OVP: The Invisible Woman (1940)

Film: The Invisible Woman (1940)

Stars: Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charles Ruggles

Director: A. Edward Sutherland

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Special Effects)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

This month we are devoting all of our classic film reviews to Golden Age Horror films that I saw for the first time this year.  If you want to take a look at past titles (from this and other seasons of this series), look at the bottom of the page for links.

Horror in the 1930's & 40's has a tendency to read as a bit comical to modern audiences.  Because we are so used to horror being genuinely scary, anything that falls short of that is camp.  This is how films like Young Frankenstein are so successful in retrospect-because they feed off of this unintentional humor that read (at the time) as straight drama.  As the genre continued, though, we did see even contemporaneously movies acknowledging this (Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man have characters that are so wry it is clearly intentional), though today's film, The Invisible Woman, takes it a step further; this is, despite being billed above as a "horror" film (it does feature an "invisible woman," a monster trope from Universal during the era), not a horror picture but a romantic-comedy.  Though it has a supernatural element, no one could be scared by what is happening in The Invisible Woman, but instead I'm glad to report they can be charmed by it, as The Invisible Woman is sweet & fun.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film starts with Richard Russell (Howard), a wealthy attorney, funding his friend Professor Gibbs (Barrymore) and his experiments in making people invisible.  Russell is potentially going to cut Gibbs off, so Gibbs has to find a subject for his invisibility for free.  He gets that in Kitty Carroll (Bruce), a beautiful model who wants to enact revenge on her boss who treats his employees like garbage. Professor Gibbs' experiment is successful, and Kitty goes & haunts her old boss (who changes his ways).  In the process, though, we learn of a side effect of Kitty's experiment-while she can return to normal, if she drinks alcohol she'll go invisible again, giving her less of a science experiment and more of a superpower.  There's a side story involving a group of criminals trying to steal Gibbs' machine to use for their criminal endeavors, but the main story is Kitty learning to love herself & fall in love with Russell, a playboy who meets his match in the sassy Bruce.

The film's plot reads as a standard-issue romantic comedy with a twist, and that's what it is.  Though Bruce is onscreen only for a handful of sequences (unlike most of the "invisible" movies, we actually get to see her visibly for chunks of the picture), her voice work is excellent, and I thought she was fun with both Barrymore & Howard.  Barrymore, at this point in his career his stardom a shell of his former glory, is the best part as a doddering eccentric, playing him less mad and more quirky.  Barrymore is an actor that I really enjoy, and despite alcoholism ravishing him of his movie star looks & shortening his life, his talent still shines here with a showy, fun part.  The movie's side plot with the criminals feels a bit tacked-on and underwritten, but the central trio work well together & it's fun.

The film was cited for one Oscar, a rarity among the Universal Monster movies, for Best Special Effects.  I honestly thought the invisibility tricks were impressive.  The best of the bunch would be when Bruce (or whomever is her stand-in her) throws a live cat at another actor, convincingly selling that the (real) cat is floating in the air before getting a rude surprise.  The actual invisibility scenes are a bit of a "turning the lights off & on" but with the sets being kind of playful, you won't really mind.  All-in-all, this is one of the better monster sequels even if it can't possibly be billed as horror.

Past Horror Month Reviews (Listed Chronologically): The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Mad Love, The Raven, Werewolf of London, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Mummy's Hand, The Wolf Man, Cat People, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Tomb, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, The House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Blob, The Masque of the Red Death