La femme invisible

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.

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.

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

Director: A. Edward Sutherland, Story: Curt Siodmak, Joe May, Cast: Virginia Bruce (Kitty), John Barrymore (Prof. Gibbs), John Howard (Richard Russell), Charles Ruggles (George), Oskar Homolka ('Blackie'), Charles Lane (Mr.Growley)

For this third installment in the Invisible Man series,Universal decided to do a comedy with a little twist. This time the invisible man is a women! Otherwise this film had no relation to the previous two. Not a horror but a rather lightweight,amusing little film.

John Barrymore plays a simple minded professor who has just created an 'invisible machine'. Rich playboy Richard Russell is financing the professor's 'research' so the professor has to convince him that he can actually make people invisible. Of course he thinks he is crazy! All the professor needs is a human volunteer so he puts an add in the paper. Lovely model 'kitty',played by Virginia Bruce, wants to teach her mean boss,Mr Growley, a little lesion so she answers the add. Things get a little more complicated when a group of thugs hiding out in Mexico see the add. Blackie ,the leader, sends his nitwit sidekicks to try to get the machine. I enjoyed this film and got quite a few laughs watching it. It is available on the Universal Legacy Series Invisible Man film set.

This is the Great Profile's(John Barrymore's) next to penultimate film. It's an enjoyable romp through some sci-fi shenanigans. A wonderful cast co-stars & supports ie: Carol Bruce, Charlie Ruggles, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Lane, Oscar Homolka, Shemp Howard...S-H-E-M-P H-O-W-A-R-D! and even a young unknown Maria Montez before all of the 'Ali Baba' type technicolor spectaculars. You really have to look at the row of models at Carol's job to spot Maria. I really enjoyed this film. It's like the serious original with Claude Rains but albeit with comic twists thrown in. The whole family can go to the theater and have some laughs. The techniques for making Carol Bruce invisible are really well done here but it should have been expected as Universal made the classic original in 1933. Someone mentioned that this could be remade with Charlize Theron. I agree. And it could also be remade with Barrymore's own granddaughter Drew. This movie has a pretty good A list cast. Barrymore was still a name to reckon with. The flick IMHO sort of anticipates the B-movie cheese factor sci fi movies soon to come in the 50s & 60s and even kiddie Saturday morning 70s fair like the Sid & Marty Krofft's 'Dr Shrinker'.