Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)

A poorly done and rushed movie to say the least. I perfectly understand that the visual effects of 50's sci fi movies are nowhere near to what they are like today. But however,even for the 50s, the visual effects were awful. I would put it in the same sentence with Plan 9 From Outer Space. First off, when a movie is in an hour long but it feels like three hours, there is something wrong with it. She doesn't mutate until the final 15 minutes of the movie. There are things in the movie I question such as how a 50 foot woman can fit in her own bedroom. There is also a problem with consistency. Nancy appears to be different sizes throughout the movie. She is also at times transparent and nontransparent, which the movie makers didn't care about. The alien on the ship appears to be a stitched up old man and it is comical. I understand that it is a cult movie, which is supposed to be a movie that is so bad to the extent that it is good, but there is no point in seeing the movie. There is no element in the film that awes the audience.

Monsters from the Id. This Movie came Late in the 1950's Sci-Fi Cycle but it Contains Much of the Decades Angst and Subconsciously Displays a Rich Array of the Era's Fears and Uncomfortable Social Conventions.The Poster...Wonderfully Prolific Artist Reynold Brown Designed this Classic and it Contains an Ultra-Sexy, Larger than Life, Voluptuous Woman Straddling an Iconic Freeway and that Most Descriptive of Eisenhower Prosperity and Abundance, the Automobile.Pubescent Boys...Baby Boomers who Watched Allison Hayes in this Movie in the Back Seat of a Car at the Drive-In or Seated in a Balcony at the Local Movie-Theatre, or on TV, Certainly were made all Tingly by the Sight of this Sexy Woman in Revealing Cleavage and Skin Tight Clam-Diggers. That Definitely Contributed to the Pleasurable Memories and Added to the Cult Fever for the Film.Flying Saucers...Here for some Unknown Reason were Called Satellites (the Sputnik fear), and the Term is Spoken Many Times as if to Shout it to the World. The Most Eerie Part Takes Place inside the Sphere Transposing Low-Budget Corrugated Cardboard, Goldfish Bowls, and Fog into a Surreal Scene. It Includes Diamonds as Fuel for The Flying Saucer and are there as Reminder (probably unintentionally) of the Decades Opulence.Radiation...Another Movie where that Unleashed Cancer Causer Transfigured a Benign Creature into a Monster.Female Bondage (Housewives and a Woman's place)...Although Unintentional, it Manifested an Underlying Feminine Fear of Subjugation and Restriction. The 50 Foot Woman is Literally put in Chains and Doped Up.Overall, a Movie that Reaches Things on such a Subconscious Level can't Help but be Remembered, Embraced, Nervously Laughed At, Ridiculed, Loved and Hated. But the Lasting Legacy of the Film Really says More about Ourselves than the Movie's Competence or Lack Thereof.Besides All of that Mumbo-Jumbo, the Movie is a Hoot.

Ah, the 1950s. The era when sci-fi flicks depicted people either growing or shrinking. Nathan Juran's "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" is a prime example. The hilariously terrible acting creates more than its share of charm. My favorite scene is when Allison Hayes jiggles the electrical pole and makes the lights flicker.So, it's just plain fun. After all, we watch these movies to laugh at them. "Mystery Science Theater 3000" would have had a field day with this movie. Ridiculous and enjoyable in every way.Also starring William Hudson and Yvette Vickers (who was found dead in her home earlier this year).

This movie is fun mainly for the over-the-top characterizations of a neurotic socialite whose slimy husband is cheating on her with the most vulgar floosie in town.The storyline is beyond strange...A giant human-like alien touches the neglected woman and thereby causes her to grow to 50 feet tall. Er...OK.Hysterical in nearly every previous scene, our heroine remains inexplicably mute about her bizarre transmutation, wanting only to channel her new-found strength into rubbing out her spouse and smooshing his paramour. Her work in these regards complete, it seems somehow tragic to see the giantess killed in the final frame. (Hadn't she suffered enough?)I looked up the extremely voluptuous actress who played Nancy on Wikipedia and was surprised to learn that this former Miss America contestant died as an invalid at age 47, apparently the victim of a similarly peculiar fate!