Mon 10 Jul 2023
A VHS Movie Review: THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (1940).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews , SF & Fantasy films[4] Comments
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN. Universal Pictures, 1940. Virginia Bruce,John Barrymore, John Howard, Charlie Ruggles, Oscar Homolka. Directed by A. Edward Sutherland.
More a low-key screwball comedy than a horror feature, The Invisible Woman is a genial, albeit rather forgettable affair. Released in 1940, seven years after James Whale’s The Invisible Man, the film has a light tone that makes it breezy fun, but not much more than that. Based on a story co-written by Kurt Siodmak (The Wolf Man) and directed by A. Edward Sutherland, the movie does what it is supposed to; namely, provide an hour plus of escapist entertainment.
When oddball Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) puts an advertisement in the paper for someone wanting to become invisible, he gets more than he bargained for when working girl Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce) shows up. Sassy and strong-willed, she’s determined to use her newfound ability to torment her sexist and demanding boss. While the invisible Carroll gets caught up in a love-hate relationship with playboy millionaire Richard Russell (John Howard), the zany professor is targeted by a gangster (Oscar Homolka) who wants the invisibility machine so he can safely return from his Mexican exile and visit the home country.
The special effects, by today’s standards, are really nothing special. Truth be told, even for a 1940 feature, there’s nothing particularly impressive doing on in this realm. Director James Whale certainly did it all better years before in the original entry into the Invisible Man series.
Still, there are some laughs to be had in this comedy. Did I mention Charles Ruggles plays a bumbling butler, devoted – at least financially – to Russell? I guess I would see this one again with a crowd, should the opportunity arise. But to watch it again on VHS? Probably not.
July 10th, 2023 at 9:35 pm
Well done, Jon. You got it right on the button.
July 11th, 2023 at 4:56 am
Director Eddie Sutherland snuck a hint of kinky eroticism into things like SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE and MURDERS IN THE ZOO, but there’s nothing of interest here, despite players like Ruggles and Barrymore.
July 11th, 2023 at 8:04 pm
I like this one much better than everyone so far. Frankly with the exception of the first two the Invisible Man films are the worst of the Universal Horror films and this one acknowledges it works better as low comedy (and there is no shortage of low comedy in the Whale film) than high melodrama (A&C MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN is also in the vein and better than most Invisible Man movies).
It is a likable B screwball mystery with a cast far above its ambitions and works more as a crime comedy than a horror film and more comedy romance than either.
I’ll go so far as to admit no one has ever made a scary Invisible Man film. Maybe if they filmed Wylie’s THE MURDERER INVISIBLE, but I wouldn’t guarantee it. It may be creepy, but it isn’t all that frightening. This one may be kid friendly sexy, but at twelve, the audience it was made for, it was just the right amount of racy and just enough excitement.
Better this than another Jon Hall slug through tired revenge fantasy (though Peter Lorre as a cartoonish Nazi was some fun in INVISIBLE AGENT).
July 12th, 2023 at 1:19 pm
I wonder if that sums it up. Invisible men (or women) are not inherently scary. A bit creepy, maybe, but not the stuff nightmares are made of.