Movie Review – The Invisible Man (1933)

Back in 1897, science-fiction author H.G. Wells introduced the world to The Invisible Man, an optic scientist who was able to make himself completely invisible.  The scientist is unable to reverse the effects, and he goes insane and on a killing rampage in the English countryside.

This story was made into a film of the same name in 1933.

Directed by James Whale and produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr., The Invisible Man stars Claude Rains as Dr. Jack Griffin / The Invisible Man.  Co-starring in the film are Gloria Stuart as Flora Cranley, William Harrigan as Dr. Arthur Kemp, Henry Travers as Dr. Cranley, and Edward E. Clive as Constable Jaffers.

The Invisible Man begins on a snowy night as a mysterious man, Dr. Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) checks into a room at The Lion’s Head, an inn in the English village of Iping.  His appearance is rather startling as he’s wrapped in bandages around his head, he’s wearing dark glasses at night, and his hands are hidden behind gloves.  Despite his strong request for a room with a warm fireplace, the innkeepers, Mr. Hall (Forrester Harvey) and his wife (Una O’Connor), furnish him with a room and a hot meal.  The patrons at the bar speculate that the mysterious man recently escaped from a prison, and that’s why he’s hiding at the inn.

Some time later, Flora Cranley (Gloria Stuart) speaks with her father, Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers), about the mysterious disappearance of Jack Griffin, her fiancé.  Dr. Cranley isn’t as concerned as Jack left behind a note stating that he may be gone for a while.  Jack has been working on a difficult experiment.  Dr. Arthur Kemp (William Harrigan) also doesn’t seem to be too concerned about Jack’s disappearance.  He tells Flora that before Jack left, he burned his research notes in the fireplace.  It’s also hinted that Dr. Kemp has feelings towards Flora, though she’s still in love with Jack.

Back at the inn, Jack has been locked away in his room while conducting scientific experiments.  He seems intent on finding a solution to a problem, though we’re not exactly sure what.  Jack has fallen behind on paying the innkeepers for his room, so Mr. Hall is sent by his wife to evict Jack from his room.  This enrages Jack and he assaults Mr. Hall and kicks him out of the room.  This enrages the people downstairs at the pub, and they get Constable Jaffers (Edward E. Clive) to do something about Jack Griffin.

Constable Jaffers leads the people upstairs to Jack’s room.  When the constable tries to arrest Jack and take him to the police station, Jack goes insane and removes his bandages.  The people are horrified as Jack strips naked and reveals that he is the Invisible Man.  Jack continues to laugh and taunt the men.  When they close the door and try to capture him, Jack easily strangles Constable Jaffers.  He then attacks another man before opening the door and going downstairs to the pub.  He causes some chaos with his playful antics.  Jack’s behavior continues when he goes outside and has some fun with the local villagers.

When Constable Jaffers recovers and calls the chief detective (Duddley Digges), the officer thinks that the constable and villagers have gone mad.

Cranley and Kemp visit Jack’s laboratory and discover that Jack had either removed or destroyed all of the evidence of his recent experiment.  They fear that Jack may have been experimenting with an obscure and dangerous drug called monocane.  Apparently monocane has a side effect of causing creatures to go insane.

That night, Dr. Kemp is listening to a news broadcast about villagers going insane and believing in an Invisible Man when Kemp himself is visited by Jack Griffin in his invisible form.  After Jack rests and puts on some clothes and bandages to give his body a visible form, he talks to Kemp and proposes a partnership.  Jack reveals that after years of research, he finally discovered the secret of invisibility.  He had to go to a quiet village so that he could complete his research into finding an antidote, but his research was interrupted by the innkeepers and villagers.

Since that point Jack has had a revelation.  He is aware of the true power that he holds as being an invisible person.  Jack wants Kemp to be his visible partner in his grand scheme, a plot that will kill many people and terrorize the world.  Before the real terror can begin, Jack first needs Kemp to drive him back to the inn in Iping so that he can recover his notebook with the results of his experiments.  Jack removes his clothes and the two of them make the short drive to Iping.

At The Lion’s Head there’s a police investigation into the recent events.  The chief detective still thinks that this is just one big hoax.  An invisible man?  Really?  Where’s the proof besides a collection of wild stories?

The invisible version of Jack easily sneaks into The Lion’s Head and makes his way upstairs to his old room.  He gathers his research books and drops them out of a window to Kemp waiting outside.  Jack then goes back downstairs and has some fun with the chief detective and other people in the room.  as the people panic and flee the room, Jack strangles and then kills the chief detective.  Jack returns to Kemp’s car and the two of them drive back into town.  While riding in the car, Jack tells Kemp that he killed the policeman and that the true reign of terror will begin tomorrow.

Back at Kemp’s house, Jack Griffin tells him more about what it’s like living as an invisible man.  He must remain hiding for an hour after meals as the undigested food will still be visible.  Rain and snow landing on him will also make him visible, the same with dust, soot, and even the dirt underneath his fingernails.

In Iping, the chief of police (Holmes Herbert) increases the police presence throughout the area.  He knows that this is a human being and not a fictional monster.  This invisible man still needs shelter and food.  Somebody out there knows where he his hiding.  In the morning an additional 10,000 volunteers will arrive to help comb the area and find this invisible murderer.

That night a news broadcast alerts the people of England to the danger of the Invisible Man.  People board and lock their doors and windows.  Many others call the police department offering tips on how to catch the man, and where he may also be hiding.

After Jack Griffin falls asleep, Kemp calls Dr. Cranley and informs him of the situation.  Cranley tells Kemp that he will arrive in the morning, but when Flora hears the news about Jack’s return and him being the Invisible Man, she insists on visiting him at Kemp’s house that night.  Kemp also calls the police and informs them that the Invisible Man is asleep in his home, but the police is short on manpower and cannot send anybody there at the moment.

Jack surprises Kemp inside of his study and thinks that Kemp is hiding something.  When he sees a car arrive outside, he thinks that Kemp betrayed him and called the police.  His attitude changes though when he sees Flora approach the front door along with her father.  Jack sits down with Flora and tells her that this whole experiment was done for her.  He wanted to become a famous scientist, somebody that Flora would be proud to be with.  Jack vows to complete his research and then sell his secret to the world.  He’ll become incredibly wealthy while the winning bidder will be able to conquer the world with invisible armies.

The police finally arrive and surround Kemp’s house with a bunch of officers.  They link hands, form a human chain, and begin to advance on the house.  Jack has spotted them and removes his clothes to become invisible again.  Before leaving Kemp’s house, Jack promises to kill Arthur Kemp at 10 p.m. tomorrow.  Jack then taunts the police and easily makes his escape.  He then has some fun with the locals before leaving the area.

The next day Kemp is terrified as Jack has promised to return and kill him, no matter where he’s hiding.  Kemp loses control and tells the police that the Invisible Man is really Jack Griffin.

That day the Invisible Man kills two of the volunteers searching the countryside for him.  He throws both of the men off a cliff.  Jack later activates a switch-track and sends a train full of passengers off a cliff, killing over a hundred innocent people.  He then has more fun by robbing a bank and giving away the money to random people.

The chief of police knows that Jack Griffin has grown arrogant with his power of invisibility.  He knows that Jack will try to attack and kill Arthur Kemp just as he promised to do so the previous night.  The chief wants to use Kemp as bait to lure the Invisible Man into a trap.  Kemp refuses to sit in the police station and wait for Jack to attack, so the chief allows for Kemp to disguise himself as an officer, leave through a secret door, and then drive himself back to his house.

The police stage themselves around the police station and wait for the Invisible Man.  It’s tense as they try to hear the Invisible Man walk around barefoot.  A cat fools the officers, but there’s no appearance by the Invisible Man.

Arthur Kemp disguises himself as a police officer, as permitted to by the chief of police, and leaves the station and drives himself back home.  While driving he’s surprised when Jack’s voice suddenly appears.  It turns out that Jack knew about the whole plot.  He had been secretly following Kemp and waiting until he was finally alone.  Jack overpowers and ties up Kemp.  He then sets the car in motion and sends it plunging down a cliff, killing Arthur Kemp.

That night there’s a terrible snowstorm.  Jack is still without any clothes, so he seeks shelter inside of a barn and falls asleep in a pile of hay.  His snoring body is discovered by the farmer who then leaves and reports it to the police.  The police arrive and surround the barn.  This time they set fire to the rear of the structure and force the Invisible Man out to them.  The smoke and flames force Jack outside and his footsteps in the snow allow the police to track him.  Jack is shot by the police and mortally wounded.

Jack Griffin is quickly taken to a local hospital, but the doctors are unable to save his life.  With his last few words he speaks to Flora and tells her that he failed by messing with things that mankind should have left alone.

The Invisible Man ends with the death of Dr. Jack Griffin.  As he dies his body slowly becomes visible once again.

So is The Invisible Man a good movie?

Yes!

This is a classic science-fiction / horror film that takes a brief look into one of our most fantasized abilities — the power of invisibility.  Of course, for most people invisibility would be something that could be controlled, an ability with basically an on and off switch, and not necessarily a power that would continually be activated.

In The Invisible Man we see Dr. Jack Griffin, a chemist who strives to make a name for himself and create a major impact on the world.  He ultimately discovers a process that turns himself invisible.  He becomes invisible but his research is interrupted while he’s researching an antidote.  With his power of invisibility, Jack Griffin discovers the playful side as well as the terrifying side of not being seen by others.  As Jack slips into insanity, he kills several people and creates a plan of worldwide chaos and terror.  Of course, he’s ultimately killed before unleashing his full terror upon the world.

The Invisible Man‘s biggest fault is its short running time.  This film is only 71 minutes long.  Although films from the 1930s were much shorter than today’s movies, it felt like the producers could have had more content involving everyday life as an invisible person as well as the relationship between Jack and Flora.

But that’s trivial.  I really need to go back and read H. G. Wells’ book to learn more of the overall story.

The Invisible Man (1933) – movie trailer

Like the other Universal Studios monster movies of that time, The Invisible Man is direct and to the point.  The story is good, the murders and terror are there, the Invisible Man is sinister, and this is simply a great movie.  Let’s also not forget those special effects and how the film still looks convincing even in today’s overabundance of CGI.  It’s easy to see how The Invisible Man has become a classic film from that time period.

If you’re into the classic movie monsters and horror films, make sure that 1933’s The Invisible Man is on your viewing list.

Const. Jaffers – “He’s invisible, that’s what’s the matter with him. If he gets the rest of them clothes off, we’ll never catch him in a thousand years.”

——————–

The Invisible Man – “And if you try and escape by the window, I shall follow you, and no one in the world can save you.”

——————–

The Invisible Man – “We’ll begin with a reign of terror, a few murders here and there, murders of great men, murders of little men – well, just to show we make no distinction. I might even wreck a train or two… just these fingers around a signalman’s throat, that’s all.”

——————–

The Invisible Man – “The drugs I took seemed to light up my brain. Suddenly I realized the power I held, the power to rule, to make the world grovel at my feet.”

——————–

The Invisible Man – “Power, I said! Power to walk into the gold vaults of the nations, into the secrets of kings, into the Holy of Holies; power to make multitudes run squealing in terror at the touch of my little invisible finger. Even the moon’s frightened of me, frightened to death! The whole world’s frightened to death!”