Greetings!


Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

Thanks for visiting!


Friday, February 15, 2019

The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)

Starring Jon Hall, Leon Errol, John Carradine, Alan Curtis, Evelyn Ankers
Directed by Ford Beebe
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After recovering his memory and escaping from an asylum, a criminal plans to extort money from his former partners, and finds a way by becoming a subject in a scientist's experiments with invisibility.

John P. Fulton's special effects again highlight another Invisible Man sequel, although the prior series is all but forgotten.  Hall, who played a heroic invisible man in the previous picture, is now a villainous one, playing a different character, but with the same surname of Griffin, the only reference to H.G. Wells' original novel remaining.  The formula is now the concoction of a scientist played by John Carradine in a welcome appearance, although too brief, who utilizes Hall as his first human subject.  There's still an element of fun in the film, as well as Fulton's special effects wizardry, although the DVD age has exposed the wires and black velvet mask that film more convincingly hid. However, the story never quite came together for me, with Griffin's status of being wanted for murder seemingly forgotten after the first ten minutes of the movie, and Ankers' character being wasted in an almost cameo appearance.  It's still enjoyable in its own regard, but a far cry from the original classic, and a step down from the previous sequels.

No comments:

Post a Comment