I have a pretty big gap in my knowledge of classic horror. I've seen enough to have an idea of what was happening from the late 50s on, but most anything before that has escaped me. So, when I saw the Universal Monsters BluRay collection on sale, I thought I'd scoop it up and check them out. Eight of the classics, restored in HD (Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, etc...) - count me in!
But it seems pretty pointless to even review something like this. I figure there are two trains of thought on movies from this era. If you are interested, you've probably already seen it, or don't need some two-bit blogger convincing you to do so. If you aren't interested in classic horror or are in the "old Black and White movies are boring!" camp, nothing I can say is going to convince you otherwise. But I watched it and have to write something...
The Invisible Man starts with a lively bar scene, patrons getting drunk and playing darts from the side of the board (was this how it was done in the 30's?) while a snowstorm rages outside. A man with a bandaged face (and creepy pilot's goggles) barges in, silencing even the player piano. He demands a private room and sets up a full laboratory. We know right away that he is invisible (title of the film notwithstanding), as we see him unbandage his face about 10 minutes in, as he works in the lab trying to undo his invisibility. After a week of erratic and abusive behavior, the innkeepers try to get rid of him, which kicks off his (invisible) reign of terror throughout London.
It's hard for me to write about movies from this era. I was an English guy in school, and I always avoided "the classics" i.e. anything from 1900 or prior. I could appreciate the writing and the storytelling, but never felt that I had the necessary context to really understand it in any meaningful way. I don't know if that means if I'm stupid, a bad English major, or overanalyzing things, but I only want to read things where I can more or less relate to the circumstances. (Historical fiction written in the present muddies the water a bit.) At least it means I'm selfish.
At any rate, yes, The Invisible Man is a classic. And it is really good. But it's a different set of standards. I mean, I don't think I could stomach watching a full week of movies from the 30's, you know? There's a kind of novelty to it that would only carry it so far. (Probably because they've been ripped off so often, but that's a discussion for another time.) The language of cinema (and society in general) has changed so much since then that it's hard for me to be totally objective about the film. A couple of examples:
- the cuts at the end of scenes happen so abruptly. The instant a person is done talking at the end of a scene, it cuts to the next one. I'm not sure if they were still trying to get the rhythm down - "talkies" had only existed for six years at this point. But it's still jarring for the modern viewer.
- The Invisible Man is, simply put, a terrorist. They imply that the invisibility drugs made him mad, but he still kills OVER 100 PEOPLE by derailing a train! Plus, he just randomly kills 20 or so other innocent people (unseen) just to make the public fear him. Yet, we are still supposed to feel some kind of sympathy for him.
- The special effects are really good. And I'd imagine totally mind-blowing at the time it was made. But now, 6th grade students producing a school newscast probably have access to the same kind of technology that produced the invisible effects. It's in no way the film's fault (and they do some really cool stuff with it), but it certainly lessens the impact.
I know Universal is planning on rebooting the Monsters and making them a "shared universe." (I like The Avengers but I don't think the mega-franchise mentality it spawned was worth it.) I would assume The Invisible Man will be ignored. I just can't see him (ha!) being a compelling character in 2018 or whenever it would happen. Pretty much every "invisible" thing that could be done by now has. But maybe the Architects Launching the Inter-Connected Shared Universe of the Universal Monsters can prove me wrong. I hate that we talk about movies that way now.
But this (whole entry) is beside the point. The Invisible Man is really good!
Ultimately
Sorry this isn't the standard blog entry. It seems a bit frivolous (even more so than usual) to do the like/not like-thing. You know if this is for you - it's on the Universal Monster Classics for a reason.
I would heartily recommend this film.
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