# Jack and the Beanstalk (1902)

American short silent film (fragment). From Edison films catalog: "A grand spectacular performance in nine scenes and one tableau, illustrating the most popular fairy story ever written.... From this very simple and popular fairy tale we have produced a most pleasing, interesting and mirth producing play in motion pictures, introducing therein many surprising new tricks and dissolving effects. The subject was carefully studied, and every scene posed with a view to following as closely as possible the accepted version of JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. We have, for the purpose of producing comedy (which in reality is the life of any animated picture play), in some instances departed slightly from the story, in that we have burlesqued a few of the features; as, for instance, where the butcher trades the hatful of beans with Jack for his mother's cow, we have introduced a burlesque animal made up of two men covered over with the head, horns and hide of a cow. This animal goes through many ludicrous antics, such as kicking, jig dancing, sitting down with legs crossed, etc., and finally, after strenuous efforts on the part of the butcher, suffers herself to be led away. Scene 1 -- Trading the Cow. Jack's mother, being very poor, has dispatched him to the market to sell her only cow that they may not starve. The good fairy meets the village butcher at the bridge and informs him that Jack will pass that way with a cow which he can doubtless purchase for a hatful of beans, Jack being a…

- Kind: Short
- Year: 1902
- Runtime: 4 min
- By: George S. Fleming and Edwin S. Porter
- Genres: Silent
- Archive: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jack_and_the_Beanstalk_(1902).webm)
- Licence or status: Public domain (as the archive states it)
- Credit: George S. Fleming and Edwin S. Porter
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/commons/36723550?play=1)