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[assimbya]

I have now seen the Claude Rains The Invisible Man.

James Whale has a strange sense of humor.

Comments

[darchildre]

Heh. Yes.

[assimbya]

"He's a megalomaniac who is going to murder many people so he can rule the world - but, look, pants walking around by themselves! Hilarious!"

[darchildre]

To be fair, the pants are pretty damned funny.

[assimbya]

Oh, definitely, but, through the entire movie, I'm never sure when I should stop laughing.

[darchildre]

I know what you mean. I always end up laughing when Una O'Connor gets pushed down the stairs because, well, Una O'Connor, but then I start thinking about whether or not I really want to find that funny.

Jack Griffin is just so joyfully insane, is the thing. It's hard not to want to enjoy it with him.

[assimbya]

It's interesting because he's really not tormented in his insanity. Which does odd, confusing things to our audience sympathies.

[darchildre]

Exactly. One can't feel sorry for him, really, but one does get a great deal of vicarious pleasure out of watching him do wicked things and enjoy them so very much. And then one feels a little bad about it later.

[assimbya]

I wonder if that was James Whale's intention in the first place? He's enough of a cunning director to do that.

[darchildre]

It does sound like the sort of thing he would do, yes. 8)

[assimbya]

Oh, I love him. Him and Murnau (who fought on opposing sides during World War I! So interesting).