Woodyanders Frank Raymond (likeable Jon Hall), who's the grandson of the invisible man, uses his grandfather's invisibility formula so he can sneak into Germany as an undercover spy in order to thwart the Nazis and romance beautiful female double agent Maria Sorenson (the charming and elegant Ilona Massey).Although director Edward L. Marin relates the inane, but still enjoyable story at a snappy pace and maintains an amiable lighthearted tone, he alas overdoes the goofy slapstick humor, with the portrayal of the Nazis as bumbling buffoons coming across as both annoying and embarrassing. The special effects are strictly hit or miss: The invisibility stuff holds up pretty well while the painfully obvious miniature planes leave a lot to be desired. Fortunately, there's a trio of excellent villains who ensure that this movie remains watchable: Peter Lorre as oily Japanese weasel Baron Ikito, Cedric Hardwicke as the smoothly sinister Conrad Stauffer, and J. Edward Bromberg as the smarmy Karl Heiser. A pleasant diversion.

bkoganbing When a bunch of Nazis come calling on Jon Hall at his print shop in New York City, they seem to know all about him and the background he has tried to hide. Seems as though an ancestor of his was none other than Claude Rains who as John Griffin invented that invisibility formula that had the entire United Kingdom on edge. Hall barely escapes from the agents who include Cedric Hardwicke for the Nazis and Peter Lorre as a visiting ally from Japan.Right after Pearl Harbor like Wonder Woman, Hall decides his talents are best put to use in the Allied Cause. His condition is that he alone will be given the invisibility drug, mindful of the bad side effects it has including causing the madness that killed Claude Rains back in the day.Hall finds out some vital information, like the day the Axis is going to invade the USA and who their agents are in America. He has the help of the beautiful Ilona Massey, but he's not quite sure what side of the fence she's playing.The Nazis are stupid, even more stupid than usual in these films, but they've also got a lot of intrigues going among each other, between Cedric Hardwicke and J. Edward Bromberg to see who will be top dog under Himmler in the S.S. And Peter Lorre does not think terribly much of German efficiency and with these two around who could blame him. Maybe the Japanese ought to gain the secret of invisibility and they might be calling the tune in the Axis.It all makes for one horrific wartime propaganda flick that would be hooted off the screen by some and would offend others. Peter Lorre who was Jewish Hungarian, gets to do his Mr. Moto act with malevolence saying such things as you occidentals have this really big fetish about your white women and Hall coming back that he can't tell any of you monkeys apart. To be fare to Hardwicke, Lorre, and Bromberg, it's not easy dealing with an invisible man. Too bad they were at war with the British or they could find out how Claude Rains ultimately met his end.

j-cf This is not the James Whale's Invisible man, far from that, but it's still quite interesting on an historical point of view: America can involve ANY of "her" heroes in wars, even the psychotic one created by Wells. And besides that… it's funny! The hero is dumb (what a pitiful spy!), but this can be related to the original movie (the first Invisible man became insane because of the drug, this one becomes stupid and suspicious - kind of a "war symptom" for America… or France!). Some scenes reminded me of the Whale's movie (which had also a lot of humorous parts), like the barn scene. The directing is correct, not great (Marin is not Whale), and the editing is poor. Characters are sympathetic (the villains, anyway: Lorre and co can manage that). What gives the movie his "power" (on a low level: it's not Lubitsch's To be or not to be) is the distance taken with the story told, which is plain silly (how come a dumb like Griffin Jr Jr can make the drug by himself? And if he can't, this drug has an impressive power of conservation, having been made half a century ago!). But before all that, what keeps this kind of movie alive are the wonderful special effects created by John Fulton. The parachute scene is quite impressive, and so is the cream scene. An enjoyable movie, representative of the Universal's evolution at that time, when the studio capitalized on the "addition principle" (pardon me for my poor English): since we are in war and since Frankenstein can meet the werewolf, why couldn't the Invisible man fight the Gestapo? After all, Nazis were way much scary than any Universal monster… because they were real (nevertheless, America ignored the horrors of concentration-camps at that time, that's why Nazis could still be funny in the movies). A regret anyway: where the hell are Claude Rains and his incredible voice?

callanvass Pretty decent flick that's fairly entertaining with good performances all around and likable characters. Now i will say this it's nothing that special but it's not a waste of time either It came with the Invisible Man legacy set so. The Direction is a little uneven some of the time but it's very acceptable and it makes for a watchable romp. Once again this is not a horror film more like a spy/like comedy in my opinion) The effects are top notch again with a great choice of casting as well. There is no gore. The Acting is GREAT. Ilona Massey is very beautiful and is also a fine actress and she had great chemistry with Jon Hall. Jon Hall does a very good job here and was very likable. Peter Lorre is a riot and is one of the all time great actors in my opinion he was excellent here providing lots of laughs. Cedric Hardwicke is a terrific actor he is great here and he was pretty intense as well. J. Edward Bromberg does fine here as the weasel. Overall worth the watch but really nothing all that special **1/2 out of 5