1933's Universal Monsters Classic The Invisible Man

Jack GriffIn, a scientist, performs experiments with a plant that has invisibility properties. During an experiment with the plant, a drug made with it, he turns himself invisible. He doesn't know how to undo it so he flees his lab and tries to find an antidote. The drug slowly drives him insane, causing him to terrorize the countryside as an invisible killer.

I loved this movie! In my opinion, Claude Rains is one of the best Universal Monsters period actors, next to Boris Karloff. I wish he performed in more horror movies in the starring roles but, alas, he was mainly a supporting actor. One of my favorite of his roles was as Larry Talbot's (Lon Chaney Jr.) in "The Wolf Man". He does exceptionally well here in "The Invisible Man" as Jack GriffIn, considering it one of his earlier roles and that we don't see his face until the end. His performance is in his body movements and voice diction. I read that he started out a strong actor but with weak voice enunciation and projection but he definitely overcame that and excelled. He truly does sound raving mad here. Just perfect!

The story is really simple and easy to follow, as are most Universal Monsters films. It starts out in the middle of the story, after Jack has already fled to an old, country town.

The atmosphere is not creepy but fast-paced, as fast as Jack GriffIn's mental deterioration. It takes place in the winter so the snow is a great addition to the story. After he starts killing, the speed picks up as the authorities hunt him down and everyone believes he can be anywhere. Suspicions abound.

The SFX. The SFX are truly astounding - for the 30s and even today it stands up to the best of SFX. Jack's invisibility is perfect. I'd like to see how they did the invisibility because it was done before computers and blue screen. It's just mind-boggling how good it looks considering the technology of their day.

Great orchestral music is the perfect accompaniment to the tension of the characters.