Invisible Agent

Frank Raymond (Jon Hall), grandson of the original Invisible Man, still has the old family formula but won't allow anyone to use it, even though World War II is looming on the horizon. After an unfriendly visit by Axis agents (Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Peter Lorre) and the attack on Pearl Harbor Raymond comes to his senses. He offers the Allies the use of the formula but insists that no one uses it but him. After all, the drug is dangerous but it's never really explained why. Allied Command somehow agrees to go along with this dumb idea. Apparently, it never occurred to them that something might happen to Raymond. If so, what would then become of the drug?

Raymond becomes a phantom commando with a heavy boot for Nazi rears. He parachutes into Germany (an amusing scene). He's supposed to meet with a couple of people and steal vital information. Instead, Raymond spends time wooing the beautiful German double agent he's assigned to work with (Ilona Massey) and playing puerile pranks on an overweight Nazi with an undersized brain. Ultimately, Raymond saves the day by thwarting a far-fetched plot to attack New York.

Despite its faults, this was probably just the ticket for uplifting the morale of American audiences in dark, early days of the war. Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Peter Lorre steal the movie as a Gestapo official and Japanese spymaster, respectively. Their performances are much better than this lighthearted film deserves. I laughed most over Raymond's confrontation with and escape from Hardwicke and his mindless minions at Gestapo headquarters. Still, it bothered me that Ms Massey's character wasn't selected to become to become the Invisible Agent. She was well placed, well trained as a spy, and highly motivated. She knew all the right people, who had access to the right information, and demonstrated cool under fire. Most important of all, she was a lot smarter than Raymond. If she was invisible, I'm sure the war in Europe would have ended much sooner!

This is a very entertaining film, but I like it so much because Peter Lorre plays a Japanese character. Early in the film, Lorre is magnificent as he prepares to get Griffin (Jon Hall) to talk! Cedric Hardwicke is also very good as the Nazi ring leader.

I avoided this film for years, because I thought it was strictly a war movie with some Sci Fi overtones. My mistake. Very good Universal picture and belongs beside the other classics from Universal in the 1940's.

Of the "Invisible Man" series made by Universal, I was only familiar with the first two (both of which I'll rewatch again presently) - the James Whale original being one of my all-time favorites.

Ever since it was released as part of the "Legacy" set, I had mostly read negative opinions about this film - and even Leonard Maltin gives it a pretty low rating. However, I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed it! True, the leads are rather bland (why on earth is Ilona Massey credited before Jon Hall?!) but, then, INVISIBLE AGENT has a formidable trio of villains - Peter Lorre, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and J. Edward Bromberg - going for it (who even make Curt Siodmak's script sound better than it is). Besides, I must say that I'm a sucker for both WWII and espionage movies, so that's a big plus as well...which, I guess, means that it isn't really a horror film and that The Invisible Man is the hero! Oh well, you can't have everything!

John P. Fulton's still-impressive special effects (exposed a bit here by the extra clarity of the DVD transfer) deliver the goods and, all in all, the film made me keen to get to the remaining titles in the series.

Like most American war propaganda films, this film probably presented the perfect propaganda needed at the time to rally a nation, but viewing it today it manages to make the allied forces (and most specifically Americans) look like racist ignorant buffoons in the process. It makes no excuses for it's blatant propaganda messages and obvious opinions of the German or Japanese ("I can't tell you people apart", to quote one of Hall's lines), nor does it even attempt to understand their cultures (Hari Kari, for example, is grossly misunderstood and misrepresented in this film). But I won't argue the issue, because, after all, it's only a movie, and America needed their villians clearly cut and defined to swallow the bitter pill of war.

But honestly, how inept is our "hero" in this film? He's supposed to be on a serious mission to thwart an air raid on New York city (I consider that pretty serious), yet the minute he touches ground on German soil he takes great risks in exposing himself by opting to make his presence known by playing pranks rather than staying low and "out of sight". He frequently jeopardizes the success of the mission because he can't resist grabbing a chicken leg or a glass of wine while in the company of the Gestapo, or falling asleep in facial makeup. And while it makes for some entertaining scenes that utilize the invisible effects, his behavior is completely implausible and downright ridiculous. Think of how easy his mission would have been had he just quietly moved about and retrieved the info he needed without bringing attention to himself. (But that doesn't make for a very entertaining movie, now does it?).

If I were the Maria Sorenson character in this film, I would have kicked him in his unmentionables.

Jon Hall plays Frank Raymond, the grandson of the Invisible Man, who has changed his name from Griffin to Raymond and runs a print shop in hopes of avoiding people looking for his grandfather's formula for invisibility. When Axis agents led by the nefarious duo of Stauffer (Cedric Hardwicke) and Ikito (Peter Lorre) show up and threaten Raymond, he decides to become the Invisible Man and spy for the Allies.

The least of Universal's Invisible Man films but still enjoyable. The continuity's a little sloppy. Frank is said to be the grandson of the original Invisible Man, also named Frank Griffin. But the original was named Jack. It was his brother from The Invisible Man Returns that was named Frank. Plus the original Invisible Man died without kids, unless we're to believe his fiancée in the first movie was pregnant. Anyway, it's probably best to assume Frank Griffin took credit for his brother's discovery...or, you know, don't bother explaining it at all because it's really not that important.

Hall is fine but his character can be irritating at times. The film's worst scene is where he pranks Nazi Karl Heiser (J. Edward Bromberg). The whole scene is a juvenile attempt at laughs that fails badly. Bromberg's character is a perfect example of the movie's main flaw: the out of place comedy within the darker wartime plot. For the most part, Heiser is a joke and treated like Schultz from Hogan's Heroes. But then there are scenes where his darker side comes through that makes the comedy parts a poor fit. Ilona Massey looks great but her character seems to exist just to fall for Hall, even though he treats her pretty crappy. The climax of the movie plays like an action serial with the Nazis pursuing Hall and Massey as they try to escape by plane. What happens next I won't spoil but it's unintentionally silly.

Two characters that actually do work are the evil Stauffer and Ikito, played by Cedric Hardwicke and Peter Lorre. These two are the best part of the film, providing a real menace to the hero. Lorre's Ikito is an especially evil character. He begins the film by threatening to chop Frank's fingers off and later ingeniously (and sadistically) catches him with a net lined with fish hooks! These great actors own every scene they're in and it's worth seeing the movie just for them.