Jack and the Beanstalk (1933)

Jack sells the family cow for magic beans which grow a vine into the sky.

Directors:

Ub Iwerks (uncredited), Shamus Culhane (co-director) (uncredited)

Storyline

Jack and his mother are the picture of poverty. They're starving and can't afford to eat or tend to the farm. Even the family goldfish is literally nothing but bones. Jack decides to sell the cow at the market. He is about to sell it to a butcher, but a stranger convinces him to buy magic beans instead. Jack's feels that he was cheated and punishes him for being so gullible. She throws the beans out the window where they are watered overnight by rain. In the morning, a tall vine has grown into the clouds. Jack climbs the beanstalk and encounters a giant and his giantess wife, who means to eat Jack. Jack narrowly escapes the wrath of the couple and takes with him the giant's treasures: a magical harp and a hen that lays eggs filled with coins.

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Plot Keywords:

cat | cow | fish | chicken | spider | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 November 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jack y la habichuela gigante

Company Credits

Production Co:

Celebrity Productions,Ub Iwerks Studio

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Cinecolor)

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of Giantland (1933)

User Reviews

A Pretty Wild Version Of 'Jack And The Beanstalk'

I read where this was the first of the Celebrity Productions Comicolor cartoons. Color at the movie theater had to be a very, very big thing to audiences back 75 years ago. The cartoon still entertains today.

Jack and his mom are broke and hungry. The animals in the house are starving, too. It's not a pretty sight. Even mom's purse is depressed. (Inanimate objects often talk or come alive in these 1930s cartoons.). The purse says, "What are we going to do now?" Everyone is skin-and-bones but Jack sells the family cow for three beans. They turn out to be magical, of course, but you knew that! The beanstalk that sprouts overnight goes miles into the sky and Jack decides to check things out.

This really becomes an otherworldly fantasy with some crazy sight gags that include stinky feet and a hen that lays golden coins that automatically go into a cash register.

"Fee fi, fo fum" about sums up this entertaining classic cartoon.