☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The Invisible Man (1933) – J. Whale
Inexplicably, I
never reviewed James Whale’s classic version of the H. G. Wells’ story, even
having watched it many times before (and now in 4K Ultra HD). This is Claude Rains’ Hollywood debut: even if
you don’t actually see him for most of the film, that voice is enough! We begin
somewhere in the middle, after Rains as Jack Griffin has already discovered the
secret of invisibility (through chemical means) and now desperately wants to
find the antidote, to become visible again.
He’s holed up at a local British pub/hotel owned by Una O’Connor and
Forrester Harvey (playing as broadly as they can for comic relief), becoming
more and more disagreeable (under his bandages, hat, and false nose) until they
call in the constable. Meanwhile, the
head of his lab Cranley (Henry Travers) and scientific colleague Kemp (William
Harrigan) have figured out that Griffin is the Invisible Man and even know the
unfortunate side effects of the chemical he’s used that will eventually make
him go mad. Although Cranley and his
daughter, Griffin’s love interest, Flora (Gloria Stuart, later in Titanic,
1997), want to help Griffin, his rival Kemp wants to turn him over to the
police. Of course, it doesn’t end well
for Griffin. Whale pulls out all the
stops with regard to the special effects and, as this is still the pre-Code
era, it shouldn’t be a surprise to find out that Griffin has to spend most of
his time naked – although he’s too preoccupied with finding a way back to
visibility to get up to much mischief (apart from a couple of murders and some
monomaniacal rambling). Quite a few
sequels followed this.
