Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Universal continues its outstanding series of multi-disc retrospectives of their most beloved movie monsters with The Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection. This set contains five films: The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Woman, Invisible Agent, and The Invisible Man's Revenge. The set offers historical materials and commentary by horror film experts explaining the character's evolution and place in Hollywood history. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Subtitle: Fre/Spa
• Audio: DDM2.0
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • Also includes: The Invisible Man Returns (1940), The Invisible Woman (1940), Invisible Agent (1942), and The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)
  • "Now You See Him: The Invisible Man Revealed"
  • Film historian Rudy Behlmer provides insightful commentary to the film on an alternate audio track
  • Invisible Agent original theatrical trailer
  • Production photographs

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Special Effects - 1942 (John P. Fulton, Bernard B. Brown)
•     Nominated Best Special Effects - 1941 (John P. Fulton, John Hall)
•     Nominated Best Special Effects - 1940 (John P. Fulton, Bernard B. Brown, William Hedgecock)

• New York Times

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1933

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Cedric Hardwicke - Richard Cobb
       Alan Curtis - Mark Foster
       Evelyn Ankers - Julie Herrick
       Cedric Hardwicke - Conrad Stauffer
       Cecil Kellaway - Inspector Sampson
       Alan Napier - Willie Spears
       Donald MacBride - Foghorn
       E.E. Clive - Jaffers
       Dudley Digges - Chief of Detectives
       Anne Nagel - Jean
       Donald Stuart - Inspector Lane
       Leyland Hodgson - Sir Frederick Travers
       Billy Bevan - Sergeant
       Mary Gordon - Mrs. Bates
       Thurston Hall - John Hudson
       Eddie Conrad - Hernandez
       Alberto Morin - Free Frenchman

• Director:

  Ford I. Beebe, Joe May, James Whale, Edward Sutherland, Edwin L. Marin

• Producer:

  Ford I. Beebe, Ken Goldsmith, Carl Laemmle, Jr., Burt Kelly, Frank Lloyd

• Screenwriter:

  Bertram Millhauser

• Book Author:

  H.G. Wells

• Screenwriter:

  Lester Cole

• Screen Story:

  Joe May

• Screenwriter:

  Curt Siodmak, Cecil Belfrage, R.C. Sherriff, Robert Lees, Gertrude Purcell, Frederic I. Rinaldo

• Screen Story:

  Curt Siodmak

• Cinematographer:

  Milton Krasner, Arthur Edeson, Elwood Bredell, Lester White

• Composer (Music Score):

  Hans Salter

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Charles Previn

• Composer (Music Score):

  Frank Skinner, W. Franke Harling, Charles Previn

• Editor:

  Saul A. Goodkind, Frank Gross, Ted Kent, Edward A. Curtiss

• Art Director:

  Charles Hall, Jack Otterson

• Costume Designer:

  Vera West

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  William Hedgecock

• Makeup:

  Jack Pierce

• Special Effects:

  John P. Fulton, John Mescall

REVIEWS:

• Edwin L. Marin's Invisible Agent is an oddly schizophrenic film. The opening sequence involving Peter Lorre and Cedric Hardwicke looks almost like it's out of a Fritz Lang movie and plays that way as well, as do several later scenes involving either of the two actors. But in between, in the scenes involving Jon Hall and J. Edward Bromberg (in a part that Gene Lockhart would have played in a bigger budgeted production) and the rest of the cast, the film has the tone and mood of a very flaccid comedy spiced up with some amazing special effects. The effect would be almost numbing if Lorre weren't so effective as a dedicated, true believing Japanese agent, so that his work elevates the movie. Otherwise, there's all manner of ludicrous dialogue and a few eye-popping special effects to carry the ridiculous plot and some occasionally wretched acting. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
• Famous for beating most of their dead horses, Universal dragged out the aging The Invisible Man franchise for the third time, but with a change in gender. After Margaret Sullavan wisely had refused any participation, the title role went to luckless former M-G-M starlet Virginia Bruce, who did not have the pizzazz to make this ill-conceived souffle rise above its B-Movie origins. In the same vein, director A. Edward Sutherland and a gaggle of writers failed to flesh out the comedy-thriller's much vaunted special effects and basically left it up to a mugging John Barrymore to supply the entertainment. Patterning his comically mad scientist after older brother Lionel, Barrymore's performance has taken near legendary status and remains the primary reason for viewing The Invisible Woman today. John Fulton's special effects, used here solely for comedy, had been done better in previous films and Bruce seems to have been rendered invisible mainly to titillate an audience constantly reminded that the character is -- gasp! -- stark naked. Universal knew they had a turkey and the fact that Bruce cast a shadow even when supposedly invisible no longer mattered. The Invisible Man and his descendants had become fodder for the busy B-units and would remain so through The Invisible Agent (1942), The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944), and the inevitable Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
• James Whale's The Invisible Man was a new kind of horror movie in 1933--one that made audiences laugh almost as much as it frightened them. Whale might simply have relied on the dazzling impact of John Fulton's special effects, which did an extraordinary job of creating the illusion of an invisible man on screen. Instead, he challenged his audience's expectations by playing many of the key scenes for laughs, such as that of the shirt dancing around the room while the police officer chases it; the scenes between the inn keeper (Forrester Harvey) and his hysterical wife (Una O'Connor); and the confusion of various characters trying to describe what they've seen (or, more properly, haven't). Audiences feel as though they've seen two films for the price of one, and the mixing of genres and moods worked so well that Whale was emboldened to try for even more extremes of humor, irony, and horror in his next major movie, The Bride of Frankenstein, 18 months later, and succeeded even further beyond anyone's expectations, creating that rare sequel that outstrips its predecessor. It is on that film, and The Invisible Man, that much of Whale's 70-year-plus reputation as a master filmmaker and horror creator rest, and from these two movies that dozens of modern filmmakers, from Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper to Tim Burton, derived much of the inspiration for their work and their careers. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
• The Invisible Man Returns is among the most somber horror films of the 1940s, and an early chance to see Vincent Price play the type of stylish role that would become his trademark. The Oscar-nominated special effects are quite good, including John P. Fulton's photographic tricks and Bernard Brown's sound enhancements. Milton Krasner's cinematography is suitably moody. Austrian-born Joe May was near the end of his prolific career when he directed The Invisible Man Returns; in an interesting change of pace, May was one of the writers on Universal's screwball comedy classic The Invisible Woman, released in late December of the same year. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi