Yeah, don’t ask.
Source: Hubbs Movie Reviews
1962’s Jack The Giant Killer has good sets, mediocre special effects, and a bad story. This is a story from medieval England, as a sorceror attempts to steal away the Princess from the King of Cornwall. His giant gains the princess, but falls to a lowly farmer; knighted, he now must pursue the again-abducted princess, this time over the seas. His first ship stripped from him, he falls in with a lone Viking on his boat, who gives him an imp, imprisoned for, ummm, I forget how many years, who matches magic with the sorceror. The good guys are good guys, the bad guys are, for no ready reason, really really bad, and the hurdle this movie attempts to bound over the is that low one labeled “Light Entertainment,” for there is nothing really to contemplate and think about it, no moral questions, no ambiguous characters, nothing really; Jack gets the girl in the end.
Monsters abound, in classic stop-action style, and also in the traditional mode, they appear to be lackwitted, even if one of the giants has two heads – for no discernible reasons. I did think the witches were inventively done, however.
The editing and special effects was mostly average for the era, but in one combat scene the fighting was just wrong – one moment the good guy has a whip, next he has a sword, and, maybe as one might expect from a farmer, he’s just awful with his weapon.
The acting was OK. The actor playing the sorceror reveled in his role; the other actors are adequate, but clearly everyone’s there to collect a paycheck; this isn’t Art by any stretch of the imagination.
Maybe when you have the season’s head cold and can’t stand to sleep any longer, this will serve the need of something to distract you from angry virus; otherwise, don’t waste your time unless you’re a devotee of the lead, Kerwin Mathews.
