The disc includes both versions (original theatrical and musical), so you'd be best off watching the original version first, then listening to the Lucas commentary, and finally diving into the musical edition and having some much-needed context. The peculiar home video fate of this film has been charted extensively by Tim Lucas in Video Watchdog, so it absolutely makes sense to have him on board to provide a very thorough, well-researched audio commentary for the 2018 Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber. This variant somehow popped up on VHS from MGM, but the original version made it to DVD in 2004 in a flat letterboxed transfer that looked okay but left plenty of room for improvement. Gordon Morray releases of all those Mexican fairy tale films, with a particular Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters vibe at times. (Some bizarre slo-mo editing and repeated footage also tried to concoct a love song during a boat scene, with truly surreal results.) The final product does the film no favors and feels an awful lot like the Americanized K. An awkward, overly upbeat theme song was wedged in at the beginning (with bright new hand-drawn main titles) and, more disastrously, over the entire climax, with other songs laughably concocted by simply overdubbing the actors with tinkling music behind them.
#Jack the giant killer musical movie
Despite its fantasy feature credentials, Jack the Giant Killer suffered a bizarre fate the following decade when it was given a drastic overhaul (either for TV airings or summer kid movie revivals the history is a bit fuzzy) and transformed into an ersatz musical. It also features (at least in its original form) a lively, infectious adventure score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter, the same team behind the scores for films like Return of the Fly, The Lost World, and The Last Man on Earth. Mathews is a more than able to anchor the film with his presence alone, and there's so much action over the course of the running time that the film barely seems to be stopping to catch its breath. It should go without saying that this film can't hope to compete with Sinbad as a movie classic, but as matinée entertainment it's colorful and rousing from start to finish and exactly the kind of thing that made a strong impression on young viewers at the time. In the meantime Pendragon summons a dark version of the princess in a mirror (a conceit later repeated in Ridley Scott's Legend) and tries to sidetrack Jack on his path to an inevitable watery showdown against a raging dragon. Jack must confront these beasts with the aid of sidekicks including - why not? - a leprechaun (Beddoe) found stuck in a bottle.
The plot is thwarted by intrepid farm boy Jack (Mathews), at least temporarily when he slays the now-giant creature, but an additional supply of dark minions is ready to snatch her away at any cost.
There's trouble brewing in the fairy tale Cornwall kingdom when pretty Princess Elaine (Meredith) is presented with an enchanting animated figure that turns out to be a transforming monster at the bidding of the wicked enchanter Pendragon (Thatcher), who has his sights set on her.
However, there's at least one film that qualifies as full-on Harryhausensploitation: Jack the Giant Killer, which bends over backwards to recapture the look and feel of his work right down to roping in Nathan Juran, who had directed 7th Voyage of Sinbad and 20 Million Miles to Earth (with First Men in the Moon still to come) as well as Sinbad leading man Kerwin Mathews and bad guy Torin Thatcher. If there's any doubt about the influence of stop-motion animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen, look no further than the films he inspired that continued for decades through the likes of Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. Judith Meredith, Torin Thatcher, Walter Burke, Don Beddoe, Barry Kelley
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