James Whale directed The Invisible Man, a sci-fi horror, based on H. G. Wells’ 1897 novel The Invisible Man, produced by Universal Pictures.
The film stars Gloria Stuart, Claude Rains and William Harrigan.
The tale involves Dr. Jack Griffin (Rains) who is covered in bandages, with his eyes obscured by dark glasses, a result of secret experiment that makes him invisible.
He takes lodging in the village of Iping, never leaving his place. quarters. Griffin then demands that the staff leave him alone until his landlady discovers he is invisible.
Griffin returns to the laboratory of mentor, Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers), where he reveals his secret to Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan) and former fiancée Flora Cranley (Gloria Stuart).
They soon learn that Griffin’s discovery has driven him insane, leading him to prove his superiority over other people with harmless pranks at first and eventually murder.
The Invisible Man was in development for Universal in 1931, when Richard L. Schayer and Robert Florey thought that Wells’ novel would make a good follow-up to the horror film hit Dracula, but the studio opted to make Frankenstein instead.
Several screenplay adaptations were written and a number of potential directors including Florey, E.A. Dupont, Cyril Gardner, and screenwriters John L. Balderston, Preston Sturges, and Garrett Fort were interested in the project as a star vehicle for Boris Karloff.
After Whale’s acclaimed work on The Old Dark House starring Karloff and The Kiss Before the Mirror, Whale signed on and his screenwriting colleague R.C. Sherriff developed a script in London.
Production began in June 1933 and ended in August with two months of special effects work.
On the film’s release in 1933, it was a great commercial hit for Universal and received strong reviews from critics.
The film spawned several sequels that were relatively unrelated to the original film in the 1940s.
The film continued to receive praise on reevaluations by directors, such as Benicio del Toro, John Carpenter, Joe Dante, and Ray Harryhausen.
Critical Status:
The New York Times, which placed it among their Best in Film for 1933.
In 2008, The Invisible Man was selected for the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Cast
Gloria Stuart as Flora Cranley
Claude Rains as Dr. Jack Griffin
William Harrigan as Dr. Arthur Kemp
Henry Travers as Dr. Cranley
Una O’Connor as Jenny Hall
Forrester Harvey as Herbert Hall
Dudley Digges as Chief of Detectives
E. E. Clive as Police Constable Jaffers
Dwight Frye as Reporter
Merle Tottenham as Millie
