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The Invisible Man's Revenge
USA 1944
produced by Ford L. Beebe for Universal
directed by Ford L. Beebe
starring Jon Hall, Leon Errol, John Carradine, Alan Curtis, Evelyn Ankers, Gale Sondergaard, Lester Matthews, Halliwell Hobbes, Leyland Hodgson, Doris Lloyd, Ian Wolfe, Billy Bevan, Jimmy Aubrey, Lillian Bronson, Leonard Carey, Cyril Delevanti, Janna DeLoos, Tom Dillon, Mildred Dunnock, Arthur Gould-Porter, Olaf Hytten, Guy Kingsford, Skelton Knaggs, Yorke Sherwood
written by Bertram Millhauser, based on concepts by H.G.Wells, music by Hans J. Salter, special effects by John P.Fulton
The Invisible Man, Universal's Invisible Man, Universal horror cycle
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Robert Griffin (Jon Hall) thinks his former business associates Sir
Jasper (Lester Matthews) and Lady Irene (Gale Sondergaard) have cheated
him out of a diamond mine - while actually they just thought he was dead,
and he's also furious that their daughter Julie (Evelyn Ankers), who he
once wanted to marry, is engaged to another man, the reporter Mark (Alan
Curtis). He comes to Jasper's and Irene's estate, and they even show
themselves sympathetic to his cause, but when they can't pay up right
away, he first goes berserk, then faints ... and then is thrown out.
Soon enough, Griffin makes the acquaintance of a scientist, Drury (John
Carradine), who has found a way to make animals invisible and who is now
looking for a human guinea pig. Griffin, who thinks as an invisible man he
has a better chance to get what he wants from Sir Jasper and Lady Irene,
agrees to help Drury with his experiments - and once he is invisible he
terrorizes the two a little ...
However, Griffin has been a little careless about his invisibility, so
soon enough everybody thinks he has seen the Invisible Man, so much
so that even the police and reporter Mark become interested in the affair
...
Ultimately, Griffin wants to force Sir Jasper to give him Julie, but
Sir Jasper tells him he'll never give her away to an invisible man - so
Griffin figures he has to become visible again, and he pays a visit to
Drury. Drury tells him the only way to become visible again is to have a
complete blood transfusion, which he refuses to do because that would kill
the other person. By now though, Griffin is raging mad and when the Doctor
refuses to help him, he does the blood transfusion on his own, with the
Doctor being the donor. After he has taken the Doctor's blood and thus
killed him and become visible again, Griffin burns down the Doctor's lab,
with only the Doctor's loyal dog escaping ...
Griffin now forces Sir Jasper to accept him as a guest in his mansion,
so he can be close to Julie - but without warning, he finds himself fading
away again, and he figures he needs more blood - and chooses Mark to be
his next donor - but before he can go through with the transfusion, he is
killed by Drury's dog, while the police were already in high pursuit.
Leon Errol plays the Invisible Man's working class-friend and adds a
bit of comedy to the proceedings.
The Invisible Man-series has come a long way since the
first film from 1933 (click here),
which was a genuine genre materpiece. The Invisible Man's Revenge
on the other hand is nothing more than an ill-adviced blend of horror,
science fiction and crime drama with comedy thrown in at the most
inappropriate moments, based on a script that borders the ridiculous. In
that respect it is no wonder that the series was - apart from the
customary Abbott-and-Costello
film in 1951 - discontinued after this one.
A real waste of time.
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