Sunday, 17 July 2016

35 The Invisible Man ( 1933 )

This  is  another  classic  from  James  Whale. An  adaptation  of  the  H  G  Wells  story  it  stars  the  voice  and  very  briefly  the  face  of  Claude  Rains  as  Griffin, a  young  doctor  who  wants  to  make  a  name  for  himself   and  devises  a  way  of  making  himself  invisible. There  are  two  problems; he  doesn't  know  how  to  reverse  the  process   and  one  of  the  drugs  used  causes  madness. This  has  already  happened  at  the  start  of  the  film  where  a  fully-bandaged  man  comes  to  rent  a  room  at  a  pub  and  quickly  creates  havoc. As  the  authorities  investigate  Griffin's  psychotic  tendencies   come  to  the  fore  and  he  starts  killing  people.

Although  there's  a  high  death  toll,  this  film  is  also  very  funny  and  you  share  Griffn's  glee  at  what  he  can  get  up  to  in  his  new  state. The  special  effects  are  still  amazing  although  as  they  relied  to  some  extent  on  the  lighting  it  does  mean  that  all  the  scenes  were  filmed  in  semi-darkness  which  can  make  it  difficult  to  watch  without  constantly  looking  for  the  brightness  control.

Gloria  Stuart  ( as  Flora  Cranley )

Sex : No

Death  : Survives    


This  was  a  rather  thankless  role  for  Gloria, not  much  screen  time  and  having  to  stand  by  a  not  very  nice  man.

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