A DASH OF UNIVERSAL... A CUP OF WAR PROPAGANDA... AND A PINCH OF H.G. WELLS!
Here we have yet another installment in the 'Invisible Man' series. This one coming between 'The Invisible Woman' and 'The Invisible Man's Revenge'. This film is interesting if your interested in the history of films and especially films made during World War II. The Propaganda is heavy and laughable in this strange but watch-able film. Like all the 'Invisible Man' movies, it's loosely tied to the other films in the series but, you don't have to watch them in any order or all of them to follow the story line of any one of them. The great cast includes Cedric Hardwicke, Peter Lorre, Jon Hall and Ilona Massey. Look closely to see Keye Luke from the Kung Fu TV show as the Japanese surgeon. This is available on DVD on the 'Invisible Man' Legacy Collection along with all four of the other Invisible Man movies from Universal. The DVD transfers are very good and there are some very good extras on the set.

Lorre fans only!
The important thing to remember when judging Lorre and this film is to separate Lorre's performance from the rest of this silly and farfetched motion picture. Peter's role almost seems as if it was intended for another, more serious film.

Well, the invisible agent in this story is presumably the invisible man's grandson, who has changed his name to hide from those who seek to use his invisible formula for immoral uses. Enter the Nazis, headed by head goose-stepper Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Peter Lorre, an old school Japanese baron who seek to acquire this formula and use it for the usual and universally known axis intentions. Of course the grandson escapes from their torturous clutches and becomes an undercover agant for the allies, an invisible one, who infiltrates Germany and proceeds to play a bunch of practical jokes on inept Nazi officers as a prelude to intercepting the Nazi's "secret" plans for an attempted invasion of America.

The invisible scenes are hilarious, as Jon Hall seems more intent on sleeping, eating, drinking champagne, and hitting on beautiful German double agents than actually getting these oh-so-vital Nazi plans. However, when Lorre is on screen, which unfortunately is for only three or four short scenes, his intense and sinister presence enhances the picture immensely and adds the appropriate drama that the rest of this film so pathetically lacks.

Cornering Hall in his paper shop in the United States, Lorre makes terrifying use of a paper cutter, causing psychological nervousness by calmly chopping down the blade behind the cornered Jon Hall's back, and later using it as a unique Lorrean device of torture to make him talk.

Later in the film, Lorre captures Hall and spirits him to the Japanese embassy, intending to bring his secret back to the Land of the Rising Sun for the good of his own people. Hardwicke and the Nazis soon arrive and confront Lorre as a betrayer. Quick as an asp, Lorre karate chops Hardwicke in the neck and expertly discharges him upon the floor. Then, with an unforgettable expression of contempt mixed with sinister and warped compassion, Lorre pulls out a knife, tells Hardwicke that he is going to make an honorable man out of him and then coldbloodedly stabs him in the heart. Then, in one of my all-time favorite scenes, Lorre goes to a prepared corner of the embassy interior and turns the knife on himself, his gaze intense and unwavering, performing hari-kari and falling dead upon the floor without a sound.

Lorre's performance is quite reminicent of his earlier Moto films, yet the intensity of his role is sustained by not one other member of the talented cast. Peter brought a gun to a pillow fight here, and as a result one of his better portrayals is lost in all the hokeyness and laughter.