The Invisible Man's Revenge

The last Universal Invisible Man picture (outside of an Abbott and Costello film) was 1944's The Invisible Man's Revenge, directed by Ford Beebe, a somewhat interesting but mostly crummy film that brought back the creepy aspects of the character.

Jon Hall, who was the good guy in Invisible Agent, returns as a different character, an escapee from a South African mental asylum. He has been thought dead for five years by his old friends, who live in luxury in England. He had been left for dead in the jungle when they were looking for a diamond mine, and now wants his part of the money. He is shown the door.

Eventually he comes across a mad scientist (John Carradine). Unlike the other films, there is no connection to the original Jack Griffin, although Hall's character's name is Griffin, as a tip of the hat, I suppose. Carradine has been experimenting on invisibility, making his German shepherd transparent but never trying it on a human. Hall imagines what he could do to his old friends, and tries it out.

There really isn't much else to this film. In order to return to visibility, Hall must get a blood transfusion, which makes the film vampiric, and at least the writer realizes a dog can track down someone, invisible or not. The visual effects aren't any better (you can see the outline of the actor) than before, and Hall's character is a one-note crazy man. Frankly, when you get right down to it, invisibility isn't that much of a power. If I were able to turn invisible right now, I don't know what I'd do. You can't really rob a bank any easier than if visible. Really the only advantage is for teenage boys who want to peek into the girls' locker room.