The Invisible Woman (1940) Review

"George, did you have to throw the fish?"
-Richard Russell 


Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) is on the breakthrough of creating a device that can turn someone invisible, but needs a human test subject and puts an ad in the paper.  Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce) volunteers so she can get revenge on her boss, but she isn't the only person who saw the ad.  A group of mobsters begin searching for Gibbs to get the machine for their boss.


What Works:

I never get tired of seeing the invisible effects in action.  Yes, they don't always look perfect, but it's always a joy to watch.  I like trying to figure out how they pulled this stuff off back in 1940.

John Barrymore puts in a fun performance as a mad scientist.  He's a stock character, yes, but his performance elevates it.  I particularly liked him crawling around on the floor searching for Kitty.

Finally, Charles Ruggles is very funny as the butler, George.  He's very put-upon and is constantly resigning and changing his mind.  It's a fun performance and the best of the film.


What Sucks:

I really dislike the change in tone from the first two movies.  This is very much a comedy with no horror and just a smidge of science fiction.  That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the comedy itself gets very repetitive.  The mobsters are nitwits.  We get it.  Kitty and her love interest flirt/insult one another.  We get it.  Someone nearly steps on the invisible Kitty.  We get it!  The film starts off funny enough, but it wears think quickly.

Kitty's motivation is also a huge problem for me.  The Invisible Man in the first movie was the villain bent on world domination.  In the second movie, he was trying to prove his innocence.  In this movie, Kitty wants revenge on her boss, fine, but she gets her revenge very quickly.  For the rest of the film, she's just there falling in love with a playboy.  It's not interesting at all and kinda sexist.  Instead of doing something awesome with her powers of invisibility, she's flirting and trying on dresses.  That really sucks.


Verdict:

While I like the invisibility effects and some of the performances, The Invisible Woman is a disappointing entry in the series with an unfortunate shift in tone, repetitive comedy, and pretty sexist character motivations in the second two-thirds of the movie.  Avoid this one.

 4/10: Bad 

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