Jack and the Beanstalk (1952)

Abbott & Costello's version of the famous fairy tale, about a young boy who trades the family cow for magic beans.

Director:

Jean Yarbrough

Writers:

Nathaniel Curtis (screenplay) (as Nat Curtis), Pat Costello (story)

Stars:

Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dorothy Ford

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bud Abbott	...	Mr. Dinkel / Mr. Dinkelpuss (as Abbott)
Lou Costello	...	Jack / Jack Strong (as Costello)
Dorothy Ford	...	Receptionist / Polly
Buddy Baer	...	Sgt. Riley / The Giant
Barbara Brown	...	Mrs. Strong
David Stollery	...	Donald Larkin
William Farnum	...	The King
Arthur Shields	...	Patrick the Harp (voice)
Shaye Cogan	...	Eloise Larkin / Princess Eloise / Darlene
James Alexander	...	Arthur / Prince Arthur
Johnny Conrad	...	Dancer

Storyline

Abbott & Costello's version of the famous fairy tale, about a young boy who trades the family cow for magic beans.

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Plot Keywords:

song | singer | singing | dancer | dancing | 

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Taglines:

The last word in laughs!

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 April 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jack y la habichuela gigante

Filming Locations:

Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$683,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Exclusive Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min 78 min (TCM print) 82 min (restored)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone) Color (Supercinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The car Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are driving in the early black-and-white section of the movie is a 1951 Henry J, which was manufactured by the Kaiser-Frazer Motor Co. and named for founder Henry J. Kaiser. In addition to being bought from an authorized dealer, the car could also be ordered through the Sears-Roebuck mail-order catalog, although its name was changed from "Henry J" to "Allstate".

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Goofs

In the scene where Jack mistakes the Giant's shadow for his own, the shadow is directly in front of him. When the camera angle shifts to a side view of Jack and the Giant, their shadows are off to their right sides and cast much smaller.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Donald: Come in. Oh it's you. I'm sorry Arthur, I thought it was the babysitter.
Arthur: Just what do you have against babysitters?

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Crazy Credits

Instead of the usual "The characters and events depicted are fictitious, etc." disclaimer, are these four simple words, "This is a fable".

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Alternate Versions

Original press screenings featured a print that ran 83 minutes and 45 seconds. An uncut 35mm preview print survives in a private archive, but has not been released on DVD. The deleted sequences include some dialogue between Jack and his mother about how to bid while selling the cow and his strange choice to give a male name to a cow; an extra section of 'Dreamer's Cloth' sung by the Princess and the complete song 'Darlene'. Some video versions have parts of the missing scenes, but not all missing sequences.

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Connections

Referenced in Sam & Cat: #TextingCompetition (2013)

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Soundtracks

Dreamer's Cloth
Written by Lester Lee and Bob Russell
Sung by James Alexander and Shaye Cogan
Comic dance by Lou Costello and Dorothy Ford

User Reviews

Bud and Lou are Off to See the Giant...

The often-told fable gets amusingly tweaked with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in the leads, singing, dancing, and messing with a really nasty ogre. Opening in sepia tone, Bud and Lou somehow walk into a job as babysitters for a problem child; Lou wants a bedtime story read to him, quickly falling asleep and dreaming he and his mother live in a colorful storybook village, growing a magical beanstalk and attempting to rescue a kidnapped princess from a giant. Devised and co-produced by Lou's brother, Pat, this was an independently-financed production from the comedy duo which Warner Bros. distributed. It has some kooky songs and even kookier sequences (such as a masochistic Minuet between Lou and the giant's equally lanky female cook), but it does appear as a paste-up job. Filmed in just over three weeks, some of the scenes are so sloppy, one doesn't know if they were hastily left that way or if the clumsiness was perhaps intentional (the editing, too, is awful, leaving the cook and her cow behind in fantasy limbo). The sets, leftovers from Ingrid Bergman's "Joan of Arc", are fine, but the costumes are atrocious--hopefully, this venture scared Costello away from tights for the remainder of his life! It's kinda cute in a bumbling, ramshackle sort of way, and Lou gets a lot of funny business to do, but it isn't as imaginative as it should have been. ** from ****