THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933)
And now we circle back to the monsters!
I've been having fun with this blog series on the old Universal horror films, but so far I've been hitting mainly the early silents and one off Karloff/Lugosi flicks. Universal horror is really all about the monsters--Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon (can't wait for that one!), and, oh yes, the Invisible Man. The movies about these characters spawned loads of sequels--five for the Invisible Man alone--and they are all available in Universal Legacy Collection DVD sets. These seem to have been released in an effort to promote VAN HELSING (2004), Stephen Sommers' action vehicle starring Hugh Jackman, but who cares? Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Dracula, Everybody Meets Abbott and Costello, hunchbacks and torch-waving villagers--I'm going to plow through all of them, roughly in chronological order. I've already got up reviews of DRACULA (1931) and FRANKENSTEIN (1931).
THE INVISIBLE MAN was directed by the great James Whale, based on H.G. Welles' 1897 novel. Welles (1866-1946) was actually around to see the film, which blows my mind a little bit.
It is the first film in the distinguished film career of Claude Rains, who is undoubtedly best known for playing Captain Louis "Round up the usual suspects" Renault in CASABLANCA (1942). I hope Claude wasn't too disappointed to learn that his title character would turn invisible before the start of the movie, and his face would never appear until the final frame! His voice is terrific though. The invisibility effects were created by covering Claude's body in black velvet and filming before a black background, making any clothes he puts on appear disembodied and any object he picks up seem to fly magically through the air. The resulting images were composited onto separately filmed background plates. The effects look great throughout the movie.
The female lead is Gloria Stuart, who died three weeks ago at the age of 100. Ms. Stuart thought that the roles for women in early movies were limiting and retired from acting in 1946, only to return and win an Oscar playing the aged Rose in TITANIC (1997). Here, she plays the woman who loves the Invisible Man, but is powerless to reverse the tragic course of events that unfolds.
Jack Griffin (Rains) is a scientist who has discovered an invisibility formula by experimenting on himself. He is researching, but has not yet found, a means of reversing this condition. His clothes are visible, and he can make himself appear solid by wrapping bandages around his head and putting on dark glasses. Unfortunately, the same substance that makes him invisible is driving him mad. First he loses his frustration tolerance, then graduates to cruel pranks, then starts to go on homicidal rampages.
Being invisible seems to be as much about liberation as loss of opacity. What would you do if no one could see you, and you didn't have to be accountable for anything? Why, you'd strip off your clothes and dance and sing, punish your enemies, and always do the first thing that popped into your head--socially acceptable or not. Some have speculated that James Whale, whose story as a gay Hollywood director was told in the Ian McKellen film GODS AND MONSTERS (1998), had a special longing for this kind of liberation. Whale invests THE INVISIBLE MAN with a dark sense of humor and wicked satire that coexists with the poignancy of the loss experienced by Griffin's friends and the girl who loves him.
I saw this movie once projected in a park with the sound turned off while an improv comedy troupe made up nonsense lines. I have nothing against improv or MST3K, but this film does not merit such treatment. It stands tall all on its own and I love it.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
I've been having fun with this blog series on the old Universal horror films, but so far I've been hitting mainly the early silents and one off Karloff/Lugosi flicks. Universal horror is really all about the monsters--Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon (can't wait for that one!), and, oh yes, the Invisible Man. The movies about these characters spawned loads of sequels--five for the Invisible Man alone--and they are all available in Universal Legacy Collection DVD sets. These seem to have been released in an effort to promote VAN HELSING (2004), Stephen Sommers' action vehicle starring Hugh Jackman, but who cares? Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Dracula, Everybody Meets Abbott and Costello, hunchbacks and torch-waving villagers--I'm going to plow through all of them, roughly in chronological order. I've already got up reviews of DRACULA (1931) and FRANKENSTEIN (1931).
THE INVISIBLE MAN was directed by the great James Whale, based on H.G. Welles' 1897 novel. Welles (1866-1946) was actually around to see the film, which blows my mind a little bit.
It is the first film in the distinguished film career of Claude Rains, who is undoubtedly best known for playing Captain Louis "Round up the usual suspects" Renault in CASABLANCA (1942). I hope Claude wasn't too disappointed to learn that his title character would turn invisible before the start of the movie, and his face would never appear until the final frame! His voice is terrific though. The invisibility effects were created by covering Claude's body in black velvet and filming before a black background, making any clothes he puts on appear disembodied and any object he picks up seem to fly magically through the air. The resulting images were composited onto separately filmed background plates. The effects look great throughout the movie.
The female lead is Gloria Stuart, who died three weeks ago at the age of 100. Ms. Stuart thought that the roles for women in early movies were limiting and retired from acting in 1946, only to return and win an Oscar playing the aged Rose in TITANIC (1997). Here, she plays the woman who loves the Invisible Man, but is powerless to reverse the tragic course of events that unfolds.
Jack Griffin (Rains) is a scientist who has discovered an invisibility formula by experimenting on himself. He is researching, but has not yet found, a means of reversing this condition. His clothes are visible, and he can make himself appear solid by wrapping bandages around his head and putting on dark glasses. Unfortunately, the same substance that makes him invisible is driving him mad. First he loses his frustration tolerance, then graduates to cruel pranks, then starts to go on homicidal rampages.
Being invisible seems to be as much about liberation as loss of opacity. What would you do if no one could see you, and you didn't have to be accountable for anything? Why, you'd strip off your clothes and dance and sing, punish your enemies, and always do the first thing that popped into your head--socially acceptable or not. Some have speculated that James Whale, whose story as a gay Hollywood director was told in the Ian McKellen film GODS AND MONSTERS (1998), had a special longing for this kind of liberation. Whale invests THE INVISIBLE MAN with a dark sense of humor and wicked satire that coexists with the poignancy of the loss experienced by Griffin's friends and the girl who loves him.
I saw this movie once projected in a park with the sound turned off while an improv comedy troupe made up nonsense lines. I have nothing against improv or MST3K, but this film does not merit such treatment. It stands tall all on its own and I love it.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K