The Invisible Ray (1936)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Lambert Hillyer

Writers:

Howard Higgin (original story) &
Douglas Hodges (original story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 January 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Delving into new, strange fields of mystery!

Plot:

Visionary scientist Janos Rukh convinces a group of scientists and supporters to mount an expedition...

Plot Keywords:

Expedition | Scientist | Antidote | Revenge | Meteor

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Dr. Janos Rukh (as Karloff)
Bela Lugosi	...	Dr. Felix Benet
Frances Drake	...	Diane Rukh
Frank Lawton	...	Ronald Drake
Violet Kemble Cooper	...	Mother Rukh
Walter Kingsford	...	Sir Francis Stevens
Beulah Bondi	...	Lady Arabella Stevens
Frank Reicher	...	Professor Meiklejohn
Paul Weigel	...	Monsieur Noyer
Georges Renavent	...	Chief of the Surete (as Georges Renevant)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ernie Adams	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Ricca Allen	...	Bystander (uncredited)
Charles Bastin	...	French Newsboy (uncredited)
May Beatty	...	Mme. LeGrand (uncredited)
Ted Billings	...	Counterman (uncredited)
Ernest Bowern	...	French Newsboy (uncredited)
Helen Brown	...	The Blind Girl's Mother (uncredited)
Daisy Bufford	...	Mother of Infant (uncredited)
André Cheron	...	Surete Official Checking Names (uncredited)
Alex Chivra	...	Cook (uncredited)
Ann Marie Conte	...	The Blind Girl (uncredited)
Edwards Davis	...	Scientist (uncredited)
Jean De Briac	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
Dudley Dickerson	...	Safari Member (uncredited)
Charles Fallon	...	Gentleman (uncredited)
Constant Franke	...	Police Detective (uncredited)
Clarence Gordon	...	Porter and Servant (uncredited)
Robert Graves	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
Winter Hall	...	The Minister (uncredited)
Daniel L. Haynes	...	Rukh's Head Bearer (uncredited)
Isabel La Mal	...	Bystander (uncredited)
Francisco Marán	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
Alphonse Martell	...	Surete Official Checking Names (uncredited)
Paul McAllister	...	Papa LaCosta (uncredited)
Etta McDaniel	...	Diane's Safari Attendant (uncredited)
Walter Miller	...	The Derelict (uncredited)
Edward Reinach	...	Scientist (uncredited)
Hans Schumm	...	The Clinic Valet (uncredited)
Ynez Seabury	...	Celeste - a Maid (uncredited)
Lawrence Stewart	...	The Runner-boy (uncredited)
Adele St. Mauer	...	Mme. Noyer (uncredited)
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Native Who First Sees Rukh Glow (uncredited)
Ray Turner	...	Bearer with Geiger Counter (uncredited)
Lucio Villegas	...	Pierre - a Butler (uncredited)
Nydia Westman	...	Briggs - a Maid (uncredited)
Lloyd Whitlock	...	Scientist (uncredited)

Directed by
Lambert Hillyer

Writing credits
Howard Higgin		(original story) &
Douglas Hodges		(original story)
John Colton		(screenplay)

Produced by
Edmund Grainger	....	producer
Fred S. Meyer	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Franz Waxman

Cinematography by
George Robinson

Film Editing by
Bernard W. Burton		(as Bernard Burton)

Art Direction by
Albert S. D'Agostino

Costume Design by
Brymer		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Otto Lederer	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Jack P. Pierce	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred Frank	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Sergei Petschnikoff	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Gilbert Kurland	....	sound supervisor
Charles Carroll	....	sound recordist (uncredited)
William Hedgcock	....	sound recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special cinematographer
Raymond Lindsay	....	special effects (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Maurice Pivar	....	editorial supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	conductor (uncredited)
W. Franke Harling	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Clifford Vaughan	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Franz Waxman	....	musical director (uncredited)

Other crew
Carl Laemmle	....	presenter
Carl Laemmle	....	president: Universal Productions, Inc.
Alfred Stern	....	production assistant
Ted Behr	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
June Blumenthal	....	secretary to director (uncredited)
Camille Collins	....	production secretary (uncredited)
Myrtle Gibsone	....	script clerk (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures (as Universal Productions Inc.)

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1936) (USA) (theatrical)
• Realart Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Screen Gems (1957) (USA) (TV)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Network Enterprises (video)
• Universal Pictures (1937) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Universal Studios (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1746) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The church in which Frank Lawton and Frances Drake get married, though called the "Church of the Six Saints" in the film, is actually the set of Notre-Dame Cathedral recycled from the 1923 Universal production "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame," starring Lon Chaney, Sr.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The wedding scene between Frank Lawton and Frances Drake takes place in a Roman Catholic cathedral in France, but the text of the wedding service ("With all my worldly goods I thee endow") is taken from the Book of Common Prayer of the (Protestant) Church of England.

Quotes:

Dr. Felix Benet: There are only two people he wants to destroy: two... or
[looming over Ronald Drake]
Dr. Felix Benet: , perhaps three.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Mondo Lugosi (1987)

Soundtrack:

The Wedding March

Delightfully Silly and Naive Sci-Fi

The scientist Janos Rukh (Boris Karloff) has been expelled from the scientific community due to the lack of credibility in his researches. Living isolated in a castle with his blind mother (Violet Kemble Cooper) and his wife Diane (Frances Drake), he makes a private presentation of the recently discovered invisible ray to his colleague Dr. Felix Benet (Bela Lugosi), and succeeds in being sponsored by Sir Francis Stevens (Walter Kingsford) and his wife Lady Arabella Stevens (Beulah Bondi) in an expedition to Nigeria, where he believe he could find a meteor with Radium X. Once in Africa, Janos leaves the expedition alone and finds the meteor, but is exposed to its radiation, acquiring a deadly touch that immediately kills anyone who is touched by him. Meanwhile, Diane falls in love for the son of Lady Arabella, Ronald Drake (Frank Lawton). Dr. Benet finds an antidote to control the effects of the radiation in Janos to be daily injected, but advises that the side effect could bring madness to him. Dr. Benet returns to Paris and steals the findings of Janos, exposing and using Janos's researches to the scientific community, while the deranged Janos seeks revenge against those that have betrayed him.

"The Invisible Ray" is a delightfully silly and naive sci-fi visibly inspired in H.G. Well's "The Invisible Man" of 1933. This minor film is a great opportunity to see Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi acting together. The story is entertaining but with questionable ethical and moral behaviors of the lead characters. Dr. Felix Benet steals the research of his colleague that needed to recover the esteem together with the scientific community for self-profit and self- promotion. Diane Rukh has an affair with Ronald Drake in the absence of her husband in Africa. Mother Rukh breaks the only chance of survival of her only son that loved her and recovered and healed her vision. And Janos Rukh does not tell his wife that is sick and kills innocent people to reach his personal vendetta. In the end, all the characters are unpleasant. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Raio Invisível" ("The Invisible Ray")