In 1952, the comedy team of Abbott and Costello entered into a joint agreement with producer Alex Gottlieb and Warner Brothers, whereby two color musical comedies would be produced: Bud Abbott would serve as producer--owner of one of the films, while Lou Costello would do same for the other. Costello's contribution to this agreement was Jack and the Beanstalk, a kiddie-matinee adaptation of the famed fairy tale. Constructed along the lines of The Wizard of Oz, the film begins in black and white. Jack (Costello) is a professional baby-sitter, while Dink (Abbott) is Jack's "agent." After a run-in with a gargantuan cop (Buddy Baer) and a statuesque waitress (Dorothy Ford), Jack and Dink show up at the home of Eloise Larkin (Shaye Cogan), there to look after Eloise's troublesome nephew Donald (David Stollery) while the girl and her boyfriend Arthur Royal (James Alexander) rehearse at their community theatre. While reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk to the bratty Donald, Jack falls asleep, and begins dreaming himself, and his cohorts, into the story as the impoverished boy sent out to sell the family cow. While en route to town with his cow, he encounters a shady butcher (Abbott) who bilks him out of his broken-down bovine for the price of a few 'magic' beans. In keeping with the traditional tale, Jack plants the beans and from them a magnificent vine grows and reaches into the clouds. Along with the butcher, Jack climbs into a fantastic world inhabited by a terrifying giant (Baer) and other magical creatures, including a gold egg-laying hen, a singing harp, and a distressed prince and princess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although Abbott & Costello are much loved by children, Jack and the Beanstalk is one of the few films they made that was specifically geared toward that audience. (It is also one of only two color films the comedy team made.) Those adults who are diehard fans of the duo will certainly enjoy Jack, but they may be a little disappointed, as the film keeps the two separated for great lengths of time and doesn't allow for as many opportunities for the discombobulated dialogue routines (a la "Who's On First") that are their strengths. While slapstick is always a part of a "Bud and Lou" flick, there's much more of it in Jack than is usual. There's also a great deal more music than one might expect, and it must be admitted that most of the tunes are rather more perfunctory than inspired. However, the fairytale framework does give Jack a more cohesive feeling than many of the team's outings, and there are a great many memorable moments, including an amusing exploding egg sequence and a very funny dance sequence between little Costello and the Amazonian Dorothy Ford. Although Abbott & Costello, as previously noted, are not allowed to engage in their usual repartee, they are otherwise much the same as usual, which will delight some and annoy others -- although the children at whom the film is aimed will undoubtedly fall into the former category. Shaye Cogan and James Alexander sing well but are otherwise quite dull, and the supporting cast in general is adequate rather but little more. But one doesn't watch an Abbott and Costello film for the supporting cast. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Mr. Dinkle and Jack look for work at the Cosman Employment Agency. Jack makes advances to Cosman employee Polly, but he is thwarted by the arrival of her boyfriend, a towering police officer. Polly assigns Dinkle and Jack to babysit for Eloise Larkin's brother and infant sister, while Eloise and her fiancé are out for the evening. The babysitting duties are complicated by the fact that Donald is something of a prodigy, as well as a self-proclaimed "problem child". The dullwitted Jack is soon outclassed by the child, and an attempt to lull the boy to sleep by reading the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk (Jack's "favorite novel") aloud fails when Jack stumbles over the larger words. Bemused by Jack's incompetence, Donald reads the story instead -- a role-reversal made complete when Jack falls asleep as Donald reads. In his slumber, Jack dreams that he is the young Jack of the fairy tale.
In his dream Jack learns that the Giant, who lives in a castle in the sky, has stolen all of the land's wealth and food. The situation obliges the kingdom's Princess to marry The Prince of a neighboring kingdom, whom she has never met.
Jack must also make sacrifices, when his mother sends him to sell the last family possession, their beloved cow "Henry", to the local butcher, Mr. Dinklepuss. Along the way Jack meets The Prince (who is kidnapped by the Giant soon afterward). The unscrupulous Dinklepuss pays Jack five 'magic' beans for the cow. Upon returning home, Jack learns that the Giant has also kidnapped The Princess and Henry.
Undeterred by his mother's disappointment over bringing home only beans, Jack plants them and a gigantic beanstalk grows overnight. He decides to climb the beanstalk to rescue everyone from the Giant's clutches, as well as retrieve "Nellie", the golden-egg laying hen that the Giant previously stole from Jack's family. Upon learning of Nellie's existence, Dinklepuss decides to join Jack on the adventure.
When they reach the top of the beanstalk, Jack and Dinklepuss are captured by the Giant and imprisoned with the prince and princess. After the Giant assigns the hapless pair to toil around the castle, they befriend his housekeeper, Polly, who helps them escape over the castle wall along with the royal prisoners, Nellie, and some of the Giant's stolen gems. (Nellie and the gems are then pilfered by the greedy Dinklepuss). They flee down the beanstalk with the Giant in pursuit, as Polly escapes the castle behind him, astride Henry. During the descent, Dinklepuss loses Nellie (who falls into the arms of Jack's mother) and then the gems, which rain down upon the impoverished townsfolk below. Once all are on the ground, Jack chops down the beanstalk, sending the Giant falling to his death.
Just before being rewarded by the King for heroism, Jack is rudely awakened from his dream by Donald, who breaks a vase over Jack's head as Eloise and Arthur return home. Jack's angry outburst over Donald's behavior results in a second blow to the head from Dinkle, which returns Jack to his dream state. After greeting the others as their storybook counterparts, Jack walks off into the night with the bravado of "Jack the Giant-Killer".
Jack and the Beanstalk was filmed from 9 July through 2 August 1951. Like The Wizard of Oz, the film's opening and closing segments were processed in sepia tone, although many of the DVD releases feature these sequences in black and white, while the entire "Jack and the Beanstalk" story was shot in Eastman Color and processed in the SuperCineColor process. Many television stations that aired the film normally transmitted black and white shows and movies with color equipment turned off, so they ran the sepia tone openings and closings in black and white while running the color portion in color. In addition, animation is used when showing the beanstalk growing in Jack's backyard.
Since Universal would not spend the money to make an Abbott and Costello film in color, the duo decided to do it themselves. Using the agreement with Universal that they could make one independent film per year, they made this film using Costello's company, Exclusive Productions and the second color film, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd using Abbott's company, Woodley Productions.[1]
On May 9, 1951 Abbott and Costello had signed a contract to star in their own television series, The Abbott and Costello Show.
As this film is in the public domain, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from several companies over the years. The image below is the cover of the Diamond Entertainment Corporation's release.
