the last of the five magic beans, Jack subsequently returning the goose and harp to the giants' kingdom.

The newest film adaptation is Avalon Family Entertainment's Jack and the Beanstalk (released on home video April 20, 2010). The live-action adaptation boasts an all-star cast, led by Christopher Lloyd, Chevy Chase, James Earl Jones, Gilbert Gottfried, Katey Sagal, Wallace Shawn and Chloë Grace Moretz. Jack is played by Colin Ford. In a scene of this movie, the headmaster (Christopher Lloyd) made a drawing of a flux capacitor on the blackboard behind him. This is a reference to Back to The Future. In that movie, the flux capacitor was an invention by Emmett Brown, the role Lloyd portrayed.

The Warner Bros. film directed by Bryan Singer and starring Nicholas Hoult as Jack is entitled Jack the Giant Slayer and was released in March 2013. In this tale Jack climbs the beanstalk to save a princess.

A Warner Bros. Animation's Direct-to-DVD film Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure is going to based by the fairy tale.