The House that Jack Built (1967)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The House that Jack Built |
| Country of production | Canada |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1967 |
| length | 8 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ron Tunis |
| script | Don Arioli |
| production |
Wolf Koenig Jim MacKay for the National Film Board of Canada |
| music |
Donald Douglas F. Whitman Trecartin |
The House that Jack Built is a 1967 Canadian animated short film directed by Ron Tunis .
action
Jack belongs to the middle class and has built a house that resembles that of his neighbors. He has a wife and a car and works in an open plan office. One day, when he's mowing the lawn again, he decides that he wants to stand out from the crowd. When he drives home from work in his car, the car breaks down and Jack curses that the car is not worth a damn ("Oh, this car is not worth beans!"). A man comes and offers him three beans for the car and Jack mentally agrees to the exchange. His wife is horrified by the exchange and throws the beans in the garden. The next day a tall bean plant grew in the garden.
Jack climbs up the beanstalk and reaches a magnificent property. He is hungry, is let in by the resident of the property and has exquisite food at the table. Suddenly the woman's husband, Giant, appears with a great din and Jack hides in a vase. The upper class husband exclaims “Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum! I smell the blood of a middle class scum! "(" Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum! I smell the blood of middle-class scum ! "), Sits down at the table and eats. After the meal he delights in his likeness, his power, his influence and his appearance in a golden mirror. He falls asleep and Jack steals the mirror from him. He returns to his wife.
At work he is gutted by his supervisor because he was absent the day before. Jack pulls out the golden mirror and gains so much self-confidence through the power of the mirror that in the end he dismisses his superior and becomes the boss himself. He is now building a luxurious house, just like his neighbors have built, leading a managerial life and can always be reached by phone. He practically doesn't know his wife and children because he always works, swallows pills and has regular x-rays. In the end, he realizes that he doesn't want to be unique, but different. Suddenly he has two heads and is not happy about it.
production
The House that Jack Built , French loaned title La maison de Jean-Jacques , refers in the title and at the beginning also lyrically to the nursery rhyme This is the House that Jack Built . In terms of content, the film is a parody of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk .
Awards
The House that Jack Built was nominated for an Oscar in the category " Best Animated Short Film " in 1969, but could not prevail against Winnie the Pooh and the dog weather .
In 1969 the film was nominated for a BAFTA as best short animation film, but was subject to pas de deux .