The Invisible Woman (1940 film)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

The Invisible Woman
theatrical release poster
theatrical release poster
Directed by A. Edward Sutherland
Produced by Burt Kelly
Written by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Screenplay by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Story by Curt Siodmak
Joe May
Based on The Invisible Man
(1897 novel)
by H.G. Wells
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by Frank Skinner
Cinematography Elwood Bredell
Edited by Frank Gross
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • December 27, 1940 (1940-12-27) (US)
Running time
72 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $269,062[1]
Box office $659,600[1]

The Invisible Woman is an American science fiction comedy film that was released near the end of 1940 by Universal. It is the third 'Invisible' film following The Invisible Man and The Invisible Man Returns, which had been released earlier in the year. It was more of a screwball comedy than other films in the series.[2]

The films stars Virginia Bruce in the lead role, the aging John Barrymore, John Howard, Charlie Ruggles, and Oscar Homolka, and features Margaret Hamilton, and Charles Lane.

Plot

The wealthy lawyer Dick Russell (John Howard) funds the dotty old inventor Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) to create an invisibility device. The first test subject for this machine is Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce), a department store model who had been fired from her previous job. The machine proves quite successful, and Kitty uses her invisible state to pay back her former sadistic boss, Mr. Growley (Charles Lane).

While the Professor and the invisible Kitty are off visiting the lodge of the millionaire Russell, the gangster Blackie Cole (Oscar Homolka) sends in his gang of moronic thugs (including Shemp Howard) to steal the device. With the machine back at their hideout, however, they cannot get it to work. By now Kitty has returned to visibility, and the thugs are sent in to kidnap her and Gibbs. However, she has learned that some alcohol will restore her to invisibility, and uses this to defeat the gang (with help from Russell).

At the end of the film it is revealed she has married and become a mother. To top it off, she and the professor learn that her treatment has apparently become hereditary—as her infant son vanishes upon being rubbed with an alcohol-based lotion.

Cast

Cast notes

  • Margaret Sullavan had originally been slated for the role of the invisible woman, but the part did not appeal to her and as a result she did not report for the filming.[3] (As she was under contract with Universal for another film, she was issued a restraining order to prevent her from appearing in other films. She later satisfied her contract with a part in the 1941 film Back Street.)
  • Maria Montez makes an appearance among some models and says one line.[4]

Production

The comedy writers Robert Lees and Fred Rinaldo wrote the screenplay in slapstick style, while H. G. Wells was again credited as the original author of The Invisible Man. The film was directed by A. Edward Sutherland.

This film runs for 70 minutes and was filmed in black and white with mono sound. The special effects were produced by John P. Fulton, who earned another nomination for an Oscar following his comparable effects work in The Invisible Man Returns. John D. Hall also was nominated for the Oscar.[5]

The John Howard who appears in the film and in several Bulldog Drummond films with Barrymore, is not the John Howard who married Barrymore's daughter, Diana , in 1947.

Reception

Reviews from critics were mixed. Theodore Strauss of The New York Times called the film "silly, banal and repetitious ... The script is as creaky as a two-wheeled cart and were it not for the fact that John Barrymore is taking a ride in it we hate to think what 'The Invisible Woman' might have turned out to be."[6] Variety called it, "Good entertainment for general audiences."[7] Film Daily called it "laugh-packed," "brightly dialogued" and "a lot of fun."[8] Harrison's Reports declared it "a pretty good comedy for the masses ... but it does not offer anything new to those who saw the other pictures in which the character became invisible."[9] John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote, "The old stunt is still good, yet it's not used to much advantage here ... In fact, this is the feeblest example so far of that stunt which the camera can so easily make funny."[10]

At the time of its release, this film was considered slightly risqué because much is made of the fact that the heroine, though invisible, is naked during much of the action.[3]

References

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Gregory Mank, "Production Background", The Invisible Man, Bear Manor Media 2013
  2. The Invisible Woman article at Turner Classic Movies accessed 10 January 2014
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. The Invisible Woman at Maria Montez Fan Page
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

  • Brunas, Michael; Brunas, John; and Weaver, Tom. (1990) Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946, McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-89950-369-1.

External links