The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #54: "The Invisible Man"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #54: "The Invisible Man"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #54

By Xavier E. Palacios

"The Invisible Man"

4 out of 5

Directed by James Whale

Rated TV-PG

Based on the titular novel by H.G. Wells, Jack Griffin, a poor and lowly scientist in love with a woman much more well-to-do than he, experiments on himself to claim riches and cast his name in the history books forever, and so winds up entirely invisible without a clear way to restore his visibility. Unfortunately for Jack and the countryside residents of England, his ingredients unexpectedly poison his mind, turning him into a homicidal, power-hungry maniac, and so his reign of terror, and the mass manhunt for his capture or permanent end, begins.

This impromptu tour through the introductory, primary films of the Universal Classic Monster series that I had not seen prior to this cinematic year, thus completing my abandoned journey through these flicks from years ago, comes to an end with The Invisible Man. I am a little sad to see this era end. Though I am pleased to know there a ton more sequels to uncover, potentially compelling modern cinematic takes, the Hammer Film renditions to further explore, and, of course, all those silly confrontations with Abbott and Costello. Nevertheless, The Invisible Man is a great film to cap off this set of film journal entries as the flick represents everything I have come to love about these monster movies.

To this end, I feel confident enough to say that I have genuinely fallen for these films and characters. I do not just admire, respect, or understand them as a film guy or general fella. I get them, like a monster gets a fellow monster, and they have each reached a kind of barren territory of my heart only a few characters and tales have inhabited. The Headless Horseman, Sweeney Todd, Hellboy, the Hulk, the Beast of fairy tale lore, King Kong, Quasimodo, the Xenomorph, Swamp Thing, and the kaiju from the land of the rising sun. (Heck, even Ghostface from the Scream films hovers around the area from time to time, since he is a guest in almost every single happy Halloween memory I have). Now, the realm has more folk than before, and they have taught me that I cared about and related to those older residents much more than I ever dared confessed because of unfounded fears, anxieties, and assumptions. These Universal Classic Monsters have captured my imagination and heart more than I ever could have expected, and I am better than I was before I gave them another chance.

The Invisible Man continues the series' aesthetic variety. The film has a visual tone akin to The Wind in the Willows with quaint English country sides filled with citizens who indulge at inns on snowy nights after traversing backroads on bikes and this new invention called an "auto mobile". There is also a dash of mad science for good measure, and a mischievous tone. Instead of the morose seriousness of Frankenstein or the mounting terror of Creature from the Black Lagoon, this picture has a much more fun attitude: one laughs as much as they wince at the horror and violence the titular monster inflicts upon helpless victims. While scientists do not take the center stage, the police hunt for this fugitive forces characters to really think outside their usual box of ideas to capture an undetectable man who could be anywhere at any time. I was pleasantly reminded of anime-style, problem-solving scenes from works like Death Note or Sherlock Hound, which I rather like. Fantastic stuff!

The visual design of the Invisible Man is recognized the world over for good reason, and the special effects to bring him to life are absolutely incredible. About thirty-years before Mary Poppins was released in theaters to showcase animatronics, trick angles, hybrid animated sequences, and several other inventions from a theatre magician's book of secrets, The Invisible Man fully convinces the audience of this remarkable, disappearing effect. Yes, I can tell there is some kind of photo compositing trick that 1930s technology cannot entirely hide, but I do not care because the results are still great to see. The inventiveness and honest-to-God great filmmaking in the Universal Classic Monster movies continues to surprise me, and I wish I had known about their excellence crafts sooner, but better late than never.