The Invisible Man: 1933

   

   One thing to point out with this film is that it has been remade two other times, one in 1951 and the other in 1960.  I chose to review the 1933 version of, "The Invisible Man".  It was directed by James Whale based off of the book of the same name by H.G Wells.  It stars Claude Rains as a scientist named Jack Griffin who was successful in turning himself invisible.  To hide his appearance(or lack of appearance) he bandages his skin, wears shades and dresses in layers. 


   For months he has been away from his wife trying to find a way to turn himself visible again.   If you've seen this film before you share my sentiments when I think that the bartender's wife is the most annoying character in this movie.  I don't want to give you the impression that you shouldn't see this film because of her, because at times it can be very funny.  In fact there are many strange characters presented in this movie.  There is a police man who is by far the most nonchalant person I've ever seen and its hilarious how he reacts totally calm when he sees the invisible man for the first time.  To add on, when he does show the police man who he is, the effects of him being invisible are incredible.


  I should point out that no special effects were used to make the scientist look the way he does, everything uses optical effects.  Jack Griffin's voice is very strong and I thing this is exactly what an invisible man needs to stay credible without the visual help.  The transformation of Jack becoming insane is pulled  off correctly and flows at a  steady pace until the climax. Along with Jack's insanity building up, he can still manage to pull off being sympathetic and evil at the same time.  There is also a theme of beauty and beast  that is portrayed at the end and, in a way, helps you to feel as though he was innocent and that jack's mental outbreaks were purely caused by the drugs he took to stay invisible. There is also an example of irony within, "The Invisible Man", which is how Jack tested his experiment of invisibility on himself deliberately, and, for the remainder of the film try's to reverse the effect and when he does become visible, he dies.  



In conclusion, I didn't really feel as though this film was  horror-based, rather science fiction-based.  The optical effects were outstanding and Claude Rains's voice as The Invisible Man was very well played.  I however didn't enjoy it, and this was because I was viewing the film as a horror movie, so if you are going to see, "The Invisible Man" (Which you can at the bottom of this review), take heed, watch this film as though it was a science fiction film and not horror.(This is only a suggestion of course)  However, this is very funny to watch and I hope you'll enjoy this film more than I have.


4 and a half stars


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