31 Days of Horror: The Invisible Woman (1940)

the invisible woman poster

The original The Invisible Man (1933) is a classic Universal Horror picture. It was followed by a sequel, The Invisible Man Returns in 1940. The sequel stays pretty close to the original in that it is a serious dramatic film with horror undertones. It is also very much a sequel in the sense that one of the characters is the brother of the original film’s Invisible Man and the plot follows it chronologically.

The Invisible Man Returns was a success and so Universal immediately put a third film into production, also releasing it in 1940. But it is a sequel in name only. None of the plot has anything to do with the first two films and the characters are unrelated. Gone, too is the serious tone of the first films and instead, this plays as a very broad comedy.

Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) has created an invisibility potion but he needs a human test subject to make sure it works. Naturally, he puts an ad in that paper (as one does) and Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce) answers the call. She’s less interested in scientific progress and more interested in being able to give her sexist, slave-driving boss a good kick in the pants without being fired. The experiment works, Kitty turns invisible and she gives her boss a literal kick in the pants whilst making him understand he needs to treat his employees better.

Meanwhile, a gang of criminal stooges (including one real-life Stooge – Shemp Howard) have learned about this invisibility experiment and decide to steal it for their boss who is stuck hiding out in Mexico. They steal the invisibility machine but don’t understand how to make it work. They try it on the biggest, meanest stooge and only manage to make him speak in a high-pitched voice.

Hilarity ensues whilst our heroes save the day. Because this is The Invisible Woman and one must remove your clothing in order to be fully invisible there are quite a few 1940s-era jokes about how unseemly the whole thing is. The film is full of jokes you could sit around with your grandfather laughing about. It is a light, forgettable, but more or less enjoyable film. But I did find myself hoping the next film would take itself more seriously.

31 Days of Horror: The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

the invisible man returns poster

It wouldn’t be a proper 31 Days of Horror unless I watched at least one classic Universal Horror picture. I have a lovely boxed-set collection of most of the classic Universal Monster movies so I like to whip it out periodically through spooky season.

Over the last few years I’ve made my way through most of these films, and the many sequels, but I’d only ever watched the original The Invisible Man. So I was excited to start working on its sequels.

The Invisible Man Returns takes place sometime after the original film. Since the main character (spoiler!) died in that film they couldn’t bring him back (or Claude Rains who played him) so they have to make do with his brother Dr. Frank Griffin (John Sutton) but he isn’t really our main character. That would be Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price – who spends almost the entire film wrapped up in bandages or invisible) a man sentenced to hang for a crime he didn’t commit.

Naturally, Dr. Griffin sneaks in some good old invisibility liquid into the prison and helps Geoffrey escape. The catch, of course, is that there is no cure for the invisibility potion once you’ve taken it. And sooner than later it will turn you into a crazy, murderous nutter. Griffin works tirelessly on making the antidote while Geoffrey gets into various invisible misadventures.

With an 80-minute runtime, The Invisible Man Returns moves at a pretty fast clip. There isn’t much to it, really, and the story never goes anywhere particularly interesting. But the special effects are terrific. So many times I kept looking at what they were doing and wondered how in the world they pulled it off in 1940.

It is worth watching just for that.

31 Days of Horror: Frankenstein (1931)

frankenstein

My wife is not a fan of horror movies, at least not the blood-soaked, gore-filled variety and so every once in a while I throw on an older film and we watch them together. I can’t remember the first time I watched Frankenstein. It is such a part of the culture I probably saw parodies of it before I ever actually watched the film. I’m pretty sure I watched Young Frankenstein (1974) before I watched the original.

Whenever I watched it first, I have seen it many times since. It is a genuine classic. Frankenstein (or technically Frankenstein’s Monster) is my favorite of the Universal Horror Monsters. I actually prefer the sequel, Bride of Frankenstein (1935), slightly more than this one, but they are both terrific.

Young Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite comedies and I’ve probably watched it more than any of the original films. So much so that it is a little difficult to watch the original because my mind always goes back to the comedy. I find myself muttering the jokes to myself and anticipating certain sight gags. When the Monster meets the young girl, for example, I’m confused when they don’t play on a teeter-totter.

But really, this is a great film and if you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it, even if you don’t like horror.

31 Days of Horror: The Mummy’s Hand (1940)

the mummys hand
The Mummy (1932) is probably my least favorite of the classic Universal Horror films. Frankly, it is a bit dull and the Mummy doesn’t have nearly enough screen time. But it does contain some great set work and a wonderful performance from Zita Johann. This is probably why I’ve never bothered with any of the sequels…until now

The Mummy’s Hand takes the worst parts of the original and adds in some corny comic relief. Dick Foran and Wallace Ford, doing their best Abbott and Costello impressions play an archeologist and his trusty sidekick, both down on their luck. A broken vase they buy in an open-air market leads them on an expedition funded by a silly magician (Cecil Kellaway) and his daughter (Peggy Moran).

After a lot of plot, they eventually find the Mummy’s tomb. Some high priest or some-such thing feeds the Mummy some tea leaves and puts him under his control. Or something. My attention was waning at this point.

It isn’t a terrible film. The Mummy’s design is good, and some of the comedy is actually pretty funny. It’s just that the film feels so very slight. Its runtime is just 66 minutes and the Mummy doesn’t show up until about 40 minutes in, so there is a lot of filler. It had a tiny budget and pretty much no one involved with the original had anything to do with this sequel, so you can’t blame it for not being amazing.

Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman (1943)

frankenstein meets the wolfman poster

I’d like to say that I grew up going to the Midnight Movies and staying up to watch the old Universal horror movies on television. I’d like to say that, but I can’t because, well, because it simply isn’t true. I grew up watching movies from my generation, the 80’s, and that means the Goonies, Gremlins, Ghoulies, and others that don’t start with the letter “G.’ It has only been recently that I have dipped into the classics of horror and began watching them.

There has been a recent spat of high-quality DVD releases of the mainstays of the franchise – Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman – and I’ve filled my till with the magic, the brilliance that is those films. So, it was with pleasure that I recently found a VHS copy of Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.

To say this is a great movie would be missing the point and make me think you were delusional. It’s far from anything anyone ought to call great, but it’s still a pretty fun bit of horror history.

The title is a little misleading – well not technically so since Frankenstein does in fact meet the Wolfman – but a picture like this makes one think they will either be locked in mortal combat for the entirety of the picture or team up to destroy some other force, like Dracula for instance.

More to the point it is something of a character study for the Wolfman as he is awakened from his grave and has to come to terms with his moonlight alter-ego. It is late in the film when he manages to come across Frankenstein’s castle and a frozen monster inside. The monster is awakened and wreaks havoc before coming to a not all too engrossing close.

The film has a good atmosphere and the sets are marvelous, but it never gets fully off the ground. There just doesn’t seem to be enough plot to keep the story moving, as it often plunges into a dulldrom.

Definitely worth checking out for classic horror fans, but not the first place to stop.