THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE (1944)
Article #1314 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-19-2004
Posting Date: 3-18-2005
Directed by Ford Beebe
Featuring Jon Hall, Leon Errol, John Carradine

An escaped lunatic bent on acquiring his rightful share of a fortune finds himself betrayed, but seeks revenge against his enemies when a doctor turns him invisible.

This would be the last of the invisible man series by Universal (other than a couple of encounters with Abbott and Costello). It is not a sequel to any of the other movies as far as I can tell, despite the fact that the main character’s last name is Griffin. It’s likable enough and fun to watch, but it is probably the least of the series. I think its main problem is that it’s a bit muddled. It attempts to recapture that combination of comedy and horrific suspense that was the earmark of the first movie in the series, but whereas that movie balanced the elements in such a way that they played off of and enhanced each other, here we just have suspense scenes giving way to comic scenes giving way to suspense scenes etc…without really building to an organic whole. Still, the cast is colorful enough; I’ve never been a big fan of Jon Hall, but I do enjoy seeing Leon Errol, John Carradine, Evelyn Ankers, Halliwell Hobbes, Skelton Knaggs and Ian Wolfe. On the down side, I think Gale Sondergaard (one of the great character actresses of all time) is wasted here; she isn’t given near enough to do, and practically vanishes from the second half of the movie. It’s not one of Universal’s best, but it’s far from an embarrassment.