Between this film and the two ""Frankenstein"" entries, James Whale cemented his reputation as a great director, a reputation that lasts almost a century later.
The great Claude Rains is Griffin, a bandage-swathed stranger who insists on a room and privacy from innkeeper Hall (Forrest Harvey) and his wife Jenny (the shrill Una O'Connor). Upstairs, far away from a drunk and curious crowd, Griffin tries desperately to reverse the scientific experiments that have rendered him invisible. Meanwhile, Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers) and his melodramatic daughter Flora (Gloria Stuart) wonder just where the heck Griffin disappeared (ha!) to. Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan), Cranley's other assistant, the one you can see, promises Flora he will find Griffin and they will change him back to normal. The problem is one of the chemicals Griffin uses not only caused his invisibility, but will drive him insane, and soon many innocent people pay for Griffin's experiment with their lives.
Whale's direction here is not as hurried as "The Bride of Frankenstein," although the film is a very brief seventy one minutes. The cast is very capable, and Whale uses his camera on these faces well. The alcoholics in the bar are unforgettable, and Stuart and Harrigan are the only "good looking" people here. Rains does a great job acting while off-camera or wrapped in bandages. The special effects? Brilliant, whether for a 1933 film or not. Forget CGI, the effects are very good and very funny. Imagination seems to have inspired them, not a film formula or control groups. There are a couple of gaffes here and there, but that is it. Based on H.G. Wells' novel, this was followed by a few sequels, but this is the most entertaining film of the series.
In the end, "The Invisible Man" is total fun. It is more interesting and suspenseful than anything else playing out there even now- a classic film that holds up decades later.
