Jack and the Beanstalk (1974 film)
Encyclopedia
is a 1974 traditional animation
musical
feature film
produced and animated by the Japanese studio Group TAC
, based on the English fairy tale of the same name
. The feature is the studio's first and the feature directing début of Gisaburō Sugii
and has a screenplay by Shūji Hirami and a soundtrack of progressive
, funk
and hard rock
-style songs with lyrics by Yū Aku
. It features as the voices of Jack and the princess respectively those of Masachika Ichimura
and Linda Yamamoto
in the Japanese-language version, released on July 20, 1974 by Nippon Herald Eiga (now Kadokawa Herald Pictures), and Billie Lou Watt
and Corinne Orr
in the English, released in the United States
on April 13, 1976 by Columbia Pictures
. It is unusual among anime
in using the western system of assigning animators by character, rather than scene.
The History of Mutual Aid: The Story of Life Insurance
.
with both the English and Japanese audio but only dubtitle
s from Hen's Tooth Video (UPC# 759731409421).
remarked: "The lines are blurry, the colors muddy, and the action is blocklike. When the characters' lips move up and down, the words come out sideways." He ended his short review with this comment: "It is the kind of thing grandfathers are sent out to send their grandchildren to. They will sit silently, side by side, and a quiet loathing will come up between them." In 2010, Michael R. Pitts said that the songs are "forgettable". Conversely, the writers of Jerry Beck
's Animated Movie Guide hailed it as "A successful Japanese emulation of American fairy tale theatrical cartoon features with many delightful songs", and gave it four stars.
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
produced and animated by the Japanese studio Group TAC
Group TAC
Group TAC was a Japanese animation and computer graphics studio located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and founded in 1968. They have worked on movies, videos, TV shows, and commercials, and have contributed to all stages of the process, including planning, production, sound effects, and so on...
, based on the English fairy tale of the same name
Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
. The feature is the studio's first and the feature directing début of Gisaburō Sugii
Gisaburo Sugii
is an anime director and Nihonga artist. He is currently a member of the anime studio Group TAC, and is most well known for his work as director of the Touch series and the movie Night on the Galactic Railroad...
and has a screenplay by Shūji Hirami and a soundtrack of progressive
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
-style songs with lyrics by Yū Aku
Yu Aku
, , was a Japanese lyricist, poet, novelist.He was famous for thousands of his lyrics he contributed to many recording artists since 1967. Mainly during the 1970s, more than 20 of them reached the number-one on the Japanese Oricon chart, and 7 singles sold more than a million copies...
. It features as the voices of Jack and the princess respectively those of Masachika Ichimura
Masachika Ichimura
is a Japanese voice actor and musical singer. He was born in Kawagoe, Saitama. He is married to singer Ryoko Shinohara.-Movies:*Pokémon: The First Movie *The Nightmare Before Christmas...
and Linda Yamamoto
Linda Yamamoto
is a Japanese singer and actress whose greatest hit song was in 1973.-Biography :Yamamoto was born March 4, 1951 in Kitakyushu to a Japanese mother and an American father. Her father was a U.S. serviceman who died in the Korean War when she was only two years old. Yamamoto moved to Yokohama as a...
in the Japanese-language version, released on July 20, 1974 by Nippon Herald Eiga (now Kadokawa Herald Pictures), and Billie Lou Watt
Billie Lou Watt
Billie Lou Watt was an actress in theater and television, including several voice acting roles for commercials and animated series...
and Corinne Orr
Corinne Orr
Corinne Orr is a Canadian-born actress and voice artist, who now lives in New York City, where she has resided for more than four decades....
in the English, released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on April 13, 1976 by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. It is unusual among anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
in using the western system of assigning animators by character, rather than scene.
Characters
- Key animated by: Tsuneo Maeda;
- , Madame Hecuba (English)
- (Billie Lou Watt) (English)
- Key animated by: Teruto Kamiguchi;
-
- Mice
- Key animated by: Toshio Hirata
Production
It is the first feature directed by Sugii or animated by Group TAC and the second film under that arrangement, following as it did the just previously produced half-hour educational filmEducational film
An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods.-Cultural significance:...
The History of Mutual Aid: The Story of Life Insurance
Life insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
.
Release
As of July 2011, a transfer of the film is available on DVD-VideoDVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
with both the English and Japanese audio but only dubtitle
Dubtitle
Dubtitle is a term for a show recorded in which the subtitles are merely transcriptions of the new alternative dialogue spoken on the dubbed soundtrack rather than a translation of the original dialogue and was popularized by anime and kung fu film fans to refer to this practice....
s from Hen's Tooth Video (UPC# 759731409421).
Reception
The English-dubbed version received mixed opinion from U.S. critics. Henry Herx wrote in his Family Guide to Movies on Video: "Its songs are insipid and the animation rather primitive[;] still it moves along at a lively enough pace and may amuse younger children." Richard Eder of The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
remarked: "The lines are blurry, the colors muddy, and the action is blocklike. When the characters' lips move up and down, the words come out sideways." He ended his short review with this comment: "It is the kind of thing grandfathers are sent out to send their grandchildren to. They will sit silently, side by side, and a quiet loathing will come up between them." In 2010, Michael R. Pitts said that the songs are "forgettable". Conversely, the writers of Jerry Beck
Jerry Beck
Jerry Beck is a well-known animation historian, with ten books and numerous articles to his credit. He is also an animation producer, an industry consultant to Warner Bros., and has been an executive with Nickelodeon and Disney....
's Animated Movie Guide hailed it as "A successful Japanese emulation of American fairy tale theatrical cartoon features with many delightful songs", and gave it four stars.