Main Cast: Lou Costello, Dorothy Provine, Gale Gordon, Jimmy Conlin, Charles Lane
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 75 minutes
Plot
Lou Costello made his only film appearance without Bud Abbott in 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock. Lou plays a bumbling junk dealer who fancies himself a great inventor. One of his creations transforms his girlfriend Dorothy Provine into a towering giant! The subsequent shenanigans involve Lou, the humongous Ms. Provine, her bombastic uncle Gale Gordon, and the entire US Army. Before Dorothy can be returned to normal size again, Lou's invention transmogrifies into a time machine and rocketship. 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock tries to be a satire of Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, a slapstick comedy, a marital farce, and a sci-fi epic all in one, but it never really jells. Ill with rheumatic fever during shooting, Costello seems more solemn and reserved than usual; still, whenever the material is up to par, he rises to the occasion, offering some choice comic moments in the climactic chase sequence. The special effects are a bit grainy, but convincing within their medium-budget limits. Our favorite bit: the "barking Sputnik", a cute comment on the US-Russian space race. By the time 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock hit the theaters, Lou Costello was dead, precluding any followups (if, indeed, any were planned). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
William Flannery - Art Director, William Dorfman - First Assistant Director, Sidney Miller - Director, Al Clark - Editor, Raoul Kraushaar - Composer (Music Score), Raoul Kraushaar - Musical Direction/Supervision, Lewis Rachmil - Producer, James A. Crowe - Set Designer, Irving A. Block - Special Effects, Louis de Witt - Special Effects, Jack R. Rabin - Special Effects, George Cooper - Sound/Sound Designer, Lawrence L. Goldman - Screen Story, Arthur A. Ross - Screenwriter
Artie Pinsetter (Lou Costello) is a junk collector and amateur inventor who lives in the desert town of Candy Rock. Artie's finacée, Emmy Lou Raven (Dorothy Provine) happens upon magical waters of Dinosaur Springs and is changed into a thirty-foot giantess. Artie eventually restores her to normal size.
Production
The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock was filmed from December 3 through December 22, 1958 and is the only film that Lou Costello starred in without his longtime partner, Bud Abbott. It is based on an original screenplay entitled. The Secret Bride of Candy Rock Mountain.[1]
This film was not released until August 1959, five months after Costello died of a heart attack.
Cultural References
The film was spoofed in the music video She Will Have Her Way by Neil Finn which utilizes actual film clips from this movie.
References
^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
Stephen Cox and John Lofflin.The Abbott and Costello Story. Cumberland House Publishing, 1997.
