Horror Film countdown 2013, part 11

The Invisible Man (1933), dir. James Whale, Universal Pictures

Based on H.G. Well’s 1897 classic novel, the Invisible Man was a special effect masterpiece when it opened. Whale again directed the Universal cast, this time holding back on the comedy for a few small parts. We open on a cold winter evening as a man, dressed in not only a heavy coat but face concealing bandages and dark glasses, stumbles through the snow to a small inn in the English countryside.

The man roughly orders a room and demands that he be left alone. The man, Jack Griffin (Claude Rains), has a reason for wishing solitude: he’s invisible. A fact the townspeople soon discover after trying to evict Griffin from his room after a time. Word of an invisible man spreads and soon the countryside is in a panic.

This isn’t unnoticed by Griffin’s friends. His sweetheart Flora (Gloria Stuart), her father Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers), and Griffin’s coworker Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan) hear the news and start worrying. Kemp and Cranley find reason to worry, as they discover in Griffin’s notes a reference to a substance called monocaine, a bleaching agent that not only removes all color from whatever it comes in contact with, but also produces madness. Kemp is also trying to worm his way into Flora’s heart at the same time.

Things go south quickly, as Kemp later discovers Griffin in his study. An invisible maniac is not someone you want cross with you. Griffin states his goal was at first to see if he could make something invisible, but now? He wants to rule the Earth. Kemp manages to contact the Cranley’s and the police, a fact that Griffin won’t forget later. From there Griffin unleashes his fury against the world with murder, theft, and wholesale destruction.

Rains as Griffin sells the film better than anything. Another actor might have played it campy or flat, but Rains injects a sense of menace in Griffin that makes his acts very believable. Whale still insists on casting some of his regulars, but he at least has the decency to rein them in, Una O’Connor especially.