Le voleur invisible

H.G. Wells "The Invisible Man" amazingly loud suit nice stop-motion and strings. Used green screen like effect? why did he begin stealing AFTER he put on clothes and makeup?

While a bit primitive today, the special effects in "Le Voleur Invisible" are incredible. It begins with a man buying a copy of H.G. Wells' book "The Invisible Man". However, this must have been a special edition, as it gave the exact formula that the man in the book used to become invisible, so the guy tries it and soon disappears. Then, using a variety of film tricks, they made an amazingly convincing film. It's obvious they used stop-motion and strings for some of the effects (though they hid the strings very well) but the invisibility was a lot tougher and I assume they used some early version of blue or green screen to achieve this. Interestingly, for part of the time you can barely see a the invisible guy--like he's 95% invisible.

As far as the plot goes, it's very basic given that it's only about 7 minutes long. Using these new powers, this dishonest guy steals and then attacks the poor cops who try to arrest him. All in all, a completely incredible film for 1909 and proof that Segundo de Chomón was a very, very skilled filmmaker.

Even though stop-motion animation was a staple element in the director's career and had been used significantly before in 1908, Segundo de Chomón's animation is still very creditable in the case of this film, flows at a decent pace, and works quite well in its main object. The plot also gives reason for the effects, and does not make the film a show off of tricks; while not overly original--deriving seemingly from H. G. Well's "The Invisible Man" book--it puts these gimmicks to good use and works very cleverly as a result.

The film is about an innocent man who buys a copy of "The Invisible Man". He becomes quite fascinated with the book and upon finding a recipe for invisibility in the back, he mixes up the potion, drinks it, and uses the opportunity to become a pickpocket and steal from various people. The effects take over after he becomes invisible, with stop-motion photography, wire-work and a good 'invisible' look for the man all being admirable for a film of the period. They hold up very well today, and make some interesting sequences.

The film is also definitely superior to the work Georges Méliès, who was still making trick films with no plot at this time and carrying the effects forth as a single long shot. "The Invisible Thief", unlike Méliès's work, utilizes a technique seldom used a lot in the 1900s: closeups. To display the animation of the papers and plates being stolen, the director was forced to cut in show it, and this makes the film much more elaborately structured. Another part that sticks out are the closeups used to show the book and the invisibility recipe, both of which lack continuity when compared to the long shots preceding them but are both a step toward modern storytelling. While Chomón would not stay a director in the industry long enough to continue revolutionizing (and had to let Griffith pick up where he left off eventually), he was and is still an often-overlooked figure in the development of cutting, and thus more significant than a Méliès-copier--which he is often credited as being.

A man buys H.G. Wells' novel 'The Invisible Man' and recreates Griffin's formula (see trivia section for recipe). Rendered invisible, he strips off his clothes and goes on a crime spree. Returning to his apartment he dons his clothes and a mask, and goes out to pick pockets. He is chased by police and in the ensuing scuffle, they pull off his clothes and mask and find themselves fighting 'nothing'. Invisible again, the thief torments the terrified policemen who comically run away. Predating James Whale's 'The Invisible Man' (1933) by almost 25 years, Ferdinand Zecca's film is one of the first to attempt invisibility special effects. The trick is done by in-camera double exposure, so when the thief is invisible but still dressed, he is translucent (eventually the use of travelling mattes would avoid this problem) and the unexposed 'black' areas of the initial exposure were not perfect, so some image of the 'invisible' man is noticeable, but the film was made in 1909, so all this can be forgiven. "An Invisible Thief" is an inventive entry in the early history of special effects cinematography and worth watching by any cinephile.

The Invisible Thief (1909)

*** (out of 4)

This French film has a man buying H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man book and getting the idea of turning himself invisible so that he can commit crimes. Apparently the book itself gives the chemical to turn yourself invisible so the would-be thief has no problems doing it. THE INVISIBLE THIEF is in no way, shape or form a masterpiece but it's an interesting little movie and especially when you consider the era that it was made. If you're expecting something like James Whale's THE INVISIBLE MAN then you can forget it. With that said, fans of that film are going to enjoy this because it shares some of the same story including the man living in a boarding house with a landlady as well as another scene where he beats up some cops. The special effects are very obvious today because when he's invisible you can still see the outline of the actor. But again, this was 1909 we're talking about so you can't be too hard. Some of the other effects like the moving furniture is something Georges Melies was doing better even a decade earlier.

I still remember how amazed I was when I first saw Hollow Man (2000), the sci-fi film where Kevin Bacon becomes invisible and commits a series of crimes. In that movie, he wore clothes and a creepy mask when he wanted to be seen, and took them off when he didn't. Essentially, The Invisible Thief from 1909 delivers the very same concept-which is, to put it mildly, absolutely astounding considering it comes from the early days of silent cinema. Today, creating that effect would be a simple green screen trick, but back then? Just wow.

I believe they used an early form of superimposition-likely a double exposure technique-to bring the invisibility effect to life. All the other visual tricks in the film, like stop motion and string work to move objects as if guided by an invisible hand, are fairly straightforward (and honestly, not particularly polished). But the scenes where the man gradually becomes invisible? Those deserve the highest respect. It's a technical marvel for its time.