Hello again!
My apologies for not having this review up yesterday, I watched the movie and wrote most of the review, but fell asleep before I could finish it.
This movie is 'The Invisible Man,' based on the H.G. Wells novel, directed by James Whale (Who also directed 'Frankenstein'), and starring Claude Rains as the title role.
Dr. Jack Griffin is a scientist who has abruptly discovered the secret to invisibility. Problem is, he cannot find a way to reverse the process, so he works tirelessly to that end, keeping his face wrapped in bandages whenever he wants to appear visible. An additional problem surfaces as one of Griffin's former colleagues discovers that one of the ingredients which went into the invisibility formula is highly dangerous, and that prolonged exposure to it can cause insanity.
Griffin grows drunk with all the newfound power of being invisible, using it first to just mess with cops and random people (i.e. he steals one cop's pants right off the poor guy at one point), then he begins using it to kill people; At first just cops who grow too close to catching him, then causing a train full of people to crash, and finally taking out a former friend who had betrayed him. He ultimately goes down for good when a farmer catches Griffin napping in his barn, informs the cops, and they shoot him (It's during a snowstorm, so they can see his footprints). He bids farewell to his lost love, Flora (Played by Gloria Stuart, who would play old Rose in 'Titanic,' and sadly passed away just a year ago at age 100), then dies, finally becoming visible again, and the movie ends.
One weakness to 'The Invisible Man' is that, as with ‘The Mummy,’ there isn’t much character development of the supporting cast. In particular, Flora doesn’t do much at all in it. You learn through one of the only conversations she has with Griffin in the film that they used to be a nice couple, but we don’t see much of that. Also, her father, who is one of Griffin’s former colleagues (Played by Henry Travers, who a few years later would have a much more famous role as Clarence in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’), similarly doesn’t get a whole lot of depth. Another small weakness is that one of the characters, a landlady (Una O'Connor) of an inn that Griffin stays in for a bit, is quite obnoxious. First, she is ALWAYS screaming, in a really high and shrill voice, it gets on one's nerves very quickly. Second, on the few occasions she isn't screaming, it is very difficult to tell what she is saying, between her heavy accent and how quickly she talks. Still, she becomes one of those characters who's so annoying it's funny (Sort of like Evil Ed in ‘Fright Night,’ for those who remember that movie), and we don't see her again after the first half of the film, so it’s not like we have to put up with her for long.
For 'The Invisible Man''s strengths, the first is easy; It is hands- down the funniest of all the Universal monster movies. Seeing Griffin going wild and using his invisibility to pull odd pranks and things on everyone made me laugh so hard. A second strength along those lines is that the special effects for the invisibility scenes were, for the time, absolutely incredible. In particular, the scenes when Griffin is just wearing one or two bits of clothing (i.e. a jacket or pair of pants) and is otherwise invisible had me really wondering how they did it back then. Another high point, as with 'The Mummy,' is that there is much more in terms of a musical score than there had been in the past Universal monster films. A final strength is that Rains' voice is absolutely perfect for Griffin; In some cases, it's funny (i.e. when he's using his invisibility to taunt people), in other cases, it is quite frightening when he is conveying the immense rage and love of power that he feels, and he can also be extremely sympathetic, especially in the few scenes in which he is with Flora.
Well, that's 'The Invisible Man.' Defiitely worth a watch.
My next review should, God willing, be up tonight. Until then, see you later!
