The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Robert Griffin (Jon Hall) escapes from an asylum and seeks out his old friends, Sir Jasper and Lady Irene (Lester Matthews, Gale Sondergaard). Griffin accuses the two of leaving him for dead in Africa years before and taking full claim for the diamond mine he had discovered, which subsequently made them rich. The two deny this and say they were told Griffin was dead by their guide. They offer to pay him half of what they have but Griffin, now quite insane, refuses and says he wants it all plus their daughter Julie (Evelyn Ankers)! They throw Griffin out, which leads to him meeting up with a Cockney blackmailer (Leon Errol) and eventually a scientist (John Carradine), who enlists him to take part in the inevitable invisibility experiment. The experiment is successful and Griffin, now invisible, returns to get even with Jasper and Irene.Despite being named Griffin, this Invisible Man shares no history with the previous ones. It's John Carradine's scientist who has created the invisibility formula here. Also, Griffin is nuts before the movie begins so the invisibility formula can't be blamed for that. To make matters slightly more confusing, Hall plays the lead here and he also played the lead (another Griffin) in Invisible Agent.The cast helps overcome a messy script. Hall is quite convincing as the psycho Invisible Man. Carradine, as usual, is great as the scientist. Leon Errol seems to ruffle quite a few feathers among viewers, judging by reviews here. His character was pretty much unnecessary but he didn't bother me. Gale Sondergaard is always a treat to watch but she gets little to do and seems to disappear from the story altogether after a half-hour or so. Lester Matthews is fine as the weakling husband who may or may not have left Griffin for dead in Africa. Evelyn Ankers has a thankless part. Halliwell Hobbes is the butler, as he often was in these films.Part of the problem with the story is that no one is that likable. The closest thing to a hero in the movie is Alan Curtis' reporter character and there's something about him that kind of bugged me. Another problem is the script feels uneven, especially in the early part. Reportedly the first draft of the script had Jasper and Irene as much more villainous characters and no doubt was cast on their attempt to kill Griffin, both in Africa as well as upon his showing up at their house in this film. That's not the case in the final version yet the pair still seems unsympathetic, so I wonder why they bothered changing it all, if they did? The special effects are OK, if a little sloppy in some scenes. I think some reviewers have overstated just how sloppy they were. It's not like you see wires in every scene or even most scenes. I think only eagle-eyed viewers will spot most of the flaws with the effects.Overall, it's a good movie of its type. Not great, but watchable B-grade entertainment. It's got a solid cast with a strong performance from Jon Hall in the lead. Still, it's easy to see why Universal stopped the series after this one.

1944's "The Invisible Man's Revenge" brought the infrequent Universal series to an end, apart from 1951's "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man." It's appropriate that Jon Hall repeat the role again, after playing the heroic "Invisible Agent" in 1942; here, his Robert Griffin, no relation to prior Griffins, isn't so much a madman as a man who believes himself to have been wronged, and with Lester Matthews and Gale Sondergaard as the objects of scorn, you too may feel they were indeed guilty of the alleged crime (leaving him behind in the jungle to die after leading them to a fabulous diamond mine). The expected comedy relief is ably supplied by Leon Errol, whose dart game echoes the James Whale original, but goes on a tad too long. Lovely Evelyn Ankers is again wasted in a peripheral role, as she often was in Universal horrors, leaving the way open for the scene stealing John Carradine to command the screen, in only two scenes, as Dr. Peter Drury, the source of Griffin's invisibility, with transparent pets such as a parrot and a dog, whose later visibility will doom any future plans for our nonhero ("in this house, you've got to believe what you CAN'T see!"). Former adversaries in 1937's "The Hurricane," Jon Hall and John Carradine would once more oppose each other in 1957's "Hell Ship Mutiny." Director Ford Beebe ("Night Monster") was one of Universal's finest journeymen, again finding a slot for his father-in-law, Cyril Delevanti, selling Griffin some new clothes before nearly getting himself killed. Among the smaller parts are Doris Lloyd ("The Wolf Man"), Ian Wolfe ("The Raven"), Billy Bevan ("Dracula's Daughter"), and Skelton Knaggs ("House of Dracula"). All five entries, even 1940's "The Invisible Woman," appeared on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, with "The Invisible Man's Revenge" airing 6 times- Feb 26 1966 (followed by 1936's "Dracula's Daughter"), May 25 1968 (followed by 1961's "Konga"), June 1 1974 (preceded by 1969's "Count Dracula"), May 31 1975 (preceded by 1961's "Invasion of the Zombies"), July 2 1977 (preceded by 1966's "Death Curse of Tartu"), and Dec 24 1983 (solo on Christmas Eve).

This final entry in Universals' "Invisible Man" series is a rather weak one, unfortunately. It's decidedly lacking in any sort of atmosphere, there's too much unfunny comedy relief, too much time wasting going on, and the special effects are substandard (you can clearly see the wires manipulating some of the objects, for one thing). The script is nothing special, either, although the cast does the best that they can.The film does benefit from having its vengeance minded main character be a true s.o.b. The man in question, Robert Griffin (Jon Hall), thinks that his old partners, the Herricks (Gale Sondergaard and Lester Matthews) double crossed him and cheated him out of a fortune in diamonds. So, when he happens upon a nutty scientist, Dr. Drury (the well cast and delightful John Carradine) who's perfected an invisibility process, he volunteers to be the first human guinea pig, and uses his new "appearance" to his advantage.It's a shame to be referring to any of the films from Universals' 1930s and 1940s horror cycle as tiresome, but that's exactly what "The Invisible Man's Revenge" is. It just isn't very involving; it may have some good moments along the way, but they aren't enough to redeem the film. What makes it bearable is a cast featuring some excellent actors. Hall is very amusing as the determined antagonist, and Carradine is a joy to watch; it's nice to see him playing a victim rather than a villain in this sort of thing. Pros such as Halliwell Hobbes, Leyland Hodgson, Doris Lloyd, and Ian Wolfe are solid in small roles. However, Alan Curtis is fairly dull as reporter Mark Foster, and the film gives the lovely Evelyn Ankers precious little to actually do; her character really isn't *that* important to the plot. Leon Errol is good, although his part is an annoying one.Viewers may want to see this for completions' sake, but it's best recommended that they lower their expectations before watching.Five out of 10.

A rather weak and confusing script makes The Invisible Man's Revenge not nearly up to the standard set by the first Invisible Man film and the stylish performance of Claude Rains as the scientist who discovers the secret of invisibility and its trap.Our invisible protagonist in this film is Jon Hall who has come over to Great Britain from South Africa in the belief that Lester Matthews and Gale Sondergaard cheated him out of his half share of a diamond mine. Let's say that their actions don't allay his suspicions and Hall gets quite the bum's rush out of their house.Alone and paranoid Hall stumbles on scientist John Carradine who's been working on the matter of invisibility. He offers himself as a guinea pig to Carradine and of course Carradine sees Nobel Prize in his future.Of course Hall has other plans to use the invisibility as a method of revenge. He also considers an alternative to killing and stealing from Matthews and Sondergaard. Hall gets one look at their lovely daughter, Evelyn Ankers, and decides it might be easier to marry the fortune. That is if he can get rid of her boyfriend Alan Curtis.The motivations of these characters is quite confusing at times, you're not quite sure who to root for. Even in the end, someone had a marvelous idea for the Invisible Man to get his comeuppance involving man's best friend and blew it in the execution.One very interesting performance in the film is Leon Errol, away from the comic parts he usually had. He's still got some funny moments, but he's also a blackmailing scoundrel as well.The Invisible Man's Revenge is far from the best in the series. Even Abbott&Costello's film with them ranks better than this.