Close Up

10 July 2018: The Invisible Man

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The Invisible Man
James Whale
1933 | 70 min | B/W | Digital

"Like Frankenstein, The Invisible Man offers an unsettling cautionary tale of scientific hubris run amok. The film’s story of a mild-mannered scientist transformed by his fantastical invention into a raving megalomaniac is less an ethical debate about man playing God than an existential allegory about the seductive nature of power. Although Whale cast Claude Rains as Griffin because of Rains' extraordinarily expressive voice, the actor was chagrined to learn that his face would remain unseen for almost the entirety of his first Hollywood film. Destined for a place in film history due to its special effects, The Invisible Man's success vindicated Whale's effort to tie dark humor to shocking violence." – Harvard Film Archive


Part of our Face of Another programme