On I List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
3/17
3/17:
I hate dumb films, and The Invisible Man is one of them.
Notwithstanding the running time of 71 minutes, it's slow-paced. Everything seems to be concentrated in one location
which isn't more than ten miles in radius. The Invisible Man can hop on planes, going from one country to another
anytime he wants to continue his reign of terror.
The acting is okay, but it's Una O'Connor, having too much screen time, who's annoying by virtue of her screams.
The special effect of making Claude Rains invisible has to be lauded, even for 1933. It's the only selling point of the
film. The following trivia is taken from IMDb:
"The first time Claude Rains' daughter ever saw her father in a movie was in 1950, when he took her to a showing of
The Invisible Man in a small Pennsylvanian theater. While the film was playing, Rains was telling his daughter all
about how it was made. The other theater patrons stopped watching the movie and instead listened to Rains tell how it was made."
Indeed. So, how did they do it? Sometimes, when the Invisible Man had no clothes on, the effects were done with the use of
wires. When he was partly dressed, Claude Rains, wearing a completely black velvet suit, was shot against a black velvet
background, and then the two reels, including one that's shot on location, were combined as one.
H.G. Wells, who wrote the novel, reportedly liked the film but didn't appreciate the idea of turning the Invisible Man into
a raving lunatic with bipolar disorder. Neither did I. I wish they would keep his intelligence intact, so he could come
off as a cunning villain. Then, the movie will be better off for it, thus being able to stand the test of time.
All in all, The Invisible Man is worth watching for the special effects alone.