The Invisible Man

Early in my infancy, Richard Greene's Robin Hood was, for me, the real, the only portrait of Robin Hood. At that time, I could not notice the budgetary constraints, especially noticeable today in the minute sets where action took place. In the same way, this 1958 Invisible Man was, for me, the true depiction of the Invisible Man: a type of superhero, always fighting for justice. I was eight years of age at the time, so I was very surprised when I learned, later, that Wells original character was not a hero, but a very troubled man.

I enjoyed the I.M. effects very much and I never spotted a wire; however, quite often, things like telephones, pens and cigarettes behaved strangely when lifted by the invisible man: they tended to somehow oscillate, a movement not to be expected from an object supposedly held by a hand (invisible or otherwise).

Nevertheless, it was good and fun. ALL 26 EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE FOR WATCHING OR DOWNLOADING at Internet Archives dot org (Classic TV Section) or at Uncle Earl's Classic TV web site. Don't miss them.

I also agree with the previous commentator that ITC, very markedly at that time, usually offered products of a superior quality. I'm an admirer of Ralph Smart (the producer of this series), who would be later responsible for the excellent and unsurpassed Danger Man (Secret Agent Man) starring Patrick McGoohan.

The 26 half-hour episodes of the science fiction series "The Invisible Man" were originally broadcast on British ATV during the 1958-1959 season. It should not to be confused with the recent Sci-Fi Channel series of the same name, which featured Vincent Ventresca. Nor is it to be mistaken for the David McCallum series, which played on NBC in 1975.

This one is the granddaddy of "The Invisible Man" TV franchise and is about as obscure a television series as you are likely find. I'm sure there is an interesting reason why they saw fit to release something this unknown on DVD, but for now your guess is as good as mine.

It was a pretty decent program for 1958 but is more a curiosity than anything else 50 years later. It was actually a precursor to the James Bond craze a of the mid-1960's. Ralph Smart was the producer and he and his writing team would follow up "The Invisible Man" with "Danger Man"; which Patrick McGoohan would later follow up with "The Prisoner".

Jim Turner plays Dr. Peter Brady, a young British scientist who is accidentally turned permanently invisible. While hoping for the discovery of a process that will reverse his condition, Brady kills time helping MI-5 or some other British intelligence service with their espionage operations in Europe.

The series is actually pretty faithful to the spirit of the H.G. Wells story as Brady walks around on camera dressed in an overcoat and gloves, with bandages covering his face. The gimmick was that during the show's original run, it was never revealed that Turner was the actor playing the title role. In fact this stayed secret until the 1980's. Apparently the identity mystery was not enough to hook viewers and the series was not renewed for a second season. But it left quite a legacy as the spy genre (both parody and serious) soon replaced the western as the primary action adventure focus of television.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Although I normally don't watch shows this old, I found this one to be good for the time period. The special effects were pretty good (until that episode where the invisible man was just wearing glasses) and I enjoyed the plots of each episode. The plots are pretty unique and some of them even feel like they could be their own movie. The actors were also good, even the characters who only appear once. I felt like the women were not treated any differently from the men, which was something I was kind of worried about when I started this show, given the time period it was created. Overall, I find this show to be exceptional, with memorable characters and interesting plots.

This is one of those flashbacks that you remember as a kid. We lived in Brooklyn, N.Y. back in the day and I remember as a child watching previews for a show that I thought was The Invisible Man. All I remember about the previews was a man with the bandages sitting in a chair (possibly in a theater)smoking a cigarett while someone opened a curtain above him looking to see where the cigarette smoke was coming from. Then in another scene I think the Invisible Man was lying on a bed while a fireman came in a door to the room and the fireman passed out from fright. This is all I remember except that I had nightmares from thinking about these scenes. To this day I don't know if this was the scenes from this show or not. I love this site because you can find pretty much all the old shows.

This must have been a wondrous new addition to 1950s Television? Made by ITC who had acquired 'Official Films' and who always managed to produce something a little different.. Its very easy to criticize this series in the 21st century, but if you look at it in the context of the time it was made, It was pretty darn clever. The special effects still look effective and It must have been difficult trying to make a show like this in television time and budget? Certainly this show's effects stand up well against the 1975 'Invisible Man' remake series which used a lot of chroma key overlay for effects and consequently the large amount of blue fuzz, made that one unconvincing.