OK. Anyone who’s seen the original Invisible Man movie with the marvelous Claude Rains knows that it doesn’t exactly set itself up for a sequel. Like, at all, kinda like a Titanic movie. There’s nowhere to go after the tragedy and the sober aftermath.
So yeah, Invisible Man got a sequel, 1940’s The Invisible Man Returns, and it has the distinction of being linked to its predecessor while also owing very little to it. And instead of Claude Rains we get Vincent Price, so we’re two for two on cool actors.
The movie opens at the Radcliffe estate, where the help are glumly discussing the imminent hanging of Sir Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price), who’s been falsely accused and convicted of murdering his brother, Michael. Everyone knows it’s messed up, but they almost wish the whole business was over because the tension has been so bad.
Dr. Frank Griffin (John Sutton) agrees, and at Geoff’s request, visits the prison and secretly injects Geoff with the same serum that turned his brother, Jack invisible. Naturally, Geoff gives the prison and the police the slip, and naturally they’re baffled and a little freaked out, especially when they find Geoff’s clothes in a pile by the sink. The only one who puts two and two together is Scotland Yard Inspector Sampson (Cecil Kellaway), who makes a beeline for Frank’s office and Frank’s file on Jack.
Meanwhile, Geoff finds a suitcase Frank left for him in the woods and puts on the clothes inside it before heading off to meet Helen at a little out-of-the-way cottage where he can rest for a little while. Well, he tries; the proprieter’s dog is a bit noisy and has to be tied up in the woods, where a policeman finds him and brings him back, so Geoff has to leave sooner than he planned on.
There is a catch to Geoff’s situation, of course: If Geoff isn’t cured of his invisibility, he’ll go crazy just like Jack did. Geoff plans on using his time wisely, though, because he’s not only going to make contact with his fiancee, Helen Manson (Nan Grey) and Frank, but he’s going to find out who really murdered Michael.
Since the Radcliffes own a coal mining company, Geoff has some ideas. Geoff’s cousin and heir to the Radcliffe coal operation, Richard Cobb (Sir Cedrick Hardwicke) has taken over the company since Geoff has been in prison, and interestingly enough, promoted a new hire, Willie Spears (Alan Napier) as his righthand man. Geoff finds Willie, scares the jeepers out of him until he confesses, and then follows him home, where he strings him up as if he’s in a straightjacket. He also scares the jeepers out of Richard, who is a tougher nut to crack, but he’s scared enough of Geoff to at least do his bidding on some level, at least after some firm nudges.
Frank, in the meantime, works frantically to find a cure for Jack’s invisibility serum, testing out different concoctions on rats and guinea pigs in his lab. It’s a lot of trial and error, of course, but the solution turns out to be a textbook case of Occam’s Razor that’s not too far off from what happened in the original movie.
I guess Universal was going for another chiller, but The Invisible Man Returns is too funny for that. The idea of the Invisible Man being completely naked when he was completely unseen was a huge troll in the original 1933 film and it was an even bigger troll in 1940, when the Production Code was firmly in place.
Vincent Price is his usual stellar self, and brings a touch of bemused menace to his Geoff Radcliffe, the special effects are stellar as well, and some of them are straight out of vaudeville in that we see a lot of floating objects and furniture that seems to move, and flip over in some cases, by itself.
There’s also a lot of miming on the part of the cast when Geoff supposedly punches them, and in several scenes Richard has to act as if Geoff is shoving him, and it must have been interesting to flinch and glower at an opponent who’s not actually there. Kinda like what actors nowadays have to do with green screen and CGI characters, but I digress.
Problem is, the movie is completely forgettable once it’s over, and maybe even before then. There’s just not enough to make it stand out from other similar movies that may not feature an invisible leading man. I had to watch The Invisible Man Returns twice for this review, and by the end of the second viewing I still didn’t care all that much about the characters. It probably also didn’t help that I’ve been dealing with a mondo case of allergies this week, but I’ll digress for the second time.
Then again, critics and audiences in 1940 were mixed about the film as well. The film reportedly flopped at the box office and garnered reviews such as this one from the Sydney Telegraph: “The fllm is a field day for the youngsters, and the cameraman.”
The Sydney Morning Herald was slightly less diplomatic:
“The narrative, however, has not been sufficiently implanted in the audience’s mind to sustain interest, although some of the sequences, when the facts become plain, are certainly exciting. The theme of the invisible being has now lost much of its appeal…Poor dialogue also mars the production, but a really thrilling climax and an original way of getting rid of a villain furnish some strong moments. Sir Cedric Hardwicke struggles with his colourless role of the treacherous Richard Cobb. Vincent Price’s voice is satisfying for that of the invisible and unhappy man, Geoffrey Radcliffe…
Photoplay said the same thing with fewer words: “This involved mind-shattering monstrosity of a plot is absolutely fascinating.”
Making a sequel can be a minefield, and after seeing The Invisible Man Returns, I have to wonder about the next film in the series, The Invisible Woman, which I’ve heard is a screwball comedy but I can’t verify that. I am curious, though, so watch this space.
My post for the Linda Darnell Centennial Blogathon is going up on Sunday. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…
The Invisible Man Returns is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.
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