La tragedia del hombre invisible

Robert Griffin (no relation to Jack) was apparently duped and left for dead in Africa several years ago by his partners who went on to discover a diamond mine. Not only did Griffin lose out on his fortune but he lost his mind too. Eventually, Griffin escapes from a mental institution and returns to England. By chance (or the stroke of the writer's pen) Griffin encounters Dr. Drury, a screwball scientist in search of a weirdo to test out his new invisibility formula. Griffin sees invisibility as a chance to get the vengeance he craves. So the demented doctor gives him the obligatory injection.

This is a long way from the quality of the original 1933 film, with Claude Rains. There are a few familiar special effects but Leon Errol's attempts to provide comic relief meet with mixed results. It soon becomes apparent that the film has nothing going for it other than invisibility as a gimmick. The plot is wafer thin and poorly written. There is little action to speak of just a lot of standing around and talking or sitting around and talking. Clearly, this was an exercise to squeeze a few more dollars out of an aging franchise. On the bright side, there are some decent invisibility effects, like when the invisible man dunks his hand into a fish tank or covers his face in flour. That's not enough to recommend this film however.

A rather weak and confusing script makes The Invisible Man's Revenge not nearly up to the standard set by the first Invisible Man film and the stylish performance of Claude Rains as the scientist who discovers the secret of invisibility and its trap.

Our invisible protagonist in this film is Jon Hall who has come over to Great Britain from South Africa in the belief that Lester Matthews and Gale Sondergaard cheated him out of his half share of a diamond mine. Let's say that their actions don't allay his suspicions and Hall gets quite the bum's rush out of their house.

Alone and paranoid Hall stumbles on scientist John Carradine who's been working on the matter of invisibility. He offers himself as a guinea pig to Carradine and of course Carradine sees Nobel Prize in his future.

Of course Hall has other plans to use the invisibility as a method of revenge. He also considers an alternative to killing and stealing from Matthews and Sondergaard. Hall gets one look at their lovely daughter, Evelyn Ankers, and decides it might be easier to marry the fortune. That is if he can get rid of her boyfriend Alan Curtis.

The motivations of these characters is quite confusing at times, you're not quite sure who to root for. Even in the end, someone had a marvelous idea for the Invisible Man to get his comeuppance involving man's best friend and blew it in the execution.

One very interesting performance in the film is Leon Errol, away from the comic parts he usually had. He's still got some funny moments, but he's also a blackmailing scoundrel as well.

The Invisible Man's Revenge is far from the best in the series. Even Abbott&Costello's film with them ranks better than this.

Ah, to be invisible. It is a fantasy that everyone has thought about from time to time. Never mind that if you really were invisible the liabilities would overwhelm the assets; for one thing you would be totally blind because light would pass right through your retinas without reflecting, so unless bumping into things is your idea of fun being invisible is no great shakes. Now most of the time I like invisible man movies but this time I am willing to make an exception.

Jon Hall took a break from costarring with Maria Montez to be in this thriller. Robert Griffin (Jon) and his pals discovered a diamond mine while they were in Africa. Said pals (Lester Mathews and Gale Sondergaard) double crossed Bob, knocked him over the head and left him for dead. Bob survived but lost his memory and ended up in a South African nuthouse. He escaped after killing 2 guards and stowed away on a ship that brought him back to England. Why did I tell you all this? Because all that took place before the movie even starts and we have to hear about it from various characters the the film progresses!

When Bob finally gets back to his not-so-great-friends Sir Jasper and Lady Irene he finds out that not only did they rob him they subsequently lost most of their fortune due to bad investments! Bob decides that no, that is not revenge enough, he wants whatever is left of the cash PLUS their daughter Julie (Evelyn Ankers) as his bride whether she likes it or not! Run out of the mansion Bob gets lost in a storm and ends up at the house of Dr. Drury (John Carradine) whose neighbours think he is batty because he has perfected a way to make living things invisible.

Now here is the part of the movie you have been waiting for. Anxious to experiment on a human being, Drury injects his serum into Bob and, as Fate and the scriptwriter would have it, Bob goes "poof" and becomes invisible. With the help of a local character (former Vaudeville comic Leon Errol, doing a believable Cockney accent) Bob tries to scare Sir Jasper into signing away what is left of his fortune. Does it work? Does it ever? And what about Dr. Drury? How will he feel about letting an invisible maniac loose on the countryside?

This is one time we don't have to worry about the invisibility serum driving the man mad because Bob is bonkers to begin with. The floating effects are predictable but fun and half the fun is spotting the wires. The cast is very recognisable if you like spotting character actors. Lester Mathews had gone up against THE WEREWOLF OF London and costarred with Karloff and Lugosi in THE RAVEN (both 1935) and later ended up battling Fu Manchu on a weekly basis on the "Adventures of Fu Manchu" TV series. Gale Sondergaard is forever identified as "The Spider Woman" from SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SPIDER WOMAN and THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK. Leon Errol costarred with fading starlet Lupe Velez in the Mexican Spitfire series and had his own series of 2 reel comedies. Watch also for Doris Lloyd (Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes series), Ian Wolfe (too doggone many movies to list here), Billy Bevan (DRACULA'S DAUGHTER, RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE, etc.) and Skelton Knaggs (BEDLAM, ISLE OF THE DEAD, etc.). Brutus the dog who turns out to be the hero of the picture is played by animal actor Grey Shadow. John Carradine is a welcome addition but is not given enough to do. Wisely he does not play his character as a stereotype "mad" scientist. Director Ford Beebe had written and/or directed a lot of serials for Mascot and later for Republic. He also directed NIGHT MONSTER (1942) and even managed to impress Alfred Hitchcock by bringing in such an effective thriller in only 11 days.

INVISIBLE MAN'S REVENGE is far from the best of the series. You might want to check out INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940) or even the 1933 original with Claude Rains for some real entertainment.

This movie has the problem of having little or no sympathetic characters. Except for the villagers and the constables, everyone seems crooked in their own way. This leaves you not caring at all about who is the victim or the victimizer. So you are left with a movie that is just fun to watch to see how it was all done. When I get to where I am paying more attention to the technical aspects of a movie instead of enjoying the story, it really did not engage me. As far as special effects go, it was okay, I suppose by 1944 standards. A little lazy in many places though. Matte silhouettes are frequently seen and wires are clear in the scene where a man is supposedly lifted by the invisible man. I say it is lazy because, judging from the earlier invisible man movies, better effects were definately available, they just seem glossed over here. The "money shot" of the movie appears to be a scene where the invisible man plunges his hand into a fish tank and then splashes water on his face to become visible. That's it basically, the scene appears pretty early on and there will be no scene comparable to it, so the movie plays it's hand too early. That scene in the very last sequence would have left the audience with something to talk about as they left. It's not the best Invisible Man movie, not the absolute worst, worth watching if only for people who must see all of a series.

Directed and produced by Ford Beebe, this invisible man installment is quite interesting. Robert Griffin(Jon Hall) returns from the "left for dead" only to find out his business partners have cheated him out of a fortune. Griffin practically stumbles into the helping hands of Dr. Drury(John Carradine), who experiments with a new formula that makes animals invisible. Griffin feels if he himself was invisible he could better seek his revenge on his double crossers. After becoming invisible, the weird doctor is in no hurry to return Griffin to normal.

I have always liked Hall even though he is not an overly exciting actor. Along with Carradine there is a very able supporting cast that includes: Lester Matthews, Leyland Hodgson, Evelyn Ankers and Leon Errol. Very creative for a small budget film. Well worth watching.