The Amazing Transparent Man(1960):
Heh Heh. Well once again I've been pleasantly surprised by ol' Edgar. I remember seeing this on my local Creature Feature as a kid and absolutely hating it, and as you can tell from my little crack in the previous review, I was all set to tear it to pieces. Well, it's definitely a more typical product of Ulmer's, and it certainly isn't a "mature" film, and it sure as hell isn't a masterpiece in league with Detour & The Strange Woman, but The Amazing Transparent Man is actually a pretty solid and enjoyable B-flick, with the added distinction of being one of the few films shown on MST3k that the fanboys actually seem to enjoy on it's own merits without the riffing(too bad those idiots couldn't ever give This Island Earth & Danger: Diabolik! the same chance, but I'll take what I can get when MST3k fans show signs of lightening up.).
After an escape from prison, safecracker Joey Faust(yes) is chauferred by a woman named Laura(Marguerite Churchill) to the deserted country mansion of Major Krenner(James Griffith), after narrowly avoiding the most gullible cop in film history(my old buddy Deputy Dipshit in his rookie years, mayhap?) and making the accquaintance of Krenner's Deliverance-reject handyman Julian("Red" Morgan), who assures our protagonist that there's plenty of "Carpet chewing" going on in the house(yes, actual dialogue, but don't bother getting excited, that's just some really unfortunate phrasing).
The smooth-talking Krenner blackmails Faust into stealing atomic materials for his experiments, which are performed by ex-nazi Dr. Ulof(Ivan Triesault) in the hopes of creating an invisible army. Faust(Douglas Kennedy) eventually agrees to work for him, using the invisibility ray to steal various atomic compounds and such, but being the safecracker he is, as well as a bad-tempered surly drunk, quickly decides the ray would be better put to use for bank robberies. But you see, there are a few glitches in the ray...
Yup, this definitely isn't masterpiece material, but it's still fun. There's a great noirish atmosphere, and a really cool piano tune that drums in every few minutes and adds a hint of menace(BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM). The acting isn't too bad either, top-billed Marguerite Churchill has little to do and is basically your typical simpering female, but she isn't annoying and at least manages to evoke some sympathy. Only problem is that she isn't really believable as a tough gun moll considering how much she gets manipulated and slapped around. Douglas Kennedy makes Faust one of the most unlikeable and selfish characters ever to be the protagonist of a film, let's put it this way; he makes Coleman Francis's Griffin from Red Zone Cuba seem positively cuddly in comparison. What makes it worse is the ending, when we see him pull one of the most unconvincing reformations ever put on screen. At least his nastiness makes him a credible threat, however. You really do believe that he's a hardened criminal. The awesomely named Boyd "Red" Morgan(who actually could pass for Frank and Ralph's more uneducated brother) is similarly unpleasant and off-putting as the taciturn Julian, however, he gets one incredible moment of pathos that is just plain jarring.
The best performances in the film come from James Griffith as Krenner, projecting a surprisingly sly and understated evil that occasionally rises to the surface in full-blown woman-beating brutality, in other scenes he hams in a manner that would do Vincent Price proud. Little-known actor Ivan Triesault gives a great performance as the tragic Dr. Ulof, his dignified, guilt-wracked performance adds a much needed sense of dignity to the proceedings. A sequence where he tells an unsympathetic Faust of the horrors he was forced to commit in Auschwitz that led to the death of his wife is absolutely heartbreaking, and beats Bela Lugosi's similar war-embittered ramblings in The Black Cat in the pathos department.
As for the effects in the film, they range from brilliantly pulled off(the scenes of Faust fading in and out are quite well-done) to horrifically amateurish(there's an atomic explosion so fake that it doesn't even use stock-footage, just a still of a mushroom cloud that someone is obviously shaking; atomic explosions are to 50's and 60's sci-fi films what torch-wielding villagers were to Universal horror films). You also gotta love Ulmer's heavily handed use of metaphors in naming his bargain-making, power-hungry antihero 'Faust", which is as blatantly obvious as ''meaningful'' names can get). Still, considering that the film is too fast-paced and too short to wear out it's welcome(clocking in at just under an hour), I'd say it's a good choice for a double-feature with one of Ulmer's other films, or one of Universal's endless and tepid sequels to the classic 1933 Invisible Man. See it if there's nothing else to watch.
And so that concludes Ulmer-thon 2. Not bad, Edgar, not bad.