The Invisible Woman (1940)

Director:

A. Edward Sutherland

Writers:

Curt Siodmak (story) &
Joe May (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

27 December 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

IT'S A Ghost-to-Ghost HOOK-UP!

Plot:

An attractive model with an ulterior motive volunteers as guinea pig for an invisibility machine.

Plot Keywords:

Invisibility | Model | Revenge | Professor | Invisible Woman

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Virginia Bruce	...	Kitty Carroll
John Barrymore	...	Professor Gibbs
John Howard	...	Richard Russell
Charles Ruggles	...	George (as Charlie Ruggles)
Oskar Homolka	...	Blackie
Edward Brophy	...	Bill
Donald MacBride	...	Foghorn
Margaret Hamilton	...	Mrs. Jackson
Shemp Howard	...	Frankie
Anne Nagel	...	Jean
Kathryn Adams	...	Peggy
Maria Montez	...	Marie
Charles Lane	...	Growley
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Bates
Thurston Hall	...	Hudson
Eddie Conrad	...	Hernandez
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harry C. Bradley	...	Want-Ad Clerk (uncredited)
Kernan Cripps	...	Postman (uncredited)
Sarah Edwards	...	Showroom Buyer (uncredited)
Kay Leslie	...	Model (uncredited)
Kay Linaker	...	Showroom Buyer (uncredited)
Kitty O'Neil	...	Mrs. Patten (uncredited)

Directed by
A. Edward Sutherland

Writing credits
Curt Siodmak		(story) (as Kurt Siodmak) &
Joe May		(story)
Robert Lees		(writer) &
Frederic I. Rinaldo		(writer) (as Fred Rinaldo) &
Gertrude Purcell		(writer)

Produced by
Burt Kelly	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Frank Skinner		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Elwood Bredell

Film Editing by
Frank Gross

Art Direction by
Jack Otterson

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman		(as R.A. Gausman)

Costume Design by
Vera West

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joseph A. McDonough	....	assistant director (as Joseph McDonough)

Art Department
Richard H. Riedel	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Bernard B. Brown	....	sound supervisor
Joe Lapis	....	sound technician (as Joseph Lapis)

Special Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special photographic effects
David S. Horsley	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Roswell A. Hoffmann	....	optical cinematography

Music Department
Charles Previn	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Realart Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Universal Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6945) | Finland:S

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Margaret Sullavan, who owed Universal one picture on an old contract, was originally assigned the starring role. With more attractive roles being floated her way, she balked at appearing in the film, feeling it was beneath her. When she failed to appear for the rehearsals, the studio slapped her with a restraining order preventing her from working anywhere. Eventually she agreed to fulfill her contract by appearing in Back Street (1941) and Virginia Bruce stepped into the role.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the lodge, the invisible Kitty puts on stockings so Dick can "see" her but moments later when she faints she's completely undressed again.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Attorney: Where is he? Where is he? Get up! Get up!
George: I am up. I was up. And I've been up all night. I would have stayed up if you hadn't knocked me down.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: The Invisible Woman (1940) (#1.63)" (1980)

An Opportunity To Become Invisible

Watching this film, the minute I saw the opening credits and saw who was in the cast, I knew I would enjoy this and I was not disappointed.

Bela Lugosi was quoted as saying that when Abbott&Costello met Frankenstein some years later, it killed the classic horror genre that Universal was known for. If that was the case, I'm not sure how the genre escaped the executioner here.

The original film of The Invisible Man saw Claude Rains give one of his great performances as the scientist who becomes invisible, but with the terrible side effect of losing his mind. It's classic acting at its best.

In The Invisible Woman John Barrymore is the scientist who plays it like a cross between his own Oscar Jaffe in Twentieth Century and Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein. Barrymore really looks like he's having all kinds of fun with the part. But he's smart enough not to experiment on himself.

Barrymore is a pet project of playboy John Howard who spends as much money on him as he does settling with women with whom he's had various amours, much to the distraction of Thurston Hall his family attorney. Hall breaks the news to Howard just as Barrymore seems on the verge of a breakthrough. All this is making butler Charlie Ruggles start looking for other employment. That and what follows.

So much so he's advertised for a human subject in an oblique newspaper ad. Two parties respond to the ad, the first is Virginia Bruce who likes the idea of invisibility. She wants to use it to even some accounts with her boss Charles Lane. Lane runs a department store and Bruce is one of several models he abuses with petty tyranny. Her scenes where she does even accounts are some of the funniest.

But a second party is also interested, but he doesn't just want to become invisible. Oscar Homolka wants to steal the secret and return to this country from Mexico where he's been living as a fugitive. So he sends henchmen, Edward Brophy, Donald MacBride, and Shemp Howard to steal Barrymore's machine.

I should point out that unlike Rains's film and other invisible man pictures, Barrymore invents some Young Frankenstein like contraption which you go into and are bombarded with rays to become invisible. In the hands of amateurs the machine does have some interesting side effects and not the ones Claude Rains suffered.

The Invisible Woman is used as an example of how low Barrymore's career had sunk. Yet even when Barrymore is slowly destroying himself with substance abuse in real life, the man's comic genius is apparent even in a film like this. In fact he led the entire cast in one big orgy of overacting where all these colorful people try to top themselves in scenery chewing.

The Invisible Woman did get an Academy Award nomination for Special Effects, but lost to Paramount's I Wanted Wings.

Note in the cast Maria Montez as one of Virginia Bruce's fellow models who shortly would be obtaining short lived stardom in her own genre for Universal Pictures.

The Invisible Woman is a very funny picture, a really good satire on the horror film genre. Made on a dime so to speak, don't miss it if it's ever broadcast.