Directed by: James Whale
Starring: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers, Una O’Connor
From: Universal
Me thinks that perhaps Dr. Jack Griffin was a megalomaniac all along… believe it or not this was the first time I had ever seen this picture despite watching all the other classic Universal horror movies years beforehand—and viewing the 2020 remake in the days before the pandemic that is a pestilence became a big deal in the United States. Last night was finally the time and I was not let down.
Many people likely know the basics already-some may just know this for the lead having a #look w/ the bandages covering his face and black goggles-but to be brief, Dr. Jack Griffin was someone who discovered the ability to be invisible. If it wasn’t bad enough that he is constantly invisible, one of the ingredients in the concoction has made him go bonkers, a real SOB. Sure, it’s funny that he sometimes trolls people just to laugh maniacally at their fright… not so humorous is that he forces a pal to help him out and if that wasn’t detestable enough, he cause the death of many people.
It is quite the entertaining yarn where there are other things that at least amused me—e.g. Una O’Connor as the owner of an inn whose hysterical behavior is astoundingly over the top… that said the character is still a hoot. There thankfully are serious moments in a production that can be quite theatrical in the best of ways-the movie manages to be fun. The key aspect I’ll note is that the special effects still effective & believable in a motion picture filmed 89 years ago.
James Whale was masterful behind the camera and for his first sound movie Claude Rains was incredible as the title character, but it’s the special effects of John P. Fulton that I will spotlight now. Besides working in Universal horror there was his collaborations w/ Hitchcock (including Vertigo) and he created the parting of the Red Sea in the ’56 version of The Ten Commandments. The invisible effects came from sets and Rains wearing black velvet and footage being matted onto the black areas; a scene involving a mirror required combining FOUR elements. Fulton deserves far more recognition for his contributions to cinema, in other words.
While the remake and original are quite different from one another, both are well worth seeing; shame on me for only watching the OG film last night.
No comments:
Post a Comment