Director: Ford Beebe
Writers: Bertram Millhauser
Stars: Jon Hall, Leon Errol, John Carradine
1 Hour, 17 Minutes
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A mans comes to town, smuggled inside a large crate at the docks. He buys some new clothes, but leaves a news clipping in the pocket: “Homicidal Maniac Escapes from Capetown Asylum: Murders two Interns and Nurse in Psychopathic Ward” and it includes a picture of Robert Griffin, the man we just saw.
Griffin goes to see Sir Jasper Herrick, who agrees to see him immediately. They were all traveling together in Africa, and a branch fell, knocking out Griffin, and Jasper and his wife left him behind. Griffin got amnesia and didn’t remember anything, but a few months ago, he got hit in the head and remembered everything. Now, he wants his fair share of the treasure they found. They found a whole diamond field, making Jasper very rich. Jasper spent most of the money and lost a bunch more in bad investments. Griffin wants it all.
They agree to give him everything they have. Griffin starts getting really drunk, and dizzy. He passes out, and it looks like Irene drugged him, although she doesn’t admit it, nor do we see her do anything. She does take his evidence and hides it. They throw him out on the street.
When Griffin wakes up, he finds his contract with the Herricks is missing. He makes a friend, Herbert, who tries to get a lawyer to fight the Herricks, but that doesn’t last long with no evidence.
On the road out of town, he meets up with Doctor Drury, who sympathizes with him. Drury is a scientist and mentions his neighbors leave him alone. He has an invisible dog and an invisible parrot. Drury explains the invisibility theory. Drury wants to test his formula, and he just needs a man brave enough to try it. Griffin wants to do it. With a single injection, he fades away.
Drury seems surprised that it works. He tells Griffin that it’ll last for the rest of his life. Drury expects fame and fortune to follow, but Griffin abandons him. He heads back to the Herrick’s for revenge. He makes Jasper write out an admission of his crimes.
There’s a long, comedic scene where he and Herbert go to the pub and Griffin picks on Mark, Julie’s fiancee. They cheat at darts and other silliness.
Griffin returns to the Herrick’s home and insists that Sir Jasper get rid of Mark, since Griffin also wants Jasper’s daughter, Julie. Meanwhile, Dr. Drury has found a way to reverse the invisibility, and Griffin wants to be visible again. To make Griffin visible again, he’d have to drain the blood of a man, killing him. Griffin wants to use Mark as a sacrifice, Drury refuses, calling the police instead of Mark.
Griffin ends up using Drury’s blood, and he becomes visible again. Mark and the police sergeant head to Drury’s house. Griffin sets fire to the place. Mark rushes in and rescues Drury and the dog. Drury is already dead, but the dog, however, goes after Griffin.
Griffin goes back to Sir Jasper’s house, and he insists on taking the keys and Julie. The dog is outside, howling. Herbert shows up the next day and wants to move into “Griffin’s” new house. Griffin says he’ll need more blood soon because the cure won’t last forever. He gets Herbert to lead the dog away.
Griffin is having dinner with Julie and Mark as he starts to fade away again. He calls for Mark to come to him, intending to take his blood for more cure. He lures Mark down to the wine cellar, and they fight. He knocks out Mark and starts the transfusion. Meanwhile, the dog drags Herbert down the stairs to the wine cellar, with several men in tow.
They break in the wine cellar door. The dog charges in through the hole in the door and kills Griffin.
Commentary
This is the last in Universal’s Invisible Man series. It takes an entire half hour before Griffin becomes invisible. The special effects still continue to improve, and we see Griffin with water on his face and then later covered with flour, and both scenes look good.
Griffin looks like a stereotypical movie gangster. We don’t know why Griffin was in the Asylum or why he murdered those people in Capetown, since this is never explained. I guess we’re just supposed to accept that he’s insane, but other than blackmailing the Herricks for what he rightfully deserves, he doesn’t seem especially crazy. It’s also not clear how or why Griffin would know how to do a blood transfusion. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do it without any training, and that would be using modern equipment!
Herbert is played by Leon Errol, and Universal gets their money’s worth in his comic sidekick, but it’s too much silliness in an otherwise serious film.
This had more of a story than most of the other Invisible films, but the idea had pretty much played itself out, and Griffin spent most of this film visible, only becoming see-through in the middle.