After being rescued once by handy lad Jack (Kerwin Mathews, back again), Elaine is plucked from his boat by more of Pendragon’s demons. He uses magical monsters to kidnap Princess Elaine (Judi Meredith). The evil magician Pendragon (Torin Thatcher, back again) seeks to conquer Cornwall. There’s no debate over the fact that this basic hero-saves-damsel fantasy is a repeat of ideas from the famed 1958 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, which is perhaps Ray Harryhausen’s greatest fantasy adventure. It wasn’t until years later that I saw part of a musical version on TV. Savant missed out on Jack the Giant Killer theatrically and since it wasn’t revived or shown on television anywhere near me, for years the only images from it that I saw were in Famous Monsters magazine and in sets of bubble gum cards that circulated on grade school playgrounds. As a bonus I’ve expended some time and effort trying to get to the bottom of a strange formatting issue with the film’s special effects scenes. Most won’t notice and won’t care even if we have to hold our ears against some of the songs in the musical version. The juvenile mass of noise, violent action and dense plotting that is Jack the Giant Killer remains a lively item of nostalgia. Kino’s two-version Special Edition is a little rough in some respects due to the condition of the source elements. Here’s a kiddie matinee favorite with a lot of baggage to unpack - plus a legendary alternate version most of us have only heard about. Original Music Alternate musical version: musical process by Edwin Picker and Moose Charlap, original score Charlap and Sandy Stewart. Original Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter

Anderson (optical composites), Tim Baar, Wah Chang, Lloyd Vaughan, Gene Warren, Bill Brace, Jim Danforth, Tom Holland, Phil Kellison, David Pal (stop-motion animation). Special Effects: Augie Lohman (practical), Howard A. Starring: Kerwin Matthews, Torin Thatcher, Judi Meredith, Walter Burke, Don Beddoe, Barry Kelley, Dayton Lummis, Anna Lee, Roger Mobley, Tudor Owen.

Street Date J/ Special Edition / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Plus more stop-motion monsters than one can throw a ten-league boot at! Boy, we’re coining phrases left and right here.ġ962 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 94 + 91 min. Kerwin Mathews battles Torin Thatcher once again, with Judi Meredith in a stunning double role as both a delicate heroine and her evil counterpart in a magician’s mirror. “From the land beyond beyond…” - oops, wrong movie.

Jack the giant killer musical version