The Invisible Woman
In the same year Universal released its official sequel to The Invisible Man they also released another movie in The Invisible Man franchise but this time it wasn’t a man at all, it was a woman!
Not a horror movie by any means, it’s more like giggle fest 1940. The Invisible Woman gets high points for entertainment value. Never trying to scare it aims to titillate, after all a person who is completely invisible is also completely naked and the movie constantly reminds us of this. The facts are its 1940 and there is a naked woman running around on the screen in front of you, you just can’t see her. SCANDELOUS!
This Invisible person is named Kitty Carol (played by Virginia Bruce) and is in no way related to the Griffen family, instead answers an add to be invisible, she goes through some goofy machine run by John Barrymore and poof she’s invisible. The first thing she does is get even with her very mean boss, and scare all the women shoppers at the department store she works in. Yeah it’s kinda ridiculous but also a lot of fun. Somehow gangsters get involved and there is a big crazy climax and then all is well.
While our heroine is pluckily going after her independence, as so many movies in the 40’s she seems only able to achieve this through a man, that man being the dashing John Howard. Virginia Bruce kicks it out as the title character and she is thoroughly entertaining and funny. This movie fills its supporting roles with a lot of greats, maintaining the quality of the film from John Barrymore, to Shemp Howard, to Margaret Hamilton.
While it doesn’t aim to frighten, this movies succeeds in entertaining even if its not the greatest. Its pure 1940’s funny, and for once a woman gets to run around causing trouble in a Universal Horror Franchise Movie.
A little trivia: Margaret Sullivan was originally slated to play Kitty Carol The Invisible Woman but she didn’t want to be in a movie “like that” so she never showed up to work on the first day of filming. This was the era of the Studio System in Hollywood, which meant if she didn’t take the part, she was suspended from work.
(rare picture of Virginia Bruce)