When we pulled the fourth disc out of the Universal Monsters box, I was disappointed. I was figuring that the fourth movie would be the fourth great, classic Universal monster, the Wolf Man. To my surprise, it was actually the Invisible Man, based on H.G. Wells book. The Wolf Man wouldn't come out for another eight years.
Dr. Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) is a scientist in England in 1933 (set the year the movie came out). At the start of the film, he has already turned himself invisible and fled from his colleagues and fiancee. He enters an English inn during a snowstorm to work on a cure, but the insatiable curiosity of the townsfolk lead to his unmasking, a few murders, an escape, and England goes to war with the Invisible Man.
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| The Invisible Man's very cool, steam punk aesthetic, entrance. |
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| A suspicious bartender and a hysterical (not in a good way) innkeeper (Una O'Connor). |
The police become involved and a country-wide manhunt ensues. At this point, it's interesting to note that (1) to be invisible, Dr. Griffin needs to be naked (duh), and (2) it's winter in England, along with lots of snow. One would think that sub-freezing temperatures might be a hindrance to a naked, albeit invisible, man, but aside from some unfortunate footprints in the snow, he doesn't seem too bothered.
Dr. Griffin has a plan worthy of the underpants gnomes in South Park. He plans to terrorize England by killing lots of people, and then somehow gain power. Of course, he's been driven mad by the invisibility serum, so I guess his plan doesn't need to make sense. What follows is carnage unequaled by the other Universal Monsters. He derails a train, killing hundreds of people. He also returns to the small village to terrorize the townfolk and he plays cat and mouse with the police, who seem unusually inept.
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| The suave, invisible man of wealth and leisure, look. |
There's a sequence where he's known to be in a house and the police surround the house, very cleverly locking arms. He still manages to slip through the line, pick up one of the policemen by the feet and swing him around. The police don't seem to realize they can just rush the swinging policemen's feet; the Invisible Man is bound to be holding those feet. After he easily escapes, Dr. Griffin, wearing only pants, runs down the street singing, "Here we go gathering nuts in May . . ."
As you might have guessed by now, there's a decent amount of humor in the movie. In fact, it gets downright silly at times. Perhaps that's not surprising given a "monster" who is not super strong or has any actual superpower. He's just a naked, invisible guy running around committing murder. But the movie works pretty well and is entertaining.
The special effects were, for the time, astounding, and actually hold up pretty well today. Some of the "objects floating in mid-air" effects are nicely done, and the invisibility effect was undoubtedly shocking to 30's audiences.
As far as being a pre-Code movie, there are some pretty appalling murders. He throws two volunteers looking for him off a cliff and tracks down and brutally murders a colleague. Nothing too racy, but still a little shocking.
Here's the 1001plus review for your enjoyment.
2 comments:
It always feels strange to me that the Invisible Man is, in fact, a Universal Monster. He's the one I tend to forget because he seems the least like a monster and the most like a guy who's just crazy.
Unlike a lot of the other Universal monsters, the Invisible Man became much more of a hero. By WWII, he was essentially rehabilitated into a super-spy (The Invisible Agent).
I did not know that! Thanks.
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