Allied Artists' Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) represents another blatant case of false advertising. There is no scene in this low-budget 66-minute quickie even remotely resembling the spectacular poster art by Reynold Brown. Instead, the film relies on double-exposures most of the time and an oversized rubber hand to create the illusion of a giant Allison Hayes. The story (by Mark Hanna) gives us a traditional and timeworn romantic triangle. Ms. Hayes portrays Nancy Archer, the wealthy neglected wife. William Hudson is her unfaithful husband, caught in the arms of his mistress, Honey Parker, memorably played by Yvette Vickers.
This strange little movie has a certain aura that is difficult to explain. Hayes, Hudson, and Parker acquit themselves with absolute conviction, despite the absurdity of the film's premise. When seen on TV in the mid-'60s, the film seemed even stranger: many scenes were "stretch printed" with extra frames to pad the running time, giving the action a dreamlike air of unreality.
The poster displayed above is the 22" x 28" Half-sheet, printed on card stock, but a more suitable format for this graphic is the 14" x 36" Insert or (for collectors with unlimited wall space) the 41" x 81" Three-sheet.
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