This is not about the far more famous Invisible Woman (Sue Storm/Richards) from Marvel’s Fantastic Four. This film is technically part of the Universal horror classics but is instead a full-blown slapstick sci-fi comedy.
Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce) is fired from her department store model job by her overbearing boss, Mister Grawley (Charles Lane). Concerned about her future, she finds an unusual ad in the paper, one that seeks someone that is willing to become invisible. Despite how crazy that sounds, she decides to investigate this enigmatic offer.
She makes her way to the estate of the very eligible and wealthy Richard Russell (John Howard), although he’s not present at his home at this stage. There she meets with Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore), the head housekeeper Mrs. Jackson (Margaret Hamilton), and Mr. Russell’s butler George (Charlie Ruggles). Mrs. Jackson is fairly serious, but the two men are quite silly, although in different ways.
We quickly discover that Professor Gibbs is very much the eccentric and absent-minded professor (although the actor’s genuine issues may have actually helped with his presentation of the character), that we’ve seen many times before, which Kitty isn’t the biggest fan of. Eventually she is turned invisible by the professor’s machine, and she ensues to have some fun with it; mostly at Mister Grawley’s expense.
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| "What's a woman got to do to get a head around here?!" |
The professor is eventually able to get Kitty to meet the man who paid for the machine that made it possible for her to get her slapstick revenge in the first place. The film makes it obvious that Richard Russell is not just rich but also an eligible bachelor. This is not the most subtle foreshadowing, but it works well enough for a light-hearted comedy like this, and the interactions between Kitty and Richard are enjoyable to watch.
While this is happening, the mobster Blackie Cole (Oscar Homolka) sends his stooges (literal stooge in the case of Frankie, who is played by Shemp Howard, one of The Three Stooges) to take the machine for use in his life of crime. While they aren’t the most competent of criminal henchman to put it mildly, they do succeed in getting the machine back to Blackie’s headquarters.
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| "Watch those hands, Professor!" |
Unfortunately for Blackie, he can’t get the machine to work. Kitty has become visible by this point, and she along with the rest of Richard’s returning household, quickly discover that the machine is missing after they return to Richard’s manor. Blackie once again relies on his hapless henchman and sends them to kidnap the now visible woman in an attempt to get Richard and Gibbs to show him how to use the machine.
Kitty and the others are not onboard with Blackie’s plan, and due to a serendipitous discovery that allows Kitty to return to an invisible state, they are able to thwart the gangster’s nefarious plan in a suitably comical fashion for such a goofy film.
The movie concludes as one would expect from a picture of this time and type, with a humorous, but fully expected situation for our main love interests. The extra little amusing twist at the end was enjoyable and entirely predictable for modern viewers, although probably not as much back in 1940.
The cast here is surprisingly good. Virginia Bruce plays her role very well and seems to be having a lot of fun with the comedy and the racier elements, too. Her general good nature combined with her desire for revenge (albeit in a silly rather than gory way), makes her enjoyable to watch and easy to sympathize with. The special effects are decent for the day, similar to the original The Invisible Man, and unlike some of ‘invisible’ movies that come after, where the special effects were cheaper and less convincing.
This film is an oddball of the classic Universal horror films collection and is quite silly instead of scary or suspenseful. If you’re fine with that fact, you will find it an entertaining watch. It’s not too long either, having a runtime of 72 minutes. It’s very much a fluff movie, something to watch when you’re in the mood for something simple, and not one to view for the plot or character development or gripping story. Not a film I can strongly recommend, but it’s certainly not a bad watch either.
Two unseen heroines out of four.
— You can tell this movie was meant to be silly when Shemp Howard plays a mobster, and there’s not a lot of space between his performance as a stooge and his performance as Frankie.
— Margaret Hamilton is probably most famous for playing the wicked witch of the west in The Wizard of Oz.
— The cast here starred in so many things collectively; from stage, to silent film, to talkies, radio, and TV, and over several decades.
— I found it highly amusing that the film was considered to be a bit racy as our heroine was technically naked when invisible, even if we never actually see her in the buff, and of course the invisible man was in the same predicament but with no such concerns.
— John Barrymore was renowned as a stage and silent movie actor. By the time he made this movie, his memory wasn’t the best, so they had notes with his lines hidden just out of camera shot while filming.
Morella is a Gen Xer who likes strange things a bit too much.
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