The Invisible
Man
Originally released in 1933
Claude Rains as Jack Griffin, the Invisible Man
Based on the story by H.G. Wells, The Invisible Man tells the
tale of a mad scientist who creates a potion that makes him invisible.
However, the elixir that Dr. Jack Griffin consumed slowly turns him insane,
and so he begins to terrorize the townspeople. Where Lon Chaney paved
the way for make-up, this movie defined special effects with such scenes
as the Invisibler Man taking off the cloth over his face and walking through
the snow with only footprints being visible.
L.C. Subject Headings
The following Library of Congress Subject Heading
is for use in searching the on-line catalog for materials pertaining to
The
Invisible Man.
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Horror Films.
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Horror Films – Catalogs.
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Horror Films – Encyclopedias.
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Invisible Man.
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Wells, H. G. (Herbert George), 1866-1946.
Reviews
The New York Times Film Reviews 1913-1968.
Vol. 2, 1932-1938. New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1970.
[Davis Ref: PN 1995 .N4 v2]
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The Invisible Man – p. 1001, Nov. 18, 1933;
18:4.
Variety Film Reviews 1907-1980. Vol.
4, 1930-1933. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1983.
[Davis Ref: PN 1995 .V34 v4]
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The Invisible Man – Nov. 21, 1933.
Original Novel
Wells, H.G. The Invisible Man.
Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1998. (originally published
in 1897)
[Davis, 7th floor stacks: PR5774 .I5 1998]
H.G. Wells is considered by many to be
the master of science fiction, and no book illustrates that truth more
than
The Invisible Man. Re-printed dozens of times, there
are many versions of this book that exist, but this recent release is recommended
for many reasons. For starters, this is the original text, which
some versions stray from due to editing. The long introduction provides
some critical analysis of the content, and the story itself contains descriptive
annotations. The appendices are also interesting, two being reviews
for the book from 1897 and the other three containing scientific articles
from the mid and late 1800’s that are thought to have influenced Wells
in creating the story of The Invisible Man.
Video
The Invisible Man. Universal City,
C.A.: MCA Home Video, 1991.
[Duke University, Lilly Library, 6688]
With a gap of 13 years between his first
movie and this film, Claude Rains proves that he is a tremendous actor
when he is cast as the scientist Jack Griffin, who creates a potion that
makes him invisible, only to turn him insane. When this movie hit
the theaters in 1933, it was known to possess some of the best special
effects to date. Many of the scenes, such as the Invisible Man walking
through the snow leaving only footprints, stunned audiences who could not
believe what they saw.