The Invisible Ray (1936)

Crappy film

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

In another Gothic castle on a mountaintop far far away, Boris Karloff is busy exploring the stars, searching for the secrets of the planets and what created the earth's core. He knows many gasses make up the earth's core, and in one discovery, gets to witness the big bang from millenniums before. Sharing this with disbelieving scientific guests, he convinces them to take him with them on a journey to Africa where he discovers "Radium X", a gas which turns him into "the touching killer" when it gets too deeply embedded in him. Bela Lugosi is along for the ride, but don't you dare call him "sidekick".This isn't as good as the two previous Karloff/Lugosi co-starrers, and even with a fine supporting cast, it ranks low on the totem pole of Universal fantasy/sci-fi/horror, at least amongst the ones released in the 1930's. Beulah Bondi is present as one of the scientists, guilty in Karloff's mind of pairing his estranged wife (Frances Drake) with another scientist (Frank Lawton). Violet Kemble Cooper, who resembles an older Dame Judith Anderson (and even sounds like her), gives a very melodramatic performance as Karloff's aging blind mother, crippled after assisting her son in one of his experiments.As for Lugosi, he's a total good guy here, out to aid Karloff who in a lucid moment seeks his help in finding a cure. There's one shocking moment where Lugosi refers to a sick African child as an unfortunate creature. Footage of this with Karloff in the head gear was later used for Lugosi's character in the campy serial "The Phantom Creeps". The film's horror doesn't come from the deaths here, but from the actual prediction that the earth is filled with such materials which was almost a decade before the bombing of Japan and the beginning of the nuclear age. For that, this is actually a film of foresight in which the fear might make you think what else exists out there that could destroy mankind.

The invisible ray comes from Andromeda and allows Dr Rukh (Boris Karloff) to see a meteorite that hit Africa millions of years ago. He goes in search of evidence with a party that includes his wife Diane (Frances Drake), Dr Benet (Bela Lugosi), Sir Francis (Walter Kingsford), Lady Arabella (Beulah Bondi) and non-entity Ronald (Frank Lawton). He discovers Radium X and lets Dr Benet into his secret, but it has a fatal effect on him. He starts to glow and decides to exact his revenge on the party that "stole" his discovery. He's a madman!It's a film that starts out spooky, then goes into science fiction, then switches to adventure in Africa before changing into a murder story. It contains quite a lot of shifting story lines but it never really settles into any. It's a bit of everything and comes across as quite dull in parts. The best thing about the film is the performance of Violet Kemble Cooper as "Mother Rukh". She is proper scary and her performance would still creep the hell out of audiences today. At the opposite end of the scale is the dreadful Frank Lawton who has no charisma, especially as a love interest for Diane. Lugosi is laughable at first because of his accent but then becomes very likable. I was convinced by his performance as a good scientist and quite surprised that he managed to pull it off.Unfortunately, the film ends rather unimaginatively. My mind drifted in parts, Violet Kemble Cooper is good but the film is just OK.

Horror Gods Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi should be more than sufficient a reason for any Genre-lover to watch a film, and, even though the most convincing one they are not the only reason to watch this particular little Sci-Fi/Horror gem. While Lambert Hillyer's "The Invisible Ray" of 1936 does not nearly share the brilliance of other contemporary films starring Karloff ("Frankenstein, "Bride Of Frankenstein", "The Mummy",...) or Lugosi ("White Zombie", "Island Of The Lost Souls", "Dracula",...), or both ("The Black Cat", "The Raven",...), this is doubtlessly a highly entertaining film that no lover of cult cinema should consider missing. Compared to other Universal Horror pictures, the storyline seems a bit silly, but in a delightful manner. Karloff and Lugosi, of course, shine as always, and the film furthermore profits from great sceneries and an excellent photography. Karloff plays Dr. Janos Rukh, a brilliant scientist who has invented a technique to look into the past through a telescope, and finds out that a meteor has hit the earth thousands of years ago. Stunned by Rukh's invention, the celebrated French scientist Dr. Felix Benet (Bela Lugosi), invites him to join an expedition in to find the meteor. In Africa, Rukh makes a discovery that is capable of causing great beneficence and great destruction alike... It is somewhat odd that Karloff, who was in fact British, plays a Hungarian scientist here while Lugosi, who was Hungarian, plays a French Scientist, but they are both excellent as usual. As far as I am concerned, these two Horror Deities could have probably been filmed reading the telephone directory, and I am sure they would have made something out of it - either man is an icon of the Horror genre, and seeing them together is a treat for every fan of the genre. By the way, this is one of the few films, if not the only one, in which it is obvious that Lugosi was actually taller than Karloff. Frances Drake makes a very good female lead in her role of Dr Rukh's beautiful young wife. The rest of the performances are also good, if not particularly worth mentioning. Other than the casting of Karloff and Lugosi, the film's greatest qualities are probably the atmosphere due to great settings and photography, as well as the wonderfully cheesy and highly entertaining storyline. My main complaint is that I would have wished for more screen time for Lugosi, and for his role to have a bit more significance. He is fantastic as always, but his role could have been bigger, and more sinister. Otherwise, "The Invisible Ray" is a wonderfully entertaining film which should satisfy every lover of classic Horror/Sci-Fi cinema, and a must-see for all my fellow Lugosi/Karloff fans.

The thirties horror films that are best remembered are always the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein; and there's a very good reason for that, but there were a number of smaller but nevertheless excellent productions, and The Invisible Ray is certainly one of them. The plot is not particularly original and similar plots have been seen many times before (even way back in 1936) but the way that everything is put together is certainly very imaginative and director Lambert Hillyer has created a very nifty little original horror film. The plot focuses on the good hearted Dr Janos Rukh; a man who has discovered a way to recreate the history of the Earth. His discovery leads him to believe that there may be an unknown radioactive element somewhere in Africa and so he sets off along with a team of esteemed colleagues to find it. However, tragedy strikes while on the expedition and the good doctor ends up becoming exposed to the element; which makes him glow in the dark, and also sends him mad...The biggest draw of the film is undoubtedly the fact that it stars the two biggest horror stars of its day - Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and both give excellent performances. Karloff really shows what a good actor he is and his character has plenty of meat for Karloff to impress with. Bela Lugosi has a role which is extremely different from what we're used to seeing him in, and it's a great performance from him also; it's nice to see a bit of versatility from Lugosi. The film does get off to a rather slow start; but things soon start to pick up. The second half of the film is the best and that's really when the film gets exciting and Karloff gets a chance to shine (literally). The film does not put its focus on big special effects and largely relies on the actions of the central character to keep things interesting; and it does work very well. The film remains interesting throughout and boils down to a very decent climax that wraps everything up nicely. Overall, The Invisible Ray may not be one of the very best horror films of the thirties; but it's a very good one and comes recommended.