The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)

The original "IM" was directed by James Whalen. This fourth movie in the series was directed by Ford Beebee. That should tell you everything you need to know. But I'll expand on it anyway to meet the minimum word length requirements. The movie is crisply shot and photographed, has a few nice visual setups and reveals here and there, and features a good-looking-in- an-Errol-Flynn-way protagonist, so it has that going for it. But the plot takes forever to get going and isn't any good once it does. Hall has a certain screen presence, and his character actually has some sympathy coming, but there's nothing interesting about his so-called "madness", and things just poke along in scene after scene until you're tired of the whole thing and just want it over with. John Carradine gives his usual dependable performance, but he can't carry the film. Proof, if any were needed, that Universal could make mediocre films with the rest of the studios in the horror business, especially in the later years when their creative forces were wearing thin.

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.

Lackluster sequel and the weakest movie in the Invisible man series. I was not impressed by this at all it was paced fast enough but it's nothing more then a mediocre flick that's average at best. and add to the fact you really have only 2 likable characters and only 1 too root for it makes it hard to watch even more. The Acting is so so. I though Jon Hall totally over acted as the invisible man and came nowhere to matching Claude Rain's or even Vincent Price's performance and plus his character is totally unlikable he is always a grouch and i just wanted him to shut up already he was great in the Invisible Agent but in this movie he was awful. John Carradine is very good here and does what he can i wish he had more screen time. Leon Errol is amusing here and gave me a couple of chuckles. Alan Curtis is so so here but really isn't given that much to do. Evelyn Ankers is GORGEOUS!! and does great here in her very limited screen time. Lester Matthews does what he has to do well. Overall a lackluster end to this series i would take a pass on this one ** out of 5 (barely)