As 1944’s THE INVISIBLE
MAN’S REVENGE, directed by Ford Beebe, began, I got excited: Jon Hall was
listed in the credits, and when he appeared in his first scene, he had a little
inside joke about his spying days being behind him. He also sported the last
name Griffin. Could it be – a DIRECT sequel to the great INVISIBLE AGENT?
Unfortunately, no.
Despite Hall as a lead and the reference to spying, it turns out Hall is
playing yet ANOTHER Griffin relative (unspecified this time) who has
temporarily lost his memory and is presumed dead, until he regains his memory
and comes calling for his slice of a treasure he uncovered before disappearing.
Sound convoluted? It is. It gets even more convoluted, so I’ll skip a bunch of
that stuff, but, basically, he wants to marry the daughter of the couple he
thinks wronged him and also wants to take over their estate. Oh, also, he’s a
murderer and escapee of an insane asylum.
All this is before he
even turns invisible, this time facilitated by a mad scientist living nearby the
estate in question, played effectively by John Carradine. Even though the main
character of this movie is yet another Griffin descendant, this scientist has
developed his own invisibility method, and uses it on Griffin, who act as if
the idea of becoming invisibile is unheard of. So, he's a Griffin, but knows
nothing of invisibility, and by pure coincidence meets up with a totally
unconnected scientist who turns him invisible. Got it.
Anyway, he goes on a
murderous revenge-fueled rampage, punctuated on occasion by humorous
interactions with his Cockney sidekick (Leon Errol) who he helps cheat at darts
in perhaps the film’s only memorable scene. The movie’s well directed and
creepier than the last couple installments in the series, but thanks to a pretty
vile main character it has a mean spirit, overall, which is a departure from
the other films and a shame to end the series on (unless you count the ABBOT
AND COSTELLO installment, which I won’t be watching this year).
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