Jack the Giant Killer

Medieval fairy tale with a noble hero, a beautiful princess, an evil wizard & spooky cronies

A wholesome farm-youth-turned-knight in medieval England (Kerwin Mathews) is enlisted to guard a princess (Judi Meredith) from the schemes of a wicked sorcerer (Torin Thatcher).

Jack the Giant Killer (1962) is similar to The Magic Sword, which was released a couple of months earlier. Some people like to compare it to The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) because the hero and villain were also in that earlier movie, not to mention both films use stop-motion animation. But Jim Danforths work here is no serious rival to Ray Harryhausen, although its serviceable.

Kerwin makes for a great noble protagonist while Judi is winsome as the royal maid...

It was nothing. I kill a giant every morning before breakfast. Starts my day right.

It's the fairy tale land of Cornwall, England, and the Black Prince Pendragon (Torin Thatcher) plans to abduct Princess Elaine (Judith Meredith) so as to gain control of the land. However, his plans are at first thwarted when farmers boy Jack (Kerwin Matthews) slays the giant sent by Pendragon to claim the Princess. But Pendragon is not to be denied and a battle between good and evil commences.

There's quite a back story to this United Artists feature film. It's loosely based on the traditional tale "Jack the Giant Killer" and features the use of stop motion animation. The mere mention of stop motion automatically brings to mind the great name of Ray H...

Very much in the vein of "the 7th Voyage of Sinbad"; this is a cracking magical adventure with Torin Thatcher stealing the show as the seriously hammy "Pendragon" - the evil wizard determined to have his wicked way with the Princess Elaine and to take over the Kingdom. Wait, though - could newly knighted Kerwin Matthews, erstwhile farm boy who killed a troll, be her saviour? Augie Lohman's special effects are not quite Harryhausen, but the film is sumptuously colourful and engaging with plenty of action (even a Leprechaun who speaks in rhyme) and as a child in the seventies, I really enjoyed this on television.