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Bookmark this pageThe Invisible Man (1933)
Director: James Whale
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Engrossing adaptation of HG Wells' tale of a scientist made invisible by his experiments with the drug monocaine. The megalomania that ensues upon Rains' ability to go about unseen is played for suspense, pathos and tongue-in-cheek humour (he can't go out in the rain, because it would make him look like a ridiculous bubble). The real strengths of the movie are John P Fulton's remarkable special effects (Rains removing his bandages to reveal nothing, footsteps appearing as if by magic in the snow), lending much-needed conviction to the blatant fantasy; and the fact that we never see the scientist without his bandages until the very end of the film. No wonder Karloff, disdainful of a role in which he would for the most part only be heard, turned down the part; but Rains, with his clear, sensitively inflected voice, was lucky: it made him a star.Author: GA
User reviews of this film
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- Leona Luk said...
- Posted on Aug 12 2007 18:50 From 1933 to 2007 a lot has happened in the horror genre to turn this film from suspenseful to ... well, not all that suspenseful. Today hardly anyone would see it for a scare - it's all about the special effects, which are still really special. The removal of the bandages, the invisible man riding a bike, even hay moving around by itself in a barn - it's all fantastic and worth seeing this for.
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Cast & crew
Director: James Whale
Producer: Carl Laemmle Jr
Cast: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, Una O'Connor, William Harrigan, EE Clive, Dudley Digges, Dwight Frye, Walter Brennan, John Carradine full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Duration: 71 mins
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