The success of Son of Frankenstein saw sequels to all of Universal’s key monster series – Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Invisible Man. (No Murder at the Rue Morgue II, though).
This has the benefit of a strong cast of male actors – Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, Cecil Kellaway, Alan Napier. Unfortunately there’s also the spectacularly wet John Sutton of Tower of London – but don’t worry, the time he spends on screen is kept to a minimum (and he’s hidden under glasses).
This is a genuine sequel – it’s set nine years after the events of the first one, Claude Rains’ character is specifically referred to (we even see his picture and Sutton plays his brother). Sutton injects Price with invisibility serum in order to help him escape from prison.
Price does go mad via invisibility in this one but he’s not the real villain – the real baddie is Cedric Hardwicke who did the murder for which Price has been accused (partly through jealousy over wanting Price’s girl). Hardwicke has a great death scene, including a terrific expression on his face as he expires. Cecil Kellaway is very strong as cop – he normally plays his roles for comedy but here he’s just a smart, no nonsense copper and you know he’s going to get his man. I also enjoyed Price’s invisible man – a worthy successor to Rains; he does the madness stuff well and he even gets a bit of poignancy. This is a decent, strong horror entry.
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