The Invisible Woman

This movie is a winner all the way. Mad Scientist Barrymore with Margaret Hamilton as his housekeeper invents an invisibility formula for his patron. When a model, Virginia Bruce, gets a hold of it, all havoc breaks loose, from revenge on her tyrannical boss, Charles Lane, to Oskar Homolka and Shemp Howard, two villains trying to steal the formula for themselves. Charles Ruggles also provides hilarity as the butler/chauffer.

Delightful comedy from start to finish, with plenty of bounce and throw-away lines. Of course, invisible people can be the stuff of horror, but there's plenty of shtick in the idea, as well. For example, the Topper series (1953-55) made good comedic appeal in TV's early days, while Abbott and Costello spoofed the idea in maybe their best " A&C Meet__" (1951).

Here, it's a first-rate cast, including some of Hollywood's most colorful lugs— including, Ed Brophy, Donald McBride, Shemp Howard, and mugging it up comedically, John Barrymore. Seems Barrymore's invented a fade-away gizmo that he wants patented, but first has to get seed money from playboy John Howard. Then too he needs to hire a human guinea pig to prove that the gizmo works, and that's dress-model Virginia Bruce who's out for revenge against her cruel boss (Lane). Naturally crooks get wind of the invention and want to hijack it. So, amusing mayhem ensues.

Note the lengths the script manages to avoid that awful word "naked". Instead a number of Code euphemisms are employed. Still, the shtick makes funny use of Bruce's being naked when invisible. In fact, the writers go to some lengths making her occasional lack of clothes realistic— e.g. she gets cold up at the cabin. Anyway, the well-timed gags fly thick and fast, along with expert pacing from director Sutherland. At the same time, Charlie Ruggles almost steals the show as the impeccable butler. All in all, this Universal production amounts to a genuine sleeper despite the darkish title, and definitely deserves more frequent revival.

Watching this film, the minute I saw the opening credits and saw who was in the cast, I knew I would enjoy this and I was not disappointed.

Bela Lugosi was quoted as saying that when Abbott&Costello met Frankenstein some years later, it killed the classic horror genre that Universal was known for. If that was the case, I'm not sure how the genre escaped the executioner here.

The original film of The Invisible Man saw Claude Rains give one of his great performances as the scientist who becomes invisible, but with the terrible side effect of losing his mind. It's classic acting at its best.

In The Invisible Woman John Barrymore is the scientist who plays it like a cross between his own Oscar Jaffe in Twentieth Century and Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein. Barrymore really looks like he's having all kinds of fun with the part. But he's smart enough not to experiment on himself.

Barrymore is a pet project of playboy John Howard who spends as much money on him as he does settling with women with whom he's had various amours, much to the distraction of Thurston Hall his family attorney. Hall breaks the news to Howard just as Barrymore seems on the verge of a breakthrough. All this is making butler Charlie Ruggles start looking for other employment. That and what follows.

So much so he's advertised for a human subject in an oblique newspaper ad. Two parties respond to the ad, the first is Virginia Bruce who likes the idea of invisibility. She wants to use it to even some accounts with her boss Charles Lane. Lane runs a department store and Bruce is one of several models he abuses with petty tyranny. Her scenes where she does even accounts are some of the funniest.

But a second party is also interested, but he doesn't just want to become invisible. Oscar Homolka wants to steal the secret and return to this country from Mexico where he's been living as a fugitive. So he sends henchmen, Edward Brophy, Donald MacBride, and Shemp Howard to steal Barrymore's machine.

I should point out that unlike Rains's film and other invisible man pictures, Barrymore invents some Young Frankenstein like contraption which you go into and are bombarded with rays to become invisible. In the hands of amateurs the machine does have some interesting side effects and not the ones Claude Rains suffered.

The Invisible Woman is used as an example of how low Barrymore's career had sunk. Yet even when Barrymore is slowly destroying himself with substance abuse in real life, the man's comic genius is apparent even in a film like this. In fact he led the entire cast in one big orgy of overacting where all these colorful people try to top themselves in scenery chewing.

The Invisible Woman did get an Academy Award nomination for Special Effects, but lost to Paramount's I Wanted Wings.

Note in the cast Maria Montez as one of Virginia Bruce's fellow models who shortly would be obtaining short lived stardom in her own genre for Universal Pictures.

The Invisible Woman is a very funny picture, a really good satire on the horror film genre. Made on a dime so to speak, don't miss it if it's ever broadcast.

A model named Kitty agrees to become a guinea pig for an eccentric scientist and his experiment. He intends to use a machine he's developed to make Kitty invisible. It works, but the experiment draws the unfortunate attention of a mob boss who has nefarious notions for the professor and his machine.

I think anyone who's written about The Invisible Woman begins by pointing out the obvious - it's a comedy - actually, a screwball comedy. There's not a single element of horror to be found. Other than the fact that The Invisible Woman was made by Universal, includes some nice special effects, and has the word "Invisible" in the title, this movie has nothing at all in common with its predecessor, The Invisible Man. Instead, The Invisible Woman features a light, engaging, breezy tone that worked on me. Thanks in large part to a fantastic cast (including John Barrymore, Virginia Bruce, Shemp Howard, Margaret Hamilton, and plethora of other familiar faces) most of the comedy works - highlighted by Kitty's revenge on her boss. I might not have laughed out loud, but I had a smile on my face the whole time. The film's pacing is also a plus. The 72 minute runtime flies by. And while this may have been a "B" film with a "B" budget, you'd never guess by looking at it. Like a lot of Universal's output from this period, The Invisible Woman looks far better than it has any right. The cinematography is on point.

So, comedy that works, solid acting, snappy direction, nice cinematography - sounds like a winner. If the film were a bit less predictable, I'd easily rate it higher. Still, a 6/10 from me.

6/10

Agreeably played for low farce by a most accomplished cast led by those supreme farceurs Charlie Ruggles (who has all the best lines) and John Barrymore (who just manages to snare all the best "business" from Ruggles—who gives him a great run for his money), The Invisible Woman is smoothly directed with lots of great visual effects for those who dote on this sort of thing. Adding to the fun, Charles Lane has a colorful role which he makes the most of, but Maria Montez is along purely for decorative value as part of an eye-appealingly feminine crowd and doesn't have a single line, alas. Not one! It's the lovely Virginia Bruce who makes all the running, while John Howard stands on the sidelines, looking nice and stylish as the straight man. Comic gangster Oscar Homolka and other players do a few turns with three stooges (Shemp Howard, Ed Brophy and Donald MacBride), but the film's funniest scenes occur in the middle section of the movie when the invisible Virgina tangles with the irascible Lane.