This heroic adventure yarn, about a young farmer who protects a princess from a sorcerer’s monsters in Middle Ages Cornwall, was directed by Nathan Juran, stars Kerwin Mathews, Torin Thatcher, Judi Meredith and Walter Burke, with colourful stop-motion effects provided by Jim Danforth (and others).
The film was producer Edward Small’s attempt to emulate the success of Ray Harryhausen’s THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, so he used the same director and employed the actors who had played the hero and villain in the Sinbad movie (Mathews and Thatcher).
Many stop-motion fans see this movie simply as a poor man’s version of THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, but I really like this fantasy tale!
JACK THE GIANT KILLER’s stop-motion models are cruder in design compared to those seen in Ray Harryhausen films, that’s not in doubt, and the film has more of a pantomime feel to it compared to Ray’s Sinbad films, but I think the movie is nonetheless an enjoyable, memorable adventure.
The creatures include the horned giant Cormoran, a two-headed giant, a tentacled sea monster and a heraldic-looking dragon. There are also ‘dragon men’ (guys in suits) who disappear when struck with a special whip, plus various witches & demons (actors in costumes) and a leprechaun played by Don Beddoe.
For a kids film it’s quite creepy in places: the ‘doll’ gift that suddenly grows into a giant, scenes of women becoming possessed and the glowing witches/demons that attack the ship are all kinda scary. There’s one witch with empty eye sockets, carrying flowers, that’s especially eerie!
Edward Small had the movie re-edited and re-released as a musical too, but the less said about that version the better!
Here is a whole bunch of posters created for the movie (the Italians, as usual, produced some humdingers)…
Some lobby cards…
DVD and Blu-ray covers…
Newspaper ads…
Some pages from the Dell Movie Classic comic book adaptation. Art by Ed Ashe…
Finally, here’s a behind the scenes shot of Jim Danforth animating the sea creature model…
Monster Zone 
This is great. I have a poster on my wall, the blu-ray and the fabulous soundtrack 2 CD set. Thanks so much for this!!!
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My pleasure!
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One of my favorite Summer of ’62 movies! My cousin and I went to see this at a local theater in Fort Walton Beach, Florida when we were both 10 years old! A few days later, we bought the Dell movie tie-in comic book at a nearby market store! It is now nearly sixty years later, and I STILL have that original comic! I also own two separate copies of the movie on DVD and BluRay, respectively… as well as the Intrada soundtrack to the film!!!
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Respect!
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