Blu-ray Review: Jack and the Beanstalk

Reviewed by Jason Lockard

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are probably best known for there Who's on first routine or for their many adventures with the Universal monsters. But the comedy duo worked many years in burlesque, radio, film and TV. 

In 1952 the duo decided to use an agreement with Universal Pictures that allowed them to make independent film a year, so that film would be a comedy take on the children's classic Jack and the Beanstalk.

The film fell into the public domain and has been released on countless home video releases. But now for the first time this classic has got a 4K restoration on Blu-ray thanks to VCI Entertainment and MVD Visual.

The follows Jack (Costello), a professional baby-sitter, and his "agent" Dink (Abbott), go to the home of Eloise Larkin (Shaye Cogan) to watch Eloise's troublemaking nephew Donald (David Stollery). As he reads the book Jack and the Beanstalk to Donald, Jack falls asleep and begins to dream that he and his cohorts are part of this fantastical world where he encounters magical creatures, as well as a troubled prince and princess.

Abbott and Costello are as funny as ever in this film. Putting this duo in this fairy tale makes me think of other fairy tales they could have been in. One can only dream about what might have been.

The film just like The Wizard of Oz, has opening and closing segments processed in sepia tone, and than the Jack and the Beanstalk story shot in color. Now the interesting thing is on the DVD releases and files found on the internet these sequences in black and white.

VCI entertainment has restored this film from the original 35mm print. It is presented in it's original full screen format and the 2.0 audio. The picture looks to have been cleaned up quite a bit. While maybe not a perfect restoration, there is some damage to the print. It still looks so much better than the DVD I owned. Or any copy you will ever find on the internet.

One of the coolest features of this film is that VCI Entertainment has restored the original sepia tone. As a nice bonus feature there is another independent Abbott and Costello film African Screams. The bonus film looks so much better than versions I have as well. This is a great bonus.

I have to say I am so glad to be able to retire that old DVD release I had of this film and give this release it's place in my Abbott and Costello shelf. It is so cool to see the film as it was originally meant to be seen.

So if you are a fan of Abbott and Costello like me. This release will make a very nice addition to your Blu-ray collection. Head over to Amazon.com and get your copy today.



Out of 4 Film Reels we would score VCI's Blu-ray release of Abbott and Costello in Jack and the Beanstalk receives....