Monday, August 27, 2012

JACK THE GIANT KILLER / Edward Small Productions - 1962

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This movie plays on TCM regularly, so, check it out when it comes around, or, like our monster movie buff, Exeter, you can find it on VHS archive tape #203. Eegah!! has always said that this is a great flick, and, it is! Stars Dungeon fave, Kerwin Mathews, who also starred in Harryhausen's THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD and began his career in 1954 on TV's SPACE PATROL. Nathan (THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS) Juran directs...

We have a nice lil' soundclip fer yer ohren, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the atomic rubber tree, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... JACK THE GIANT KILLER!

Lots of nice photos were omitted from the post because there were just way too many of them!

Super evil villain, Pendragon, accompanied by his assistant, Garna, gives Princess Elaine a special gift, an animated little doll. She's thrilled, but, it changes into a giant creature that night and kidnaps her!

As the monster makes it's way across the countryside, it encounters farm boy, Jack the Giant Killer! First off, Jack gets Elaine away from it, then, smashes it's hand when it tries to grab him in the stone mill. Jack even manages to kill it by hanging and so becomes a King's Knight for his bravery!

Judi Meredith plays Princess Elaine, Judi was also in THE NIGHT WALKER, DARK INTRUDER and QUEEN OF BLOOD. Torin Thatcher is awesome as Pendragon, he had a great run with 143 acting credits from 1927 to 1976, working mostly in television. The familiar looking Walter Burke plays Garna, Pendragon's twisted little assistant. Here, Jack and Elaine approach Pendragon's realm, but, the evil one conjers up a special surprise for the meddling pests! He's always surrounded by his monster horde!

One thing that makes this movie great is this scene where a number of phantom demons attack Jack's crew at sea. The special effects are by Augie (THE MAZE and THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD) Lohman and the visual effects were created by 11 other artists!

Pendragon captures Elaine and uses his magic mirror to change her into an evil sorceress!

A crusty old Viking rescues Jack and his companion, Peter, from the sea. He gives Jack a glass jar with a leprechaun inside that can grant him wishes, to aid in his fight against Pendragon.

After a dizzying climb up this steep cliff face, Jack has to figure out how to get inside Pendragon's heavily fortified castle.

Plus, you gots Pendragon screwing with him at every turn!

The head?.. Yeah, sure pal, you jus' go through that big door there and take a left when you get to the end of the hall, then, take the elevator to floor 13, you can't miss it!..

Why, that dirty rotten skeleton!.. What the eff, man!!

Jack finds Elaine and breaks the magic mirror, releasing her from it's evil spell!

Pendragon sends this two-headed monster out to stop Jack and Elaine's escape, so, Jack asks the leprechaun to conjer up a lil' playmate for the big creep to play with! The sea monster ends up strangling Pendragon's pet.

Pendragon figures he has to handle the situation himself and turns into his dreaded alter ego, a giant dragon! He grabs a large boulder off the seashore to drop on Jack's ship...

The great effects just don't let up, even til the very end when Pendragon definitely gets what's coming to him!

Tune in Friday when Tabonga'll bring you another special effect giganza from the following year... CAPTAIN SINBAD!

11 comments:

  1. Greetings. Only became aware of this treasure last year during a viewing in the wee hours of the morning. I love this flick! Thank you so much for the stills! About to see if I can watch this gem online. Thanks once more. Peace. :)

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  2. I just watched this movie last week, for the first time since seeing it in a theater when it came out. It's still 7th Voyage of Sinbad without Harryhausen (Same star, same villain, same director, same type of story and effects), but it's also an entertaining fantasy film.

    The "crusty old sea crab" who rescues Jack is quite specifically a Viking, and the imp in the bottle is quite specifically a leprechaun.

    And you left out the whole mutiny by Sir Jack's men, and the evil witch in the King's court played by the great Anna Lee, whose career was long and amazing.

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  3. D. - as a matter of accuracy I'll make 2 changes in the post - thanks

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  4. I love your blog !!!
    You should see my facebook page:

    www.facebook.com/MazmorraMaldita

    Greetings mate.

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  5. Hey, guys. Da-da LOVES your blog and is slowly reading them from past to present (he's up to 2011). Anyway, given your musical bent, Da-da thought you might like his list of postmodern carols sung to tunes you all know. Enjoy.

    http://amancalleddada.blogspot.com/2011/07/all-pretty-postmodern-carols-postmodern.html

    -Da-da

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  6. I am convinced we have the most advanced intellectual readership imaginable! Thanx to you all, keep scratching those craniums!!
    Eegah!!

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  7. Actually, Da-da's head was removed and sent to you via Parcel Post. Would you mind scratching it once it arrives? The contents are all yours, o'course. Might wanna break out the ball peen hammers in advance...

    -Da-da

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  8. Da-da,
    Scrachin' ain't a problem, and I got a three pound sledge ready!

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  9. Seize the Bone !!!

    This movie is available as a RiffTrax Live (both riffed and unriffed) over on their site.

    A fun film made fun of with all the love and respect it deserves.

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  10. I love the bizarre musical version of this movie. Have you seen it? I can send it to you.

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  11. Yo Bri,
    That sounds pretty far up there on the WTF!? scale!

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