Directed by James Whale — Starring Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan and Una O’Connor

A chemist discovers a way to make himself invisible, but the drug behind his discovery is slowly driving him mad.

Next up in my Halloween series covering the classic Universal monster movies is The Invisible Man.

One thing I wasn’t expecting was for the movie to jump right into the fact that he’s invisible. There’s no long setup showing us the experiment or building toward the big reveal. A mysterious man arrives at an inn with his face wrapped in bandages and dark glasses covering his eyes, and it doesn’t take long before everyone discovers what’s going on. From there, things get out of hand pretty quickly.

Claude Rains was one of my favorite parts of Casablanca, so it was a treat to see him in something else. He’s easily the best part of this movie. Even when we can’t see his face, his voice gives Griffin a dark, dangerous quality. He always seems to be on the verge of exploding into a violent fury, and as the story progresses, he becomes more and more frightening.

I also loved the look of this movie. The iconic image of the Invisible Man with his bandaged face and dark glasses is perfection. But the special effects are the real marvel here. Watching clothes move around with nobody inside them, objects flying through the air, and Griffin seemingly disappearing right in front of people is still incredibly cool. It’s amazing how well it works for a movie made in 1933.

The film is also a lot more brutal than I expected. Griffin isn’t just playing tricks on people or trying to reverse his experiment. As the drug affects his mind, he becomes increasingly violent, and the body count starts piling up. There’s a genuinely nasty streak running through the movie that contrasts with some of the comedy.

And there’s a lot of comedy. Especially esrly on. The villagers’ reactions often veer into slapstick, and Una O’Connor’s landlady has a few moments where she practically looks straight at the camera like Jim from The Office, silently asking us, “Get a load of this guy?”

I was also pleased to see Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life show up. Henry Travers plays Dr. Cranley, Flora’s father, who is trying to understand what happened to Griffin and find a way to help him. Flora herself is caught between her love for Griffin and the increasingly dangerous person he’s becoming.

William Harrigan’s Dr. Kemp adds another interesting wrinkle. He’s Griffin’s colleague, but he’s also a rival for Flora’s affection. Their relationship becomes particularly tense once Griffin turns up at Kemp’s home and makes it clear that he’s not interested in playing by anyone else’s rules. The battle of wits between Griffin and the authorities is a lot of fun, too. They come up with plans and traps to catch someone they can’t see, but Griffin keeps finding ways to turn the tables on them.

I had a lot of fun with this one. The special effects are terrific, the Invisible Man’s look is iconic, and Rains gives the movie a genuinely menacing center. Even when the comedy gets a little broad, there’s enough suspense, brutality, and inventive filmmaking to keep things moving.

Verdict: Unhinged