The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock Blu-ray Review

A Misguided Missile

Lou Costello has a blast in this Columbia cheapie, knocking off Attack of the 50 Foot Woman with a script suitable for a 20-minute sitcom. At a sparse 73-minutes though, 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock has to stretch things, finding any gag no matter how quaint, cheap, or schlocky. If that’s Costello falling down multiple times, so be it.

Bunk science, screwball logic, and military mockery all factor into this marginal dud with a definite smile. Costello plays a lowly garbage man with a science-y side gig, winning over the daughter of the local money man, setting up the inevitable marriage conundrums. That’s the stuff of sitcom normalcy, only in this case, it’s a giant-sized bride wearing a parachute for a wedding dress.

Cornball gags aside, there is an enthusiasm within 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock

Cornball gags aside, there is an enthusiasm within 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, driven mostly by Costello who, in this case, plays against a robotic computer and dog rather than Bud Abbott. He fares fine, his familiar act holding up as a solo star, while bride Emmy (Dorothy Provine) never musters more than a whiny wife routine

Coincidentally, the army is performing war games in the area as Emmy turns into a giant, setting off a parody of then contemporary invasion fears. They witness flying saucers, time distillation, and the bride of course, fumbling around like idiots, mocking the paranoia culture that swept the US during the Red Scare. With no ambition to be anything other than a b-tier production, 30 Foot Bride runs with it, choosing this dorky tone that’s weirdly sweet, and even sentimental in places.

Costello’s final film (released posthumously), 30 Foot Bride flopped. A year after 50 Foot Woman, audiences likely smelled a knock-off, but 30 Foot Bride has its own brand of kitsch. Outside of the core idea, this is its own film, played as a direct comedy spoof. By no means a necessary watch for even hardcore monster kids, as an aside, there’s cause to spend time here when taking a lazy day off – and you don’t need much time at all.

Video

Well, this is a mess. Compressed to such severity as to eradicate any benefit from Blu-ray, 30 Foot Bride looks stifled by MPEG-2 rather than a modern codec. Artifacting is blocky in every shot and scene. Not one goes by without harm.

Fine detail? Not here. Resolution sags, although this likely isn’t the scan itself, just the compression. There’s little visible grain leftover, but plenty of dust, dirt, and damage stick around. Some flicker happens too.

Murky gray scale struggles, and again, because of compression. Grays flow into one another without separation. Highlights look fine, as do most black levels. It’s the in-between that causes concern aplenty.

Audio

Routine mastering allows 30 Foot Bride to remain clear, if unspectacular. Dialog peaks crisply, resolved decently, and generally unchallenged. There’s not much to the cheery score. Fidelity holds firm, minus static or popping. That’s all to expectation.

Extras

Paired with an unnecessary re-release of 20 Million Miles to Earth on the same disc, Mill Creek includes a commentary with the Monster Movie Podcast crew for 30 Foot Bride.

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 33 full resolution, uncompressed HD screen shots grabbed directly from the Blu-ray: