The Invisible Man stars Claude Rains as the transparent Dr. Griffin and Gloria Stuart as the love interest added to the otherwise largely-faithful adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel.
When I read the book for the first time a couple of years ago, I was impressed by how much thought Wells had put into the ramifications of becoming invisible, not the least of which was the need to carry out one's activities naked, no matter the temperature. Despite Griffin's boasts of world conquest, invisibility comes off as more of a deficit than an advantage. He has to swathe himself in bandages to interact "normally" with others, and when attempting to travel unseen, there are far too many things that give him away. Happily, much of this thought is carried over in the film.
The Invisible Man was directed by James Whale (whose not-especially-closeted homosexuality was profiled in the bio-pic Gods and Monsters), and bears some of the hallmarks of his later take on Bride of Frankenstein, including a good dose of black humor. Unfortunately, it also shares actress Una O'Connor, whose shrill, babbling housekeeper I hated in Bride, and who plays exactly the same character here.
I enjoyed the various gambits employed by the English police to thwart the transparent Dr. Griffin: cargo nets, spray paint and massive numbers of bobbies. And I appreciated that the filmmakers resisted the temptation to allow their star from any "visible" screen time prior to his character's death. It would've been easy to give Rains a pre-experiment flashback or two, but it was more effective to keep him out of sight until the end.
Ratings Guide |
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| Zero | What the hell were they thinking? Even Ed Wood was more entertaining. |
| 1/2 |
Dear God in Heaven. Probable involvement of Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. |
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Seriously shit. Based upon a Saturday Night Live skit. |
| 1/2 |
Mildly crap. Eddie Murphy made another family comedy. |
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It's not good. It's not bad. It's just there. |
| 1/2 |
Has its moments. A bonus half star for a particularly cool robot or perky breast. |
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Solid entertainment. Exploding robots and/or multiple bare breasts. |
| 1/2 |
As good as most movies can hope to achieve. May include full-frontal nudity. |
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Like Mary Poppins herself, practically perfect in every way. |
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