A wealthy, alcoholic woman is tired of her philandering, gold digging husband. An encounter with a UFO and its giant occupant gives her the opportunity to get even, when she grows into a giant herself.
I have not seen Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) since I was a kid, and really remembered nothing about it, except for what I've since seen in stills and in the trailer, so I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers as the three sides of the romantic triangle, such as it is, are particularly good. Unlike films such as The Amazing Colossal Man, Allison Hayes remains normal size until close to the very end, which is actually fine since the movie is better before the giant woman appears on the screen. Sadly, the special effects, even for their time and budget, are anything but special. Both the space giant and the 50 foot woman are transparent against the backgrounds that they are superimposed over, and the 50 foot woman's scale is wildly inconsistent with her appearing to be about twenty feet tall in some scenes. The two giants are also represented by the least convincing oversized rubber hands imaginable (I'm guessing probably the same fake hand, only with mats of hair added for the male giant). Why they didn't simply use forced perspective with real hands, and non-superimposed actors is beyond me.
1 comment:
One of the classics! Roger Corman's Attack of the 50' Cheerleader is giant-size camp-fest if you ever stumble on it.
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