"The Invisible Man" Review

 

by Daniel White

Ah, James Whale, you are, and always will be one of my favorite figures from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Known primarily for the four horror films he directed for Universal Pictures, he made a total of twenty movies, including 1936's Show Boat, which is considered by many, the finest film version of the Broadway classic.

Based on H.G. Wells' novel, The Invisible Man (1933), is a horror/sci-fi gem, that has as much humor as it does chills and thrills. Whale is at his best in the opening scene set in a pub in an English village. He skillfully evokes the feeling of life in a clannish small town, and their reaction when a stranger (Claude Rains) enters the establishment, arousing their suspicions. Coming in from a wintry blizzard, his face bandaged and his eyes concealed behind dark glasses, Rains is strange, and ominous, and, peculiar, his rage and frustration barely controlled.

Unfortunately for Jack Griffin, the invisible man of the title, the inn known as The Lion's Head where he seeks refuge, is half under the proprietorship of Jenny, played by the irresistibly annoying Una O'Connor. Jenny is a shrill busybody who makes it impossible for the lamentable scientist to find the peace he craves in order to discover the antidote needed to return back to visibility. I adore Una O'Connor and the Irish-born actress gets one of her best screen roles here. Hands flailing, eyes rolling, voice screeching, body slumping into a faint, she is phenomenal. And one of movie's best mutterers! Her asides and under-the-breath comments are priceless. Only the great W.C. Fields can match her at this adeptness for barely audible banter. What a comic screen team those two would have made!

Claude Rains, in only his second film appearance, also deserves words of praise. In a performance which is totally dependent on his voice, he ably conveys the anguish of a man slipping into madness, powerless to control his destiny. That Rains escaped the fate of both Karloff, and especially, Lugosi, of being trapped within the constraints of horror films may be because his actual visible screen time is less than ten seconds. He would go on from this to having one of the most distinguished Hollywood careers as a character actor. From John Gielgud to Bette Davis to Richard Chamberlain, all three thespians spoke highly of the talented Mr. Rains.

Part sci-fi, fright film, bawdy comedy, and crime drama, The Invisible Man is an entertaining melding of genres that Whale balances nicely. Like the monster and his maker in his two Frankenstein movies, he is clearly on the side of the rebel, the individual who risks self-destruction by stepping outside society's conventions.

Along with Hitchcock, von Stroheim, and Fritz Lang, James Whale was a cinematic original who must be revered and remembered.

With Gloria Stuart and the fumbling, yet warm-hearted Henry Travers, The Invisible Man is available on Peacock.