Boost up the morale with invisibility

INVISIBLE AGENT (1942)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Talk about a wildly tonal shift in a series that had no consistent formula, well except for the invisibility factor. "Invisible Agent" is the fourth entry in "The Invisible Man" series and one terminally strange sequel. This one, full of political, anti-Nazi propaganda, follows "The Invisible Woman," a sequel that was apparently more screwball than serious (still unseen by me). As for "Invisible Agent," it is a tremendously entertaining sequel that has a comedic middle that almost wrecks the narrative. Still, for a good B-movie night, you could do worse.

Dr. Jack Griffin's grandson (Jon Hall) works at a New York print shop under a pseudonym. The reason is clear: Griffin's grandson has got the invisibility formula and knows that under the wrong hands, it can be used in a time of war (Griffin's grandfather was in the first "Invisible Man" movie). Naturally, some Nazis show up at the print shop wanting that formula. Violence breaks out and Griffin escapes, almost suffering a near amputation by a paper cutting machine! As for the war effort, well, this is World War II and Griffin goes on a secret mission to Germany where he ingests the formula to be invisible to the Nazis. Only trouble is that Germany is rather cold and the invisibility only works if you have no clothes on (Yep, he is naked throughout this movie). The mission is to retrieve a list of Nazi and Japanese spies working in the U.S. with the help of a coffin-maker (!) and, in one of the film's most surprisingly good performances, Ilona Massey as Maria Sorenson, a German espionage agent who has a few tricks up her sleeve.

I shan't say more because "Invisible Agent" is equal parts comedy, suspense and thriller. The comedy routine during a somewhat tiresome dinner sequence with Gestapo Standartenführer Karl Heiser (J. Edward Bromberg) and Sorenson manifests as something of the slapstick variety that would've been at home in a Marx Brothers movie. Also, one must escape the notion of a Japanese agent working in cahoots with the Nazis played by none other than Peter Lorre, a fine performance in a role that should've been played by an Asian actor (brings up memories of John Wayne playing Genghis Khan and Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's"). I will be honest - it did not occur to me that Lorre was playing a Japanese agent until his character, well, you will see during the finale.

What works in the movie is the sheer escapism of it all including a bunch of fight scenes with Nazis falling over each other, unable to see the titular character's punches. "Invisible Agent" is also equal parts silly and absurd yet it has the fantastic Cedric Hardwicke as an insidiously evil lieutenant general of the S.S., Stauffer, who has got his hands on that list. Massey is glamorously watchable as Sorenson and Jon Hall, only seen briefly in the opening of the film, has only his disembodied voice to carry us through the movie. It is not at the caliber of Vincent Price or Claude Rains but whose voice is?