weezeralfalfa The origin of The Invisible Man films goes back to H.G. Wells'1897 short novel. In the early 1940s, Universal sponsored a series if films relating to The Invisible Man, after their initial offering in 1933. These include "The Invisible Man Returns" 1940, "The Invisible Woman" 1940, "The Invisible Agent" 1942, and "The Invisible Man's Revenge"1944. I haven't yet seen any of these, but "The Invisible Woman" is generally classed as a comedy, along with the present film, which includes a serious plot, sprinkled with typical A&C shenanigans. A related topic is free ranging ghosts and other types of spirits, whose bodies have been permanently lost through death. In contrast, The Invisible Man has a body and soul, but has achieved invisibility through human inventiveness or perhaps the dark arts. Furthermore, his invisibility is usually reversible. Being present in spirit but not body is a common human fantasy. Such a power could be used to escape from a bad situation, or to achieve a good desired result. On the other hand, it can be used to facilitate the accomplishment of evil deeds. This was true of Griffin: the invisible man in Well's novel, who became a true monster. In contrast, in the present story, Tommy is not a monster. Mainly, he wants to use his invisibility to help solve the murder of his trainer manager.. Toward this goal, he also enlists the help of A&C, recent graduates of Dogan's Detective Training class(DDT). In Wells' novel, it is Griffin who both discovers the formula, and uses it for evil deeds, whereas in this film, Tommy obtains his specific serum from his girlfriend's father, who is a doctor and experimenter. Expect A&C's standard repertoire of verbal humor, sight gags, and slapstick. An example of sight humor: Abbott tells Lou, holding a gun, to "Let him have it". Lou gives the gun to the bad guy! An example of verbal humor: In a restaurant, Abbott pulls invisible Tommy's Champaign glass toward himself. When the waiter queries, Abbott says "I'm a two fisted drinker". Probably, the climax of the film occurs with the boxing match between Rocky and Lou(Louie the Looper)plus invisible Tommy. Nobody can believe what they see, with Rocky being knocked around by a seemingly invisible force emanating from Lou. Tommy seemingly abandons Lou for periods during the fight, but comes back to finish off Rocky, whereas Lou was supposed to throw the fight, as pressured by the gangsters sponsoring Rocky. They come to 'get' Lou after the fight, but get taken themselves.Sexy blond, but bad, Adele Jenkins, as Boots Marsden, flirts with Lou, trying to get him to see things from the Gangster's viewpoint. The other woman in the story is bland Nancy Guild, as Helen Gray, Tommy's girlfriend... Sheldon Leonard plays Gangster Moran: Boots' boyfriend... William Frawley is occasionally present , as detective Roberts, who is looking for Tommy, and doesn't believe various tales of an invisible Tommy(why should he!). A recurring joke is that various people are sent to a psychiatrist when they report experiencing an invisible person.

utgard14 Abbott and Costello in another of their "meet the monsters" series. They play a couple of bumbling private detectives who try to help a boxer named Tommy Nelson (Arthur Franz) who's been accused of murder. Tommy injects himself with the Invisible Man serum so he can avoid being captured by the police. Lou goes undercover as a boxer which leads to the film's highlight: a boxing match with an invisible Tommy helping Lou.This is the boys' second best "meet" movie, behind the classic (and possibly best Abbott & Costello film overall) Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. It's also their best '50s movie. It's a really fun one with some exceptional special effects and a nice story that culminates in the legendary invisible boxing match. The usage of Claude Rains' picture on the scientist's wall is a nice nod to the first Invisible Man film. Solid supporting cast that includes William Frawley as a frustrated police detective and Sheldon Leonard as a crooked promoter. Terrific comedy.

morrison-dylan-fan Having enjoyed watching some of The Road To..films with my dad.I was really hoping the this would be a similar type of film,and,though it does not break the fourth wall or has as many in-jokes as the Road movies,i still feel that it is a very good comedy with some surprisingly very well done special effects. The plot:Straight after having graduated from their training school,Detectives Lou Francis and Bud Alexanders office gets invaded by a man,who is a boxer the is being framed for murdering his coach by some gangsters that he double-crossed.The boxer tell them that he them to help him to give the gangsters some payback,for what they have done.His very surprising idea is for both of the detectives to enter a boxing contest that the gangsters are taking bets on!.Whilst they are both at first not keen on the idea (due to neither of them being able to box),they both become very supported of the idea,when they discover that the boxer can become invisible... View on the film:With the story and cast in the film,i though the one of the cleverest things was to have the Invisible Man not not be a scientist,but instead be a normal (though also being a extremely talented boxer) man,Whilst having the great Abbott and Costello inject plenty of funny moments into a film noir style story!!.The main part of the film,that i want to highlight are the very impressive special effects.With the dinner scene (easily one of the funniest parts in the film)and the Invisible Man changing his clothes in the car being very good,Although,some of the effects (such as a cigar "mystriusly" moving across the room)have sadly not aged as well.Final view on the film:A very watchable comedy,with good performances and great special effects.

DKosty123 This movie is mildly amusing in many ways. You don't think of boxing as a story to meet an invisible man but that is the plot thread that holds this string of A&C gags together. Actually it works pretty well.William Frawley & Arthur Franz lead a talented support cast which does pretty good with a light script. The special effects were pretty good for their time though appear a little dated now.This movie is pretty good for 1 viewing. The second time around it wears out it's welcome. Still, it is better than some of the work being done & definitely better than meeting Captain Kidd.Aaaaargh!