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Megalomanic ex-army Major Krenner (James Griffith) has big time
gangster and safe cracker Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) broken out of
prison to use him as a guinea pig.
Guinea pig for what ?
You seen Krennel has forced scientist Ulov (Ivan Triesault) to develop
a machine for him that turns people invisible ... and who better to test
it on than a convict whom Krennel can also use to - once invisible - break
into nuclear powerplants to steal radioactive material to continue the
invisibility experiment - and eventually have enough radioactive material
to form an invisible army to conquer the world ... or at least the USA.
Hiowever, Faust has some ideas of his own, and even after the first
break in he figures it would be more profitable to rob a bank than a
nuclear powerplant - and before long he has convinced Laura (Marguerite
Chapman) to act as his assistant. However, even Faust's first bank job
goes somewhat wrong when he tunrs partially visible while still at it - he
still gets away with the loot though. Later he turns invisible again ...
It is then that he realizes he has been had by Krenner and he asks Ulov
to make him all visible again, to which Ulov only agrees if Faust frees
Ulov's daughter Mary (Carmel Daniel). Only when he has done so does Faust
learn a terrible fact: Due to the radiation he was exposed to during the
experiment, he has been gravely contaminated and has but one more month to
live ... and Ulov persuades Faust to once in his life do the right thing
and, instead of spending his time running from the police, face Krenner
for a final showdown, just to make sure that he won't form his invisible
army ... and consequently, Krenner's house and Krenner and Faust with it,
go up in a radioactive explosion ...
Of course, on a mere story level, this film is rather silly, but it has
at least two saving graces: 1) the film is rich in subtext not necessarily
found in drive-in science fiction, like Ulov's past as a scientist who was
once forced to work for the Nazis and during his experiments killed his
own wife, or the gangster who still has a certain moral code without
turning into the gangster with a heart of gold in the end; and 2)
The film is more carefully directed than most other similar films, with
veteran director Edgar G.Ulmer showing a sure eye in interesting camera
set-ups and getting the most out of the cheap sets so the film looks
incredibly interesting for a drive-in flick shot in just one week. That
said, The Amazing Transparent Man is certainly no masterpiece, and
probably not even one of Ulmer's better films, but it's an interesting and
entertaining sci-fi-flick nevertheless.
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