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Jack the giant killer arcade198211/4/2022 ![]() ![]() In the more difficult levels, cats and mice will also appear, which the player must avoid or hit with beans to collect points, and the staircases are narrower. The most frequent challenge is navigating the gaps between staircases (the player must jump across) while dodging flying magic lamps and collecting eggs laid by the golden goose. The Giant's lair, which includes ascending stairs to reach the table where the giant's treasures are kept the giant is seen sleeping at the table.The player may enter the castle only when the drawbridge is lowered. Walking across clouds to reach the castle's drawbridge, dodging lions and other enemies that try to throw Jack off the tightrope course.Going into the house in this stage will kill Jack. The player is given a supply of beans to start, and may obtain more by moving Jack over the beans that appear along the way. Jack may also jump from one branch to another, either to gain a new path or avoid an enemy. The player may use the supply of beans (limited, with his supply indicated by a counter at the corner of the screen) to hit and destroy an enemy for points. Two buttons are available to allow Jack to jump or throw beans at enemies. From its delightful story book opening to its final battle between hero and villain, Jack The Giant Killer is a rich and playful fantasy.The player uses an eight-way joystick to move Jack. There's a dashing hero, a pretty princess, a vile and chilling evil doer, hell there's even the little imp of the lamp (Don Beddoe) for some limerick shenanigans. The creatures are effective, even if the jerkiness shows that it's not Harryhausen at the helm tho this is off set by a wonderful sequence as electricity cloaked witch demons attack Jack's ship. The film itself delivers everything one expects of the genre. It's at least comforting to know that he got to see this little treasure of a film finally get accepted by an audience. Kerwin Matthews passed away in 2007, a handsome swashbuckling actor, Jack The Giant Killer was his last foray into the fantasy adventure genre. Thankfully the film was finally restored to its original glory on DVD and found a whole new generation of fantasy adventure fans with a bent for the lost art of stop motion animation. Small would take this personally and intending to make something of the movie, had it re-dubbed and made into a musical. Once released the film was panned by the critics and many parents were outraged that the film was too violent and scary for youngsters. Columbia sued Small on the grounds of plot similarity, thus holding up the release of the film in the UK for several years (it wasn't banned as some people seem to think). While the other effects, filmed in "Fantascope" come courtesy of Howard A. Harryhausen, however, said no, perhaps understandably, so his creatures were created for "Jack" by Project Unlimited under the watchful eye of one time Harryhausen understudy Jim Danforth. So here, four years later, he gathered the same crew for what essentially is a retread of the plot of Sinbad's seventh in the hope of replicating said success. A big success for Columbia, Harryhausen had offered it to UA producer Edward Small who turned it down, much to his regret. In 1958 director Nathan Juran had helmed The 7th Voyage of Sinbad with both Matthews and Thatcher starring as the good and evil characters respectively. ![]() The mere mention of stop motion automatically brings to mind the great name of Ray Harryhausen. It's loosely based on the traditional tale "Jack the Giant Killer" and features the use of stop motion animation. There's quite a back story to this United Artists feature film. But Pendragon is not to be denied and a battle between good and evil commences. However, his plans are at first thwarted when farmers boy Jack (Kerwin Matthews) slays the giant sent by Pendragon to claim the Princess. It's the fairy tale land of Cornwall, England, and the Black Prince Pendragon (Torin Thatcher) plans to abduct Princess Elaine (Judith Meredith) so as to gain control of the land. ![]()
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