"The Invisible Man Returns" Review

 

by Daniel White

At one point in Universal's The Invisible Man Returns (1940), Sir Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price), our transparent hero advises his fiance to turn around as he takes off his bandages, warning her it might not be very "pleasant" to watch. Unable to control her curiosity, she sneaks a peek, promptly fainting. It's a sweet and telling scene about how much society has changed in eighty years. It would take more than an un-seeable husband-to-be to cause a leading lady to lose consciousness in today's films.

How fun it it is to encounter fright film favorite Vincent Price in his first horror movie! I don't consider Tower of London, which he made the year before with Boris Karloff, as one, though it has horrific elements.

It took Universal Pictures seven years to release a sequel to the well received The Invisible Man. Horror films had waned in popularity, and had even become controversial (the British board of censors banned them in 1935). It wasn't until a successful reissue of Frankenstein, and Dracula in 1938 that the studio resumed production of the genre.

Directed by German emigre Joe May (May gave Fritz Lang one of his first jobs in film as a screenwriter back in Germany), with a screenplay co-authored by Curt Siodmak, The Invisible Man Returns is a lavish affair (by Universal standards). Like the first movie, it has laughs as well as chills, and though a bit convoluted, remains entertaining. The climax at the end with Price and Cedric Hardwicke fighting to the death atop a coal heap is pretty darn thrilling.

Similar to its predecessor, The Invisible Man Returns is as much a crime drama as horror film. The story centers around Radcliffe's search for his brother's killer, a murder for which he has been wrongly sentenced to death. Along with Price and Hardwicke, the wonderful Cecil Kellaway is on hand as a Scotland Yard detective eager to hunt down the escaped prisoner. In a nice running gag, he keeps passing out cigars, hoping the smoke from them will reveal the whereabouts of the unseen Price!

With the pretty cat-like Nan Grey (she reminds me of a blonde Simone Simon) as the fiance, and John Sutton as the scientist/friend who renders Mr. Price invisible, the movie's supporting cast also includes Alan Napier. Playing Spears, Hardwicke's drunken, brutish henchman, it was quite a surprise, for this viewer of a certain age, to see TV Batman's loyal butler, Alfred, in the role of a a bad guy!

Available on Peacock, The Invisible Man Returns is a worthy flick for one of the kings of fright to make his horror movie debut in, and must-see viewing for anyone who loves the great Vincent Price!