Movie review - "Invisible Man's Revenge" (1944) *** (re-watching)

 Fun. Jon Hall has a more character role - as a man conked on the head, which has made him insane, sent to a Cape Town psychiatric hospital, he escapes, goes home for revenge, runs into mad doctor John Carradine who turns him invisible. Solid entry, decent effects. Evelyn Ankers offers beauty, Gale Sondegaard and Carrdine offer strong support.

Movie review - "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948) ***** (warning: spoilers)

Some comfort food in difficult times. The lead duo are in good form, the concept of all these women throwing themselves at Costello is hilarious, the house of horrors is solid, I loved the party and the lab.

It's got the handsome production values of a studio picture, the script is well thought out, and all the characters have a purpose even the male juvenile. The female roles actually have some meat on them.

But the true stars are Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney - the latter in particular brings genuine pathos. And Lugosi is so good it's bewildering this didn't kick off more of a comeback.

Movie review - "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" (1992) *1/2

The turning point in Chevy Chase's career? I guess he was a leading man for a few years after that... but this seemed to mark the end of him as a romantic leading man.

It's a mess. The photography is nice, the cast is strong - except may be that English actor with the super booming voice. Daryl Hannah is nice in a nothing role but at least looks good. Michael McKean is slim with lots of hair. A young Patricia Heaton is in it. Sam Neill channels James Mason. The special effects are fine. I like how a times we watched Chase, when he was invisible.

But the tone never seems right. At times it's comic at times it's serious drama at times it's a thriller. When Chase flirts with Hannah at the beginning they ape North by Northwest and that would totally be fine... but this doesn't have the space and twists of that. There's too much hanging about and being reflective - it doesn't have movement.

It's too vague about Chase's character - he's rich and successful, gets along with his secretary, is confident flirting but is also a loner... is that right? And he.. becomes lonely? Becomes a better person? I was confused. I wish they'd just have Chase as cocky but come more mature - that would have been simple and clean and given Chase something new.

It lacks pace, clear tone, cleverness. It's hard to tell John Carpenter directed it.

Book review - "From Journey's End to the Dam Busters: The Life of R C Sheriff" by Roland Wales

I became familiar with Sheriff's career after reading his autobiography, No Leading Lady. I can't remember what compelled me to pick it up as I wasn't that familiar with his work, but I enjoyed the book a lot - the tale of a quiet, unassuming insurance clerk who wrote plays in his spare time to help raise funds for his rowing club, who then wrote a play which became a phenomenon, then he went on to become one of the leading writers in Britain.

Maybe "leading writer" is too much in such a literate country but Sheriff had an excellent career. He never repeated the success of Journey's End - who could? - but he compiled a formidable body of work, including plays, screenplays, radio plays and novels. The best known are The Long Sunset, Home at Seven, St Helena, The Four Feathers, The Dam Busters, Quintet.

It was a very accomplished career and Wales has done incredibly well by it with this superb biography. It's affectionate, well-written, extremely well researched; Wales had access to many letters and diary entries of Sheriff. He also goes through as much of the man's writing as possible, including unmade screenplays, giving decent weight to them (so often these things are overlooked).

Sheriff's memoirs were full of blanks - he skipped over his war service for instance, and was hazy about his private life (he was devoted to his mother... as in, really super devoted). This fills in the blanks, tackling Sheriff's family's background, childhood, school days (glorious for Sheriff who loved sport), the boring insurance job, war service (Sheriff saw hard action but not a super large amount and indeed his superiors seemed keen to find ways to avoid having him at the front line; he received a lucky wound in a way which knocked him out of the war but didn't give him long term damage), going back to work, starting writing, developing his craft through the 1920s, writing Journey's End, the challenges of that production (where he met James Whale and Colin Clive), taking off to Oxford for a bit, expanding into screenwriting and novel writing, his experiences in the war (the bulk of which he spent in the USA), slight career wobbles, hitting new peaks in the 1950s, becoming unfashionable in the 1960s.

It was a steady career without giant dips and shows what you can do with a strong work ethic and good temperament. Also, no kids or romantic entanglements. Wales spends a bit of time on this but not too much - he sources a letter from a friend which could be deduced to referring to gay behaviour, discusses the relationship with the mother, acknowledges he preferred to be around men to women... but the proof is inconclusive. I have the feeling he was asexual.

Wales' book rises to the occasion for the big challenges - the background to Journey's End (including the inspirations for the main characters). Heaps of stuff I didn't know, like a proposed sequel to Journey's End, the many unfilmed scripts he did, his professional and personal relationships. I'm not sure that Sheriff was that compelling a person but is career was fascinating and got a fantastic tribe.

Book review - "Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice" by David Skal and Jessica Rains (2008)

Claude Rains was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, character actor from the Golden Years of Hollywood. Best known for villains, particularly in the films of Errol Flynn, he could play all sorts of parts - heroic monsters (Phantom of the Opera), dodgy Vichy policemen (Casablanca), sympathetic Nazis (Notorious), kindly shrinks (Now Voyager), kindly shrinks with a very dark side (Kings Row). The number of classic films in which he appeared, and helped make classic, is remarkable. It's hard to imagine him giving a bad performance.

It's surprising in a way that it took someone so long to write a biography of Rains. He had an interesting life - mother wound up in a mental asylum, father was a shonky actor; he saw genuine active service in World War One and was gassed and wounded; worked as for Sir Herbert Tree; became a teacher of, among others, John Gielgud and Charles Laughton; was a surprisingly successful ladies man, being married six times (once to his stalker); he was also an alcoholic, yet the managed to live until his seventies.

Part of the reason must have been the fact that Rains shyed away from publicity for most of his career, and during his most famous years would retreat to his East Coast farm when not working. He was involved in scandals but rarely with someone that well known - some theatre actresses usually; Bette Davis always regretted not having an affair with him (and sexually harassed him on set); an ex wife tried to charge him with bigamy. He was also very reticent and discrete - as per many actors of his time (eg Herbert Marshall, Basil Rathbone)

Skal is best known (to me at any rate) for his books on Tod Browning and horror - maybe he got involved in part because of Rains' connection to Universal horror movies. He was technically a star from his first film - providing the voice of The Invisible Man. Before then it had been a long apprenticeship though - starting in theatre at age 11, working his way up as a stage manager before turning to acting, earning more as a teacher than a performer for a long time, chalking up many stage credits but never really getting a big hit. When his wife at the time went to New York Rains went with her and gradually made his reputation. He never became a star technically but seems to have been highly regarded from the first; he found the perfect studio in Warner Bros, who used him brilliantly (though, as was common with every actor under contract there, he would fight with Jack Warner).

 I get the impression that despite his fame and achievements, Rains was never that happy - too much turbulence in his private life, too much longing for the stage (as if he didn't get better roles on film), too much alcohol. But it was a marvellous career and it's been well captured here by Skal, who had the benefit of co operation from Rains' only daughter Jessica.

I did wish he'd gone into more detail on some of the films, particularly the Errol Flynn ones, and that there was more discussion of Rains the actor - the way say Simon Callow writes about his subjects in his books. But this is a decent book.

Movie review - "The Amazing Transparent Man" (1960) *

Edgar Ulmer has a cult reputation and some seriously impressive credits on his CV but the fact remains many of his movies aren't very good such as this effort. A safecracker is busted out of gaol by a mad general who wants a formula to create an invisible army. That's not a bad concept for a film but not enough is done with it. Too often the invisible device looks like an excuse to have cheap special effects.

There's a kindly old scientist who is force to help with the operation, lots of mediocre acting and unexciting action. It does get points for ending with an atomic explosion.

Movie review – Invisible #5 “The Invisible Man’s Revenge” (1943) ***

After fighting Nazis, Jon Hall is back as the invisible man. He looks a lot better with a moustache and has the benefit of a supporting cast that includes Evelyn Ankers, John Carradine and Gale Sondegaard.

He’s an amnesiac who has lost five years of memory after being conked on the head during a diamond-hunting expedition to Africa. He comes back and is determined to get money owed him by his fellow expedition members. Hall is a different sort of character in this – nasty and not very sympathetic, so it’s not that weird for his former friends (Sondegaard, Lester Matthews) to conk him on the head and dump him in the river. He winds up in the home of mad scientist John Carradine, working on an invisibility formula, who is dying to test it on some humans. So Hall offers himself up as guinea pig.

Hall’s performance isn’t bad at all – he wasn’t the best actor in the world but honestly he didn’t have much scope with those dashing hero parts he normally played; here he gets to depict an angry anti-hero and it really energises his acting. After three invisible movies with a sympathetic hero, it’s great to see one with a nasty hero again.

Some cool invisible stuff - Hall threatens Matthews with a knife, throws flour on his face to prove is there, and becomes half invisible. It’s also a great idea to have the invisible man require blood in order to be able to become visible - a very effective pinching of the vampire legend. It gives Halls character some real motivation to be evil apart from just going insane. (Hall starts out as a bad egg here so he can’t blame invisibility on making him nasty).

It’s a shame Evelyn Anker’s character isn’t used a bit more – they set up Hall is obsessed with her but could have done more with this. Also Sondegaard and Matthews deserve a bit more darkness and more of a come-uppance – one feels Gale Sondergaard in particular is under-utilized.

But on the sunny side it’s great that Hall is finally defeated by a dog instead of a human – Carradine’s dog, looking for revenge. (You think Anker’s journo boyfriend Alan Curtis is going to do this but he’s unconscious at the end). And it's all fast paced and exciting.

The film uses the class system are motivation – Hall, Carradine and a comic cockney (Leon Errol) are anti-gentry (Carradine partly makes his dog invisible because he was being picked on by the gentry). Although there is this all wise and all knowing knight Leland Hodgson at the end who comes along to pass judgement, like those nobles who appear at the eleventh hour in Shakespeare plays.

Movie review – Invisible # 4 “The Invisible Agent” (1942) **1/2

America’s entry into World War Two didn’t affect most of their monster franchises, with this being the main exception. (I guess it would be hard to come up with ideas for the mummy, Frankenstein and Dracula to get involved in the war, but invisibility would be useful in war time).

It starts with a full on scene where Nazi agents Cedric Hardwicke and Peter Lorre try to persuade Jon Hall into giving up his uncle’s invisibility formula – by threatening to guillotine his hand. They even place it under the guillotine and are about to chop it off when Hall says he’ll tell. Of course, he’s only pretending and he punches them out before escaping.

But after this promising beginning it turns into a jokey WW2 film in the vein of Desperate Journey. Hall tells the US government who ask if they can use the formula. He refuses and they’re ok with it (you know, like they would) – but then Pearl Harbour is attacked and he turns it over on the condition that only he use the drug. So Hall parachutes into occupied Germany to find out about Nazi plans to invade America.

Cue lots of cute stuff with Hall tricking up comic Nazis and lots (and lots) of Nazis doing double takes. He’s not much of a secret agent, to be honest, constantly being unable to keep quiet – he’s always making some smart alec remark or showing off to agent Ilona Massey. No wonder Hardwicke and Lorre gets the drop on him relatively easily. Hall even goes a bit bonkers at once stage, convinced Massey.

This was a totally different sort of role for Hall –he was best known for South Sea Island parts which emphasised his handsome features and torso, but here he has to rely on his voice and acting ability. To be honest, he doesn’t really rise to the occasion and you can’t help wishing someone else played the role.

But to compensate there is Hardwicke and Lorre, who make excellent villains, both very smart – the only thing that helps the Allies win is that Japan and Germany squabble amongst themselves. Hardwicke likes to torture people and arrange for his own men to be shot – during one interrogation he has a person’s fingers broken. Lorre’s Japanese agent is a spiritual relative of Mr Moto right down to unscrupulousness and skill with ju jitsu. There is some racism often found in war movies of the time - Hall tells Lorre he “can’t tell you Japs apart”, Lorre talks about the odd sentimentality Caucasians have for white women

J Edward Bromberg and John Litel add class to the supporting cast and it’s done with Universal’s customary production sheen, including some need special effects. I get the feeling that had this been made a year later or something, when Hollywood was less silly with its war movies, this would have been a lot better.

Movie review – Invisible #3 – “The Invisible Woman” (1941) ***

After two invisible man films, Universal decided to play it for comedy – this was based on a story by Kurt Siodmark and Joe May, but was rewritten by, among others, writers who later worked for Abbott and Costello.

The best known member of the cast is John Barrymore, who plays the professor who invents invisibility. Yet again Barrymore spoofs his boozing reputation – his first scene have him tippling in the lab - but he is fun to watch. Virgina Bruce plays the title role, a model who is dissatisfied with her humdrum life (1940s feminism!) who answers an ad to be invisible from Barrymore. She uses her powers to get revenge on her boss, and comes up against some comic gangsters.

The humour is quite risque – you never really think of Claude Rains and Price being naked in their invisible man movies (apart from references to being cold) but you’re very conscious Bruce is nude. She’s always stripping her clothes off, and she flirts with John Howard (fun as a playboy).

This movie is very similar to modern day fantasy romantic comedies like Just My Luck - likeable girl discovers something extraordinary and uses it to help beat baddies and get the man of her dreams. As such its one of Universal's most fascinating pictures. It's a bit creaky and perhaps there should have been at least one villain who was a serious threat rather than comic, but the cast give it there all and I enjoyed it a lot.

(NB Maria Montez is in it and has one line.)

Movie review – Invisible Man #2 – “The Invisible Man Returns” (1940) **1/2

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.

Movie review – A&C #27 - “Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man” (1951) ***

The success of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein revived the career of its stars but actually didn’t usher in as many horror spoofs as supposed. Meet the Killer Boris Karloff sounds like a horror spoof but it actually was more of a murder mystery. The pure spoofs were this, Meet the Mummy and Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (of course in Frankenstein they did knock off three creatures in one film; also they met the Creature from the Black Lagoon on television).

In a way, this is a genuine sequel to The Invisible Man – specific reference is made to Claude Rains’ character in that 1933 movie plus we see a picture of Rains on the wall. The invisible man in this film isn’t a scientist, though, it’s a boxer (Arthur Franz) who believes he’s been falsely accused of murder. The boxer is a sort of nasty, tactiturn person even before the inevitable dementia that ensues when he become invisible (in the movies, becoming invisible always turns you mad) – this makes it kind of unusual, to have such an unlikeable hero. The plot has him ask detectives Abbott and Costello to help him clear his name. It’s a period piece, which adds to the fun, as do the (for the time) the excellent special effects and a strong support cast of older actors playing boxers and cops.

Most of the comedy comes from people doing double-takes at the invisible boxer doing wacky things like driving cards; the big set piece is the finale where Costello gets in a ring and beats up a much more skilled opponent with the help of the invisible boxer. The story probably should end then but goes on for another seven minutes – though it does result in some funny stuff with Costello becoming invisible (surely a strong enough concept for a sequel). A good, solid Abbott and Costello entry.

Movie review - A&C #22 - "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948) ****1/2

Probably the best A & C movie though not, funnily enough, the funniest - it has laughs, to be sure, but not as many as some of their other, hokier movies. The greatness in this one lies in the cast and performances, and atmosphere and story - you can watch it again and again and never get sick of it.

The quality of scripts used in A & C movies shot up markedly once Charles Barton started directing their films and its no surprise he's in charge here; the story is a very good one, and would be good enough on its own to serve as one of those Universal Dracula/Frankenstein/ Wolf Man sequels of the 40s (indeed, its a lot more logical and thought out than most of the later ones): Costello is being groomed by a femme fetale on behalf of Count Dracula,who wants to transplant his brain to Frankenstein's monster in order to make the latter more docile.

There are some lovely moments where Bela Lugosi lovingly taps Costello's head, and Costello gets strapped to the operating table; it's also hilarious to have all these women chasing after Costello, to Abbott's consternation. The film even skilfully incorporates a love interest subplot into the action - a female investigating insurance officer and a doctor who innocently works for Dracula (both serve the plot and add a little romance). The atmosphere is appropriately spooky - a chamber of horrors, Dracula's island, a laboratory.

Lugosi is in good form as Dracula, a very good straight man (he's so much more charismatic in the part than John Carradine, why didn't Universal give him another go in one of the sequels?); Lon Chaney is terrific as always as the tragic Wolf Man (one of the all-time great monster death scenes with him leaping out of the window grabbing Dracula in bat form); Glen Strange is fine as the Monster; all the support actors are good.

Movie review - Invisible #1 - "The Invisible Man" (1933) ****

Not as famous maybe as Universal's Dracula, Frankenstein or The Mummy but for my mind a better film than all of them (though I think Bride of Frankenstein is better than this). It is a perfectly realised shocker, laced with James Whale's humour via the wacky English villagers but that doesn't overwhelm the intelligence and believabilty of the mad invisible man. RC Sheriff's script is top notch - he was perfect for this kind of material - and Claude Rains' silky tones make him the ideal invisible man. I like how too his rival in love is a skunk and not some bland male lead.