"The whole world's my hiding place!"

Yesterday I mentioned that I preferred the movie version of Frankenstein to the book because the movie shows me the steps Dr. Frankenstein went through to create his monster. Today’s movie is the exact opposite of this. I prefer the book to the movie.

Motion pictures are aptly named. They rely almost completely on sight for a moviegoer to understand the story. So when your title character happens to be invisible -- things might not be too good for the movie. That is the case with The Invisible Man (1933), another Universal horror movie directed by James Whale.

The book by H.G. Wells is much better than the movie. One of the biggest differences between a book and a movie is that in a book you can get inside a character’s head easily. This has to happen when your character spends the majority of his time being invisible. Even third person narration allows the reader to “see” where the invisible man is going because of the words written by the author. These are not present in the movie. All we see are footprints in the snow or indentions in the carpet. It is hard to see where the invisible man is – obviously.

The movie is good in that it visualizes the fantasy of being invisible. This is a fantasy that everyone has had at some point in their life. Beginning with the innocence of reeking havoc on a small village through bottles being thrown across the room and bicycles being peddled by no apparent person. Then the fantasy turns dangerous as Dr. Jack Griffith, our invisible man, begins plotting a race of super-humans who are invisible and unstoppable by armies or police.

The Invisible Man also stands out because it is the first screen appearance of Claude Rains. The famed character actor got a staring role here. He would also appear in another Universal horror picture, The Wolf Man (1941). He was cast as Dr. Griffith, not because of his ability to act, but because of his voice. He is only clearly seen at the end of the movie when the invisible man becomes visible.

Rains had been injured by mustard gas in World War I. Because of this, he was nearly blind in one eye. His injuries didn’t help him act at first. He had made a screen test that was viewed by the people at Universal. Everyone there agreed that Rains couldn’t act, but James Whale insisted on using him. Rains’ unique voice was the reason Whale citied.

Rains got the part. His voice became the star. The bandages that he wore must have helped his acting because he would go on to have a long and distinguished Hollywood acting career that spanned four decades.

Although the movie is very similar to the book, much to the delight of H.G. Wells, there are some differences. In the novel, Griffith was portrayed as a mad scientist from the beginning with no regrets. He is not completely mad in the movie. It is a decent into madness, as mentioned above, that transcends the innocent scientific reasons for invisibility and turns them into vicious motives for murder. The other major, although certainly acceptable, difference between the book and the movie is the book takes place in the 1890s, while the movie occurs in 1933. Nothing wrong with the modernization of the story.

The Invisible Man is a pretty faithful adaptation of the hit novel. It is also the first starring role for Claude Rains. For these reasons, and the fact that everyone has had the fantasy of being invisible, this movie is well worth watching.