Jack and the Beanstalk
About Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack trades the family cow for beans. His mother makes him throw them in the yard and sends him to his room. As he sleeps, a fairy shows him what is at the top of the stalk, including that he is the son of a deposed king. He wakes, finds the stalk grown, and climbs into the giant's house. The giant finds him. Jack gets out, cuts the stalk while the giant is still on it, and the giant falls and dies. The fairy tells Jack he may go home as a prince.
Cast & crew
More about Jack and the Beanstalk
Edwin S. Porter directed and photographed the trick film. George S. Fleming is also credited as director. Ten shots, twice the length of any earlier Edison studio film. Porter said it took in the neighborhood of six weeks in the spring of 1902 to make. Edison released it on 15 July 1902. Thomas White plays Jack. James H. White plays a farmer. Animation, double exposure, and trick photography cover the fairy, the dream, and the growing stalk.
Themes
Making
Porter built the stalk as a trick shot rather than a painted drop that simply appears. The ten shots are cut in story order, which was still unusual at Edison in 1902.
Look
Porter photographed it himself, using double exposure for the fairy and stop-motion or substitution for the stalk that grows overnight.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- Porter's own line on the schedule is that the photograph took about six weeks in the spring of 1902.
- The fairy's vision tells Jack he is a deposed king's son before he climbs.
- The giant dies because Jack cuts the stalk while the giant is still coming down.
- The short is based on the Jack and the Beanstalk tale.
- A print survives.
Scenes
- The fairy appears while Jack sleeps and shows him the giant's house.
- Jack chops the stalk. The giant falls with it.
Influenced by
- The fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk
Also available
- Internet Archive (JackAndTheBeanstalk1902SilentFilm)
- Wikimedia Commons (Jack and the Beanstalk (1902).webm)
