Jack and the Beanstalk

This is definitely the later Hannah-Barbera material. Don't expect the animation to be as good as Tom and Jerry; this is long after they started producing television animation and it shows. It is mostly combining 2 live action actors over animation cells with animated characters. Gene Kelly is dancing as wonderful as he always has and the kid is not a bad dancer either. Throughout the film you will notice that Gene and the boy are not quite sure where the animated characters are in the shot. Very noticeable when Jack is talking above the heads of the mice. The story itself isn't that great and the musical numbers are not very memorable. I was really hoping that this would be a lost gem but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a good film that combines animation and live action.

While on his way to sell the family cow a young boy by the name of "Jack" (Bobby Riha) meets a traveling salesman named "Jeremy Keen" (Gene Kelly) who convinces him to accept some magic beans in exchange. Needless to say when he gets home "Jack's Mother" (Marian McKnight) is devastated to learn of this as she desperately counted on getting something so that she could make ends meet. Naturally, Jack is also ashamed of being duped and in a fit of anger throws the beans out of the window. What he doesn't realize is that Jeremy was telling the truth and the beans were really magic with the end result being a huge beanstalk growing up into the clouds during the night. And there to meet him at the base of the beanstalk is Jeremy to escort him into a grand adventure. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although this film was rather short (approximately 60 minutes), it made good use of animation to go with the song and dance to provide some decent family entertainment. Admittedly, the special effects are rather quaint by today's standards but all in all I enjoyed this movie for the most part and have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

This movie was once one of my favourites. The mixture of animation and real-life actors may remind people of "Song of the South" or, more recently, "Space Jam", but this is quite different. The animated characters aren't big stars that you know. But they still manage to be cute and funny.

Storywise, it is of course about the boy who exchanges a goat for a few beans, instead of selling it for money, thereby almost driving the family into poverty. The next morning, a giant beanstalk has grown out of those beans, and as he climbs it he enters a magical land in the clouds, inhabited by a human-eating giant. Together with a friend, he explores the giant's castle, tries to find the gold and rescue a damsel in distress in the process.

The film is funny and loveable with enough cute characters to keep kids happy (how I loved the birds dancing with Gene Kelly!)

Family fun. And the best adaptation of "Jack and the Beanstalk" I have seen to date. 8/10

I like Jack and Gene Kelly in the TV Special from the TV Special and they're dancing like in the jazz and vaudeville show. The animated by Hanna-Barbera Productions. I like Jack and Jeremy for the Giantland to see the castle of the Giant. Gene Kelly is dancing with the Princess and the Woggle Birds. Jack is marching and dancing with the mice for a fight. The Giant has the cat to searching for Jack and found the hole with a mouse trap for a mice. In fact, I need the DVD released in 2016 with Blu-ray and DVD. I'm sure Gene Kelly is the good TV Special with Hanna-Barbera Productions for 'Jack and the Beanstalk' starring Gene Kelly and directing himself. I wish you can do it for the Blu-ray and DVD in 2016.

Better than many of today's children's videos, this little gem of live action plus animation from the '60s deserves to be seen again. The Hanna-Barbera production won an Emmy when NBC first broadcast it in 1967. The principal live characters are played by Bobby Riha, as Jack, and by Gene Kelly as his adult companion. (In the original fairy tale, of course, Jack has no companion, but there are obvious reasons for including a sidekick, who in Kelly's hands becomes the main character.) The giant is a gruff but comically inept animated figure whose voice is provided by Ted Cassidy. A variety of other animated characters appear, including two hilariously weird birds who dance a tango with Kelly. All the dancing, as one might expect, is terrific, with Kelly reprising the sort of dancing-with-animation he pioneered in the 1945 film "Anchors Aweigh." The songs are by the experienced Hollywood team of Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen. As actor, singer and dancer, young Riha is a satisfying partner for Kelly. The familiar Hanna-Barbera animation may look flat and uninspired to contemporary audiences, but it does its job. Highly recommended.