Jack and the Beanstalk Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Jack and the Beanstalk Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 26, 2020

Update: Hilariously, I just received a message from Bob Furmanek at the 3-D Archive, that he, in association with ClassicFlix, is indeed preparing a new restoration of this film (as per their release of Africa Screams, which I link to in the supplements section, below). So take the following comments with that in mind.

Maybe somewhere there's an ardent Abbott and Costello fan who is hoarding all sorts of curios, including perhaps a decent looking version of, maybe even an element like an interpositive for, Jack and the Beanstalk. One of Abbott and Costello's forays away from Universal, and their first film in color, Jack and the Beanstalk is really rather charming in its own admittedly weird way, but it has also suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or at least of falling into the public domain, with a whole slew of less than optimal presentations on home video the result. I've personally never seen a version of this film that I would consider more than merely passable, and unfortunately that's the case with regard to the element utilized for this high definition presentation. The film itself has a number of inventive sequences, and it's fun to see Bud and Lou in patently absurd outfits romping through a fairy tale environment, but the lackluster look of this film in this state may deflate any whimsy the movie attempts to offer.

Jack and the Beanstalk unabashedly goes The Wizard of Oz route in more than one way. There are bookending segments in sepia tone, with the bulk of the intermediary content in color, and there's the additional fact that the color sequences are a dream, in this case one being dreamt by a supposed babysitter named Jack (Lou Costello). The kid ends up reading the fairy tale version of Jack and the Beanstalk to the supposed sitter Jack, and then Jack is magically transported into the fairy tale. Two other characters introduced in the "contemporary" footage as the sister of the kid being taken care of and her boyfriend end up as a kind of prince and princess duo in the fantasy sequences. Buddy Baer is on hand as the Giant.

Jack and the Beanstalk Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jack and the Beanstalk is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. There aren't any major encoding issues with this VCI release, but as stated above, the element utilized is in woefully bad shape, and there does appear to be some of VCI's typical filtering applied. The element is full of all sorts of damage ranging from scratches, nicks and dirts to outright missing frames (which also affect the soundtrack). Several long lasting scratches afflict both the sepia toned material and color material (see screenshots 7 and 9 for two in the sepia toned material). The color is rather badly faded, with flesh tones often assuming a kind of weird slightly green color. That said, as can be seen in the screenshots, while hardly looking "natural", there are some definite pops still to be seen. Grain is evident, though seems minimized, and doesn't spike as expected in opticals.

Jack and the Beanstalk Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jack and the Beanstalk features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track that is often the victim of things like missing frames, which deprive those moments of soundtrack as well. This is especially unfortunate with regard to some of the songs (the film is a kinda sorta musical), where there are some definite skips which can be heard. That kind of damage aside, the track is actually rather spry over all, with a good accounting of the wonderful choral arrangements (by Norman Luboff, billed as Lubov). Dialogue is rendered clearly aside from the aforementioned damage. Optional English subtitles are available.

Jack and the Beanstalk Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Africa Screams (1080p; 1:19:13) is offered as a "bonus film". My advice is if you have an interest in this film, to check out the release from ClassicFlix. I refer you to my Africa Screams Blu-ray review of that version for a recap of the film's plot as well as my thoughts on that release's technical merits, which in my estimation are superior to the ones on display here.



• Trailers includes Jack and the Beanstalk (1080p; 2:47) and Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1080p; 2:55), which is listed as simply Meet Captain Kidd.

Jack and the Beanstalk Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is frankly not the kind of film that will probably ever be granted any kind of major restoration, and in a way it's kind of sad. While certainly not at the apex of the Abbott and Costello filmography, this retelling of the venerable fairy tale is kind of sweet, if often unabashedly goofy, and the song score, while also certainly not at Wizard of Oz levels, has its moments of genuine enjoyment. Fans of the comedy duo may want to check this out, but they should carefully parse the screenshots accompanying this review to see what they think of the video quality.