weezeralfalfa
The origin of The Invisible Man films goes back to H.G. Wells'1897 short novel. In the early 1940s, Universal sponsored a series if films relating to The Invisible Man, after their initial offering in 1933. These include "The Invisible Man Returns" 1940, "The Invisible Woman" 1940, "The Invisible Agent" 1942, and "The Invisible Man's Revenge"1944. I haven't yet seen any of these, but "The Invisible Woman" is generally classed as a comedy, along with the present film, which includes a serious plot, sprinkled with typical A&C shenanigans. A related topic is free ranging ghosts and other types of spirits, whose bodies have been permanently lost through death. In contrast, The Invisible Man has a body and soul, but has achieved invisibility through human inventiveness or perhaps the dark arts. Furthermore, his invisibility is usually reversible. Being present in spirit but not body is a common human fantasy. Such a power could be used to escape from a bad situation, or to achieve a good desired result. On the other hand, it can be used to facilitate the accomplishment of evil deeds. This was true of Griffin: the invisible man in Well's novel, who became a true monster. In contrast, in the present story, Tommy is not a monster. Mainly, he wants to use his invisibility to help solve the murder of his trainer manager.. Toward this goal, he also enlists the help of A&C, recent graduates of Dogan's Detective Training class(DDT). In Wells' novel, it is Griffin who both discovers the formula, and uses it for evil deeds, whereas in this film, Tommy obtains his specific serum from his girlfriend's father, who is a doctor and experimenter. Expect A&C's standard repertoire of verbal humor, sight gags, and slapstick. An example of sight humor: Abbott tells Lou, holding a gun, to "Let him have it". Lou gives the gun to the bad guy! An example of verbal humor: In a restaurant, Abbott pulls invisible Tommy's Champaign glass toward himself. When the waiter queries, Abbott says "I'm a two fisted drinker". Probably, the climax of the film occurs with the boxing match between Rocky and Lou(Louie the Looper)plus invisible Tommy. Nobody can believe what they see, with Rocky being knocked around by a seemingly invisible force emanating from Lou. Tommy seemingly abandons Lou for periods during the fight, but comes back to finish off Rocky, whereas Lou was supposed to throw the fight, as pressured by the gangsters sponsoring Rocky. They come to 'get' Lou after the fight, but get taken themselves.Sexy blond, but bad, Adele Jenkins, as Boots Marsden, flirts with Lou, trying to get him to see things from the Gangster's viewpoint. The other woman in the story is bland Nancy Guild, as Helen Gray, Tommy's girlfriend... Sheldon Leonard plays Gangster Moran: Boots' boyfriend... William Frawley is occasionally present , as detective Roberts, who is looking for Tommy, and doesn't believe various tales of an invisible Tommy(why should he!). A recurring joke is that various people are sent to a psychiatrist when they report experiencing an invisible person.
mark.waltz
Although this Abbott and Costello film has its share of laughs, I really wish that it had more of the horrors that many of their late 1940s, early 1950s films had. The Invisible Man had made a brief cameo with the voice of Vincent Price in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, but here, it is character actor Arthur Franz who takes on the role of the Invisible Man. He is a boxer who is in hiding for an apparent murder he committed, and it is up two private detectives Bud and Lou to try and prove his innocence. They have to go up against wisecracking police investigator William Frawley and obvious mobster Sheldon Leonard in order to do so, and with Franz appearing in and out of the film, for some reason Lou ends up in the boxing ring and a fight with he is supposed to take a dive ends up being the comic highlight of the film. However for me the funniest moment comes when Bud and Lou do a routine with money where Lou cleverly pocketing it after Bud insists that he gets it all. It is nice to see Lou getting the upper hand on bud, one of the rare times where he was able to do so. Unfortunately a lot of the film involves juvenile humor. By this time in the aging team was getting a bit old. Certainly, this team did have the longest running pairing in Hollywood history, lasting well over a decade. But other than a few truly original comic bits, this is a trip down the same road and unfortunately it lacks in originality.
gridoon
Very funny in spots ("How did I ever graduate?" - "I slipped that guy 20 bucks!"), slow-going in others (despite the complete and welcome absence of any musical numbers), "Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man" is probably not one of the duo's best films from a purely comedic standpoint, but it is nevertheless fascinating, if only for its amazing special effects. Clever, elaborate photographic, editing and other tricks are employed to achieve such effects as the invisible man removing his bandages from his head which is completely transparent while the rest of his body is not ("There is no reason to lose your head over this", observes Lou) - effects that in our digital age would probably be achieved by pressing some buttons in a computer. That's why you have to appreciate the effort and creativity that went into making such things happen. (**1/2)
