The Invisible Man Series (1933-1944) Monster Movie Review
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- Опубліковано 26 жов 2024
- Technically one day late, but let's call it a day or two early instead. :) Here are my thoughts on The Invisible Man (1933), The Invisible Man Returns (1940), The Invisible Woman (1940), The Invisible Agent (1942), and The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944). Enjoy!
New to your channel; nice coverage!
Thank you, and welcome!
The first one, with Claude Rains, is among my very favourite movies! :-)
I haven't seen any of the sequels because I've never really heard a strong recommendation for them. But the original THE INVISIBLE MAN is easily one of my favorite Golden Age Universal Horror movies. Though it barely qualifies as horror. At least by today's standards. Claude Rains is by far the best of movie. And I suppose the whole franchise
I suppose,by today’s horror standards,” The Invisible Man”(1933)might be classified as psychological horror.
It’s been way too long since I’ve watched any of the Invisible Man films - you’ve inspired me to find and watch them again!
THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) is airing on Svengoolie this Saturday night (November 2nd) on Me-TV.
A review that whets the appetite to watch these movies!
Quite true.
Insightful review.Great description of Rains vocal talent.
Claude Rains made for the perfect madman! Rains' insane laughter still gets to me!
He was truly the best of the malevolent invisible men.
I thought that the only Invisible Man was the late David McCallum from the TV series. I must check these out. Thanks Miss Weiselberry.
That’s right-l had forgotten about the television series with David McCallum.Thank you for reminding me.
Thanks for reviewing this Universal horror classic. Both Claude Rains and Dwight Frye are two of my favorite actors from Hollywood's Golden age.
Thanks again for the review. Some references mentioned that Claude Rains distinct voice could also have resulted from being gassed in World War One. The incident also left him blind in one eye. (In some other films he appeared with an eyepatch.)
It was one of those voices that people would pay to hear reading the phonebook.
Quite true.
Rains had amazing range. Terrific presence, all the way from quiet scenes, such as his role in Lawrence of Arabia, to the very vocal Professor Challenger in Lost World.
Very true.
Really enjoyed these reviews - thanks Jeri!
I just started this series and I loved the first movie. the second movie I saw was the invisible woman and that was quite the jump, I didn't realize that it was a comedy (and a mediocre one at that) so I found it very annoying to watch. The whole time all I was thinking is that there was so much potential for a really good story. I really liked some of the ideas in this movie; wanting revenge on a previous employer; members of the mafia wanting the formula, but everything just got turned into a crummy gag. to be far to the movie though, i did start to laugh alot in the last quarter of the film, but I suspect I was more laughing at the movie instead of at the jokes....
After hearing you say that some of the other ones are decent, ill continue watching the series as I am a huge fan of the actors in the movies, Claude Rains, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre are all personal favorites of mine
Never really seen The Invisible Man as a horror film. I see it as more of a dark comedy. I liked the scene where he pulls pranks on the residents. Una O'Connor as a landlady is hysterical! The screaming! 🤣
One of my favourite films.
I agree with you on all the pints you made! When you said that The Invisible Man in The Invisible Agent is showing off and acting like an idiot, I was laughing so hard! Although, I hate to say it, but, the original Invisible Man, Dr. Jack Griffin, is sort of an idiot as well. I mean, why would he compete his own experiment before even making an antidote? What a goof! But, I absolutely love Dr. Jack Griffin and the Actor who brought him to life on screen, Claude Rains!!!!! The other Movies in The Invisible Man Legacy Set, are just lost, if you know what I mean.
I knew you could be counted on for a cool Halloween review. I'm totally with you regarding this series (I've seen 3 of these 5) the first is the best, and of course that's generally true in any series of films. Price though does a pretty good turn in his stab at the role, but then again he just about always does. Raines, like Price, was just starting out and it was that voice that landed him the part and I've always found his voice, especially in this film, mesmerizing. Of course I could go and on, but....Happy Halloween Jerome - Enjoy the day (and the night) and don't eat too much candy!
You want to know what would have been really funny, Jerome? If you had done this entire video in invisible form. We hear your voice, but all we see is your bookshelf. 😆
I did consider doing that, haha.
love the original (and anything w/Claude Rains) - may have to check out the sequels🤔
Great insight on Claude Raines' acting power and voice. Good job on your movie reviews. This review is especially good and detailed.
Thank you!
Griffin belongs to the same school which Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Moreau belong. They do the worst things with the best of intentions and in the end become obsessed, turning them to be plain crazy.
Great reviews!!! Your 'The Third Man' review just helped so much with the paper I had to write!!
Loved the first one. Claude Rains is fantastic and very suspenseful and still holds up. Also read the book.
Very nice review! I just happened to finish one of the Invisible Mans (Men?), & you echoed some of my thoughts. I think it'd be great if you did a Q&A video, where subscribers sent in questions. I've been the beneficiary of some of your recommendations, which have become new favourites (e.g. The Scarlet Pimpernel); & there are several I'd like to know if you've seen. For instance, have you ever watched any Jane Eyre adaptations? :P
But really, I'm intrigued to hear your take on things like Val Lewton, the Prisoner TV series, or my favourite film of all, Dreyer's Ordet, among others.
i just recently watched the invisible man again for the first time in years and i forgot how disturbing and funny it was lol. this video is a very pleasant surprise for me. thank you! 😀
Thank you for this! (Jon Hall -- hmm, perhaps I should recheck my family tree.) I tend to take a pass on the Price sequel, the Rains original feeling quite sufficient, but thanks to you I may give it a go sometime. If you don't mind, I have four other citations in the genre. Three movies, entirely different from each other, are technically "invisible man" thrillers. The Amazing Transparent Man is cheap and I find it convoluted and unpersuasive, whereas I find the far more recent Hollow Man just sad -- a waste of otherwise magnificent special effects, sets, and actors. However, I do -- mildly -- recommend Memoirs of an Invisible Man, in which invisibility is achieved in the realm of physics rather than chemistry. It's by John Carpenter, who is famous for horror, yet its tone is, for him, unusually light. Whenever I think "Fletch was Chevy Chase's one good movie," I have to remind myself that he did all right as the titular invisible man here as well. My final suggestion is a vignette within an otherwise rather bad movie called Amazon Women on the Moon. It's a short movie called Son of the Invisible Man and it asks: what if the Invisible Man never actually turned invisible, but people humored him anyway, pretending that he was invisible? It (tastefully) deals with a naked man walking around acting and sounding quite loopy, and I think it makes for a nice kidding but loving comment on the whole genre. All right, that's it for now. You continue to rawk. Happy Halloween!
I highly recommend the series of Technicolor films made with Maria Montez and Jon Hall to get where his stardom was coming from. They’re super-entertaining, and I’d love your opinion on them.
Interesting--I'm not familiar with those at all!
THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) is airing tonight (February 13, 2021) on Svengoolie on ME-TV.
You're pulling off your own Monster Madness? Cool!
I haven't seen most of the sequels of these Universal Horror movies, but after watching your reviews, I really want to watch them. I have seen I believe all the Dracula sequels and some of the Frankenstein sequels, but that's only when they are the mash up like House of Dracula..etc.. Also, when I watched the original Invisible man, I was surprised to see Henry Travers in it! He played Clarence the angel in It's A Wonderful Life! =) I love Claude Rains' Laugh! Happy All Hallow's Eve! =)
I'll have to check out the first one, I love the arch dialogue, it reminds me of how the monsters talk in Jack Vance novels.
Invisible Man is good, but I wish you'd do The Thin Man too.
"The Invisible Man" Series was a UK TV Show in the 1950's! I have it on DVD! He was a kind British Agent using his powers to fight off evil-then come home to his loyal Wife! Well made, it endured 0ne Season in the UK
i love how the film is referenced in Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre, and Bob Dylan makes an invisible joke about Claude Rains in Masked and Anonymous.,
I do love the 1933 Invisible Man, it's such an entertaining film that can make you feel uneasy but also make you laugh, Claude Rains is so great in it :). Agree one hundred percent, and agree with everything you've said about all its follow ups, the Invisible Man Returns was an enjoyable instalment with a great Vincent Price, I've seen the original many times but only watched the four other entries within the last year and I'd consider myself a big Universal Monsters fan. Price in the Police Uniform with the Gas Mask reminded me a little of Darth Vader, I wonder if George Lucas was a fan. The Scarecrow scene did also leave an impression on me. I liked The Invisible Woman also, it was funny with a solid cast. The Invisible Agent did annoy me a lot as well, he was such a selfish and overly cocky character plus yes, the timeline and his parentage lol. I felt the film was long, the story dragged a little. I was disappointed, I thought the idea of an Invisible secret Agent was a solid one but he was an idiot. The Invisible kiss lol, so odd to see. and then there's also Peter Lorre's character, he always delivered a good performance but his casting was again, odd. I have to say your story for the Invisible Mans Revenge would've been a much better one, it's much more interesting than the one we got. I'd like to have seen your version. i did enjoy watching them though even with their flaws, the Invisible annoyance and his weird kissing included lol. Another terrific video :). ~ thank you Ms Weiselberry ~
You are UA-camr No. 1, from my point of view
Aw, thank you!
The first Invisible Man movie is my favorite of the Universal Horror flicks. Followed by Bride then Creature.
In her review of invisible agent she says that the year is 1939 but in the beginning of the film you clearly hear Oregon state and Duke in the rose bowl . This game was played in 1942.
You're correct that it's not 1939, but it's not 1942 either, as the film's prologue is obviously set before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Based on the dialogue in the scene I thought it might be taking place before war had broken out in Europe as well, hence why I assumed it was 1939. That headline (which is actually stating that "Oregon invites Duke to the Rose Bowl," a couple months prior to the game itself) is the only explicit timestamp that clues contemporary moviegoers in, but it's an obscure one for most modern audiences.
@@Weiselberry being that the this Rose bowl game is announced by a newsboy , I gotta think the time is late December 1941. The game was played January 1842.
Not late December. It's before December 7th: the attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent declaration of war is what makes the character change his mind about using the formula.
@@Weiselberry your probably right because bowl matchups had to be announced at the end of the season around November, way before the pearl harbor attack. My error.
I best remember John Hall as the star of an old TV series called ramar of the jungle.
A new name to ne too, John Hall was quite the inventor! (according to Wikipedia)
James Whale was a very unique director. Check out the (almost lost !) Film The Old Dark House and a fictional modern film about Whale called Gods and Monsters featuring Brendan Frasier.
Jon Hall was the star of the epic HURRICANE & Maria Montez's screen partner in a number of exotic Arabian Night's movies .. & an odd choice to play these 2 roles
Did you know that there is a japanese movie from 1949 called "The invisible man appears"? Supposedly the first japanese sci fi film, and it is also based on the H.G Wells story
Yes! I actually just bought a copy, and I look forward to watching/reviewing it sometime in the next few months. :)
@@Weiselberry Oh wow, I didn't actually know it was aviable like that, it seemed like one of these movies that got lost to time to me, looking forward to it!
@horizonmage_o1839 So did I! But I found it on Ebay, original Japanese version with English subtitles. Don't know yet how the quality is, but I'm hopeful.
The Invisible Man remake is coming in February
They will ruin it.
@@chetthebee1322 Because it has Domestic Violence
And it was EXCELLENT. Very different then the classics, it is it's own movie using The Invisible Man title.
Again she scores with another great review. Now I know it was Vincent Price (you know, the master builder from that movie from your last review I was late commenting on that I didn't get the love button pushed that I am still boo hooing about), that came up with that line that Arnold Schwarzenegger uses for his trademark one liner, "I'll be back" without the laughter. I think today if they did a series about The Indivisible Man with the right writers, stars, directors and producers (not out to make a buck) they could do it right. Oh I know one better now its time to make Godzilla invisible, hehehe, that would be a trip. Ohhhhh, you should have talked over the camera and not sat on your seat while doing your review, that would have been the most perfect inexpensive invisible costume, then you would have been invisible Jerome. I hope I was on time with my comment, gotta get that thumbs up love button pushed, I hope I hope.
Oh no not another didn't love my comment. Was I too late again?
I don’t get saying an actor is your favorite because they are attractive. Sure, Alicia Vikander and Gal Gadot are attractive but they are not my favorite female actors. Elizabeth Moss is probably my favorite because of her performances not because I’m attracted to her. Ingrid Bergman might be the exception to this where I am both attracted to her and think she’s an amazing actor, but one has naught to do with the other.
An actor certainly doesn't become a favorite of mine *because* he's attractive, though his looks (or, in Claude Rains' case, his voice) might be what first catches my attention. People don't make my list if they can't act or are the same in every movie or hold no special appeal for me. That appeal might be physical, or it might be something else. A particularly strong, compelling performance can make an actor--even one who doesn't fit the movie star mold--more attractive to me, and that attraction enhances the pleasure of watching him perform other roles. Thus occasionally the two things do work hand-in-hand. Speaking for myself, I will probably never encounter a bad performance from any of my favorite actors (most of whom are long dead) because I love them no matter what. But it's also unlikely that they'll ever *give* a bad performance because they're such talented, dependable people.
Nice review :)
"The Invisible Man's Revenge" is my least favorite: I don't care for the story and it lacks charm. While the first is the best, I love the scarecrow scene in "Returns" witch I find very moving!
Claude Rains👍!
Claude Raines is fantastic in the Invisible Man. The only thing that keeps me from ranking it higher among the Universal horror movies is the cringingly annoying performance of Una O'Connor. She almost ruined Bride for me, but she succeeded in ruining this one. I have to have the mute button close at hand when I watch it.
I think Vincent Price's performance in The Invisible Man Returns is enough to overcome the flaws in the story. And I feel bad for Nan Gray. She never rose above B-movie support roles. But I've liked her in every role I've seen her in.
I know The Invisible Woman isn't a great movie by any measure, but I genuinely adore it. John Barrymore and Margaret Hamilton are wonderful, and Virginia Bruce is a likable enough heroine.
By The Invisible Agent, the series was losing its charm. Even though they were getting better at doing the effects, the storyline just seems played out. Especially if you marathon the Legacy Collection set. Not having a commanding voice like Raines or Price hurts the movie as well
Revenge commits the worst sin a movie can make in my eyes. It left me feeling ambivalent. Nothing more to say about it.
Agreed with you 100% on A&C Meet. Some laughs, but nowhere near as good as the meeting with Frankenstein.
If you haven't seen Amazon Women on the Moon, it does have an Invisible Man sketch that is quite funny.
Another thoroughly enjoyable set of reviews JW. I've been loving this little journey down the rabbit hole of your channel. You put so much thought into them, and it's obvious you get a lot of pleasure out of the stories, which makes for very entertaining viewing.
And having already done the Mummy you couldn't transition after dieing wrapped in scarves.
Not a Universal movie, but it's an invisible man/woman tale that's worthy of a look -- shows up on TCM every now and again:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_Disappears
Good of you to mention Frye, and his small part in the first Invisible Man.. But you didn't mention John Carradine?
Agree with you O'Connor is over the top. Too over the top for my taste.
I love the old movies. I didn’t know if this was your style or not but I also liked the 2020 The Invisible Man. Let me know if you have already seen it. If not you ought to give it a try.
Roy
Yes, I saw the 2020 movie and I thought it was pretty good. I talked about it in this video (last one on the list): ua-cam.com/video/21566928qXM/v-deo.html
She's cute
You're beautiful.
The 2020 remake looks like trash!
They should just leave the classics alone!
It's not, just different, very different. I just watched it and I was sweating at the end. I highly recommend it.