Writer(s):
Bertram Millhauser - based on the novel The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

Producer(s):
Ford Beebe

Cinematography:
Milton Krasner

Editing:
Saul A. Goodkind

Music Composer:
H.J. Salter

Special Effects:
John P. Fulton

film summary
Robert Griffin is rendered invisible by a mad scientist, aiding him in his quest for revenge on former business partners who had left him for dead in the jungles of Africa. But too much of anything--even invisibility--can be a bad thing.

The mystery and excitement generated by H.G. Wells's classic novel and the original 1933 film continue in this sci-fi sequel about one man's need to disappear. Jon Hall plays Robert Griffin, an amnesiac who meets up with the mad Dr. Drury (John Carradine), a scientist who can help Griffin gain revenge on a couple from his past by orchestrating an experiment to render him invisible. This was Universal's fifth and final entry in the Invisible Man series and is notable for John P. Fulton's special effects, considered quite advanced for 1944 and impressive even today.

Robert Griffin turns up at the estate of Sir Jasper Herrick, having been missing for five years and presumed dead, but in fact having been suffering from amnesia. Griffin led an expedition that uncovered a source of diamonds in Tanganyika but was abandoned there by Sir Jasper. He now demands his share of the proceeds from the expedition but Sir Jasper has misappropriated it all and has Griffin thrown off the grounds. Wandering, Griffin comes to the house of the eccentric Dr Drury who persuades Griffin to become his first human test subject in an invisibility experiment. Invisible, Griffin then proceeds to terrorize Sir Jasper, demanding not only what is rightfully his but also Sir Jasper’s house and daughter in marriage.

This was the fourth and last of Universal’s Invisible Man sequels, excepting their Abbott and Costello teamup. (See below for other titles). Of all of Universal’s Famous Monsters sequels - the Frankenstein, Dracula and Mummy films - the Invisible Man series was actually one that sustained itself quite inventively. All the other monster series exhausted themselves in tired formulaic repetition by the fourth entry or even sooner. This however still remains a likably good film, which is something that one has to stretch to be able to think of saying under the most optimistic conditions about any other Universal monster sequel from the 1940s.

Revenge has little connection to the preceding films. It does star Jon Hall as the invisible man, a role Hall also played in The Invisible Agent (1942). And the invisible man is named Griffin, although is not related to the invisible man Griffin from either of the first two films. It is really an original story of its own. This one takes awhile to get going - in a film just only 78 minutes long it is fully 20 minutes before we have an invisible man and then it has to swing a contrived plot device about he seeking shelter at the house of a scientist conducting invisibility research and agreeing to become a test subject.

But it is well directed by former serial director Ford Beebe. There are some good invisibility effects with the invisible man splashing the likes of water and flour on his face at various points. As with The Invisible Man (1933) and with The Invisible Man Returns (1940), there is a great deal of humour made out of English provincials. Leon Errol as the invisible man’s visible assistant gives a really funny performance - the invisibly assisted darts game in the pub is a comedic gem. John Carradine is also rather funny as the mad scientist of the piece with a lab full of invisible parrots and dogs which he nonchalantly treats like his pets.