The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock

Lou Costello’s only feature film without Bud Abbott, *The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock*, is a 1959 American comedy science fiction picture directed by Sidney Miller and co-starring Dorothy Provine. The story follows Artie Pinsetter, a junk-collecting amateur inventor living in the desert town of Candy Rock. His fiancée, Emmy Lou Raven, is exposed to radiation in a cave and grows to a height of thirty feet. When Artie nervously tells her wealthy uncle that she has gotten “big,” the uncle misinterprets this as “pregnant” and insists the two marry at once. After a series of comic complications, Artie restores her to normal size, but the final scene reveals his dog has been enlarged, hinting at more trouble.

The cast includes Gale Gordon as Rossiter, Lenny Kent as the Sergeant, Charles Lane as Standard Bates, Jimmy Conlin as Magruder, Will Wright as a Pentagon General, Peter Leeds as Bill Burton, and Veola Vonn as Jackie Delaney. Filming took place from December 3 to December 22, 1958, primarily at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California. Outdoor scenes featuring the giantess at her new home—a barn—were shot on the Upper Iverson’s “Fury Set,” originally built for the television series *Fury*. The film is based on an original screenplay by Arthur Ross (working title *The Secret Bride of Candy Rock Mountain*) and was not released until August 1959, five months after Costello’s death from a heart attack.

Critical reception was mixed. AllMovie’s Hal Erickson wrote that the film tries to be a satire of *Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman*, a slapstick comedy, a marital farce, and a sci-fi epic all at once, but never gels, noting that Costello, ill with rheumatic fever during shooting, appears more solemn than usual. *TV Guide* called it a “one-joke comedy” that is “fairly funny” and, without Abbott, less frantically paced than most Costello vehicles. Turner Classic Movies’ Rob Nixon acknowledged its “juvenile appeal” but reported that Costello’s widow expressed disappointment, quipping, “It would have killed him.” Clips from the film were later used in the music video for Neil Finn’s “She Will Have Her Way.” Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released a made-to-order DVD on September 13, 2010, and Mill Creek issued a Blu-ray as part of the four-film collection *Sci-Fi from the Vault* on February 21, 2023.