Perfectly adorable

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The moral of Jack and the Beanstalk is: If your son is an idiot, do not send him out on his own to conduct important commercial transactions!As a young child I liked Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Still only a child but now a few years older I concluded they were really not that funny.The version of the film I saw was of a poor picture quality, it certainly needs to be restored. Lou is babysitting a kid, reads him a bedtime story and falls asleep. He dreams of the Jack and the Beanstalk story where he plays Jack, the gruff policeman is the giant and Bud is the butcher.The adventure transforms from monochrome into Technicolour but the thin story is padded out by wretched song and dance numbers. Lou does his knockabout comedy, Bud is not in it a lot. There are few good jokes but it is infernal stuff.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK is an all-colour, vibrant, cheap and cheerful version of the fairy tale, and also a vehicle for comic duo Abbott & Costello and their usual brand of dim-witted, slapstick humour. This one's dominated by Costello who takes on the role of Jack himself while Abbott only plays in support. It's a dated production for sure, lacking the finesse of an earlier production such as Laurel & Hardy's BABES IN TOYLAND, although there are a few choice moments. The song and dance numbers are quite difficult to sit through, but a lot of the entertainment value arises from Buddy Baer's turn as the Giant, portrayed as an unstoppable, TERMINATOR-style villain.

In need of work, straight man Bud Abbott (as Jack) and comic partner Lou Costello (as Dinkel) get the latter a job babysitting self-described "problem child" David Stollery (as Donald). Young Stollery winds up reading Mr. Costello's favorite novel (see if you can guess the title), which puts Costello to sleep, dreaming he and Mr. Abbott are reliving the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" (you guessed it).The sepia-tone switches to color for the bulk of the production. Apparently, this was an attempt at something different for the duo, a colorful children's fantasy. It fails, but this is where you get to see Abbott & Costello in color, silent film superstar William Farnum (as the King) make his last performance a bit part, boxer Max Baer's brother Buddy, and Stollery before Disney's "Spin and Marty".** Jack and the Beanstalk (4/4/52) Jean Yarbrough ~ Lou Costello, Bud Abbott, Buddy Baer, William Farnum

Just purchased this film on DVD along with their Africa Screams for $4.99! While it does turn out to be the full 81 minute version it is a very bad print It is still worth having in a collection and a joy to watch. Abbott looks tired though but a surprise to see Costello jumping around and carrying on, although I know a lot of it was stunt work. The disc also has a cute trivia section and BIOS. The above review mentions the giant as Max Baer Sr (Jethro's father) but the IMDb lists him as Buddy Baer, Max's brother. Of course the change from sepia to colour is very reminiscent of Oz and watching it one could almost think it was made around the same time, but it's 1952!