The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) User Reviews

Interesting plot-heavy take on the invisible man theme

[mstomaso · 5/10 · 14 November 2006]

Some aspects of Ulmer's Amazing Transparent Man are, in retrospect, pretty funny. James Griffith's poorly mimed fight with an invisible man, the occasional continuity disasters, and the infrequent technobabble are examples. This is not, however, quite funny enough or cheesy enough to have been good MST3K fodder. Underlying the mediocre special effects, the occasionally overblown dialog, and the uneven performances, the story line presents an interesting take on the invisible man theme.

The heavy, played without much verve by James Griffith, is an ex-Nazi spy who looks and speaks like Mr. Rogers. His plan, involving all manners of extortion, involves forcing refugee German scientist (Ivan Triesault) to use radiation to turn an escaped convict safe-cracker (Douglas Kennedy) invisible. His goal is ostensibly to steal money and radioactive materials to further his experiments. In the role of his co-conspirator and femme fatale we find Marguerite Chapman.

Chapman and Kennedy have some on-screen chemistry which is used to good advantage in the film, but Chapman's performance is below par. Kennedy does well in a role which used his experience well. Griffith's performance, given his credentials, is surprisingly poor. The ancient and experienced Triesault, the class of the acting talent in this film, steals the show to an extent, but is also the only really sympathetic character in the lot.

The movie has a somewhat plodding pace at first, but the character development is good enough to draw the audience in. The Amazing Transparent Man is no action film, but once the action begins, it doesn't really let up until the nicely climactic end. Despite all of the bad press this film has received here on IMDb, this film really isn't a bomb, and I recommend it to sci-fi and low budget b movie buffs.

Compact sci-fi crime featurette

[Chase_Witherspoon · 5/10 · 24 April 2012]

Extremely compact (57 minutes) yet entertaining story of ruthless safe-cracker (Kennedy), sprung from gaol by a demented former military agent (Griffith) and his cheap-wine associate (Chapman), forced to endure radiation experiments that make him invisible in order to steal guarded uranium deposits so Griffith can build an invisible army to take-over the world. Street-wise Kennedy decides to turn his transparency into an opportunity to pull a bank heist, but things go awry when the invisibility wears off mid-way through the crime.

Griffith is an impeccably dressed, meek-looking but sadistic villain, keeping his associates subservient via various forms of duress, Chapman plays the life-of-crime broad, mistreated by Griffith (there's a great scene in which Griffith slaps her twice the second he calls "the dot on the i") seeing an opportunity to make it big with Kennedy's safe-cracking skills. Kennedy is the cornerstone, delivering an economical performance of a career criminal with no pride or patriotism, only a loyalty to his young daughter from whom he's forcibly estranged.

You won't get much in your special effects on this budget, nevertheless it's not a bad variation on the "invisible man" theme like an "Outer Limits" or "Twilight Zone" episode with real exteriors and a capable and reasonably distinguished cast. Look out for craggy-faced Pat Cranshaw ("Old School") as an inept security guard in an early film role.

Makes for great late-night viewing with your buddies.

[Cowman · 5 February 2003]

Before viewing this 1960 drive-in hit, keep in mind that it is not really a serious attempt at science fiction. Many critics and viewers have panned this movie because they expected some sort of INVISIBLE MAN-style plot with good acting and plenty of special effects. But if it was high-quality cinema they were looking for, then why in the hell did they choose to watch a movie with a title like "THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN"?

Viewers with no expectations, a good sense of humor, and an open mind will probably enjoy this bizarre little sci-fi romp. The whole mad scientist/escaped prisoner/invisible Nazi story is beyond befuddling, but it is so unbelievably far-fetched that you'll be entertained anyway.

THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN does a nice job at not dawdling on boring fake science jargon (a shortcoming that most sci-fi yarns of this era suffer from) and somehow manages to dole out one outrageous scene after another during its unusually short running time. Within the course of 58 minutes, you will witness invisible fist fights, invisible robberies, atomic blasts, jailbreaks, in-your-face anti-nuclear-weaponry overtones, and a whole barrage of people stealing from and/or deceiving one another. Every single character either betrays or holds one another hostage at some point during the picture.

If you're in the mood for something that is so goofy and so off-the-wall that it defies description, then I suggest you run out the VHS cut-out bin nearest you and pick up this movie. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Better than the title suggests - but that suggested stinker

[FranklinTV · 3/10 · 11 November 2004]

A title like "The Amazing Transparent Man" does have you seriously wondering on how poor the movie you are about to watch will be - - for a start, he can't even achieve invisibility (only transparency), so what is 'amazing' about that?

But the opening titles suggest you might get something a bit better than you were bracing yourself for. It's quite a good mood setting, with the music involving a cello grinding 4 repeating notes ominously. The other give away is that in the opening credits, the directors and producers names are shown in running-writing style - clearly both artists. And the opening prison escape bit is good, as well as the police checkpoint scene, and they involve some nicely framed external shots.

In fact its all looking like this might be a surprisingly enjoyable film, until the escaped safe-cracking crim Faust (played by Douglas Kennedy) has his first real indoor talking scene. And then you realize that for some reason only known to him, Mr Kennedy plays Faust like some "John Wayne" cowboy. Why a safe cracker would also be a swaggering tough guy who looks like he is ready to say "Ok Pilgrim" is a constant annoyance which does tend to cripple the film.

Anyway - - I don't think I'm giving much away to point out the early setup in the film when Krenner (the Bad Guy) says something like "Dr, make sure the radioactive material is kept away from the beam, or else we will all blow up", and then Dr Ulof repeating something similar back to Krenner five minutes later - - clearly, something is eventually going to go wrong along these lines much later in the film, and they really don't want you to miss it.

The other annoying thing about this movie is how quickly the characters (Faust, Krenner, Dr Ulof, Laura (the bad guys girl), and Julian (the bad guys hired help)) seems to keep swapping alliances and personality, all as a result of some simple statement that would even make a daytime soap opera blush.(eg: a "But your son is dead" has Julian swapping sides without a thought that "Hey, maybe she is lying because I have a gun pointed at her?").

So, the film is not too strong on the logic of how and why the characters act and respond. When combined with its over-earnestness, the final sentence uttered in the film, instead of being the deep and meaningful thought provoker the director and producer obviously intended, resulted in me chuckling for quite a while after the closing credits finished.

Ultimately - The Amazing Transparent Man is better than its title suggests, but not something to recommend.

A Neat Sci-Fi

[Rainey-Dawn · 5/10 · 12 January 2016]

This film has nothing to do with Universal's 'The Invisible Man' film series. This is a completely different film with a completely different story. The only similarity is the idea of a scientist inventing invisibility and an invisible person - that's it.

This film does not have the same quality as any of the Universal classics nor do I think this film is better BUT it is a pretty neat sci-fi that is worth watching if you like the idea of invisibility or older sci-fi films. It has it's own charm - it's just not as good as the classic Universal "Invisible" films.

I liked this film: A 'mad' scientist invents invisibility and plans on using it to take over the world by creating a group of invisible zombies. A neat sci-fi idea that is fun to watch.

5.5/10

Do I have to draw you a picture?

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 6 January 2012]

Douglas Kennedy is the escaped convict who becomes The Amazing Transparent Man as the result of a laboratory experiment by Dr. Ivan Triesault under the direction of perennial movie villain James Griffith. In fact Kennedy was busted out of jail for just that purpose.

Griffith is a guy who thinks big, create an army of these invisible men and you can really dictate to whomever you please. In fact the only problem then is to create invisible weapons for the army to use. But one step at a time. He busts Kennedy out of prison because Kennedy is a safe cracker and he needs his skills. But Kennedy dreams on a smaller scale just let him become invisible and look at all the bank jobs he'll pull. That in and of itself is a conflict.

But invisibility has a price. What Kennedy has to steal is fissionable uranium because that's the key ingredient for Triesault. As we well know from life and from films radiation exposure carries a price. Do I have to draw you a picture?

The Amazing Transparent Man was shot on a chump change budget and gets rather dull in spots. But the film is still one campy hoot reminder of those paranoid Cold War days.

Not exactly "amazing", but nothing terrible either.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 18 January 2014]

Fans of the cult director Edgar G. Ulmer may consider this routine, forgettable, but adequately entertaining sci-fi feature to be one of his lesser efforts. Still, one could do worse. It's decently acted, features very amusing visual effects, and is thin enough on story to clock in at a very short 58 minutes. It also leads to a pretty entertaining resolution; as one would say, things end with a bang.

Tough guy actor Douglas Kennedy stars as Joey Faust (!), a criminal busted out of jail by nefarious Major Krenner (James Griffith) and his associates. Krenner has forced unhappy scientist Peter Ulof (Ivan Triesault) to perfect a method of turning a man invisible, and Krenner wants to use this method on Faust so that the hood can commit acts of espionage for him. Faust, not surprisingly, has other ideas: he'd rather rob banks.

The scenes with the invisible Faust are the most entertaining in this thing, such as when Griffith has to mime being strangled, or the development late in the tale when Fausts' body begins to appear and disappear. The music by Darrell Calker is good, maybe too good for something like this. Kennedy is a hoot as the swaggering Faust, and Griffith is an okay villain. Triesault is pitiable as Ulof, who's had a very hard life. Marguerite Chapman ("Flight to Mars"), in her last feature film, is reasonably engaging as Laura, who finds Fausts' offer of proceeds from potential bank robberies to be too hard to resist. Buffs may be interested to note that veteran character actor Patrick Cranshaw, who achieved fame late in his life and career as Blue in "Old School", plays a security guard here.

Certainly the denouement is priceless, as Triesault ends up addressing us directly, hoping that we find the idea of an "invisible army" as appalling as some of the characters in this thing do.

Five out of 10.

Cheesy Rip-Off

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 19 June 2016]

The notorious safecracker Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) escapes from the state prison and Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman) drives the getaway car. They head to an isolated farm where the deranged Major Paul Krenner (James Griffith) has a laboratory. He has abducted the daughter of Dr. Peter Ulof (Ivan Triesault) to force the scientist to develop a technique to create an invisible army. Paul plans to sell the army for a large amount to any government and now he needs radium to proceed the research. Paul and his partners Laura and Julian (Red Morgan) force Joey to be submitted to the experimental treatment. Then he breaks in a facility and robs the radium. Joey convinces Laura to go with him to the city to heist the National Bank, but he is surprised by an unexpected side effect and becomes visible. What will happen to Joey Faust?

"The Amazing Transparent Man" has an attractive art on the DVD cover. However the story is a cheesy rip-off "The Invisible Man". The characters are non-charismatic and the conclusion is awful. My vote is three,

Title (Brazil): Not Available on DVD or Blu-Ray

See through Guinea pigs!

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 26 March 2013]

Ah, now this one gets a bad rap here, but it's too short to be tedious and too cute to be annoying. At 57 minutes, you've got a nice compact sci-fi film that won't tax your brain too much (unless you try thinking about the plot).

Joey Faust gets busted from the barry hole by a dame, and gets taken to a farmhouse run by a mysterious and shifty ex-army guy who wants to use both Joey's lockpicking skills and a mad scientist's invisible ray gun to create an army of invisible men. That's good stuff right there.

After turning a guinea pig invisible, Joey kind of eventually agrees to go for it, and I liked that the moment he turned invisible he started beating the shifty guy up. Joey's out for an invisible score but he finds one problem - the ray's effects don't last that long. What's a career criminal to do? Find redemption by rescuing the mad scientist's daughter?

Never dull, full of banter and daft effects, punch ups and the mad scientist asking the audience a direct question I was too thick to understand, I really liked this little film. Loved the stock footage nuke blasts too!

Incredibly sloppy sci-fi film is a total waste of time...

[Doylenf · 3/10 · 11 May 2007]

Given the total low-budget look of the film, the indifferent performances of the entire cast, the lack of credibility from scene to scene, and the overall amateurishness of acting and direction, it's merciful that this film directed by Edward G. Ulmer is only 58 minutes.

DOUGLAS KENNEDY (looking a bit flabby and tired) is the lead, a man who has just escaped from prison and has a girlfriend (MARGUERITE CHAPMAN) waiting just outside for a quick getaway. After that, all plausibility is over, as she takes him to the home of a mad Army Major who is housing a scientist able to make objects invisible.

The wounded Major seeks some sort of revenge for his wounds and envisions an army of invisible men, but Kennedy advances another idea--a bank robbery with him stealing into the vault while invisible. Reluctantly, the doctor agrees to the plan--but the plot takes a few twists when things don't go as smoothly as planned.

No one in the film gives a performance worth remembering, and the mad scientist played by IVAN TRIESAULT is worst of all in a key role. In one crucial scene he appears to be reading his dialog off cue cards as he recites the ingredients of his experiment.

To say DOUGLAS KENNEDY is wooden is to be charitable. The same can be said for Miss Chapman who has absolutely no chemistry with the leading man.

All of it looks like it was put together in five days with some very primitive special effects. Considering that Edward G. Ulmer did direct some very successful scary films at Universal, this is nothing less than a disaster.

Enjoyable Grade B sci-fi quickie

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 10 April 2012]

Bitter and crazed ex-military officer Paul Krenner (an excellent performance by James Griffith) forces kindly scientist Peter Ulof (a sturdy turn by Ivan Triesault) to create an invisibility process using radiation. They proceed to break volatile safe cracker Joey Faust (robustly played with venomous aplomb by Douglas Kennedy) out of jail so he can steal more radium, but things don't go according to plan. Director Edgar G. Ulmer, working from an engrossing script by Jack Lewis, relates the compelling story at a steady pace and maintains an appropriately serious tone throughout. Margueritte Chapman does well as greedy and treacherous moll Laura Matson. The bank robbery set piece is a lot of fun (Faust turns visible again in the middle of the gig!) and the thrilling conclusion ends with a literal explosive bang. Both Meredith M. Nicholson's sharp black and white cinematography and Darrell Calker's moody score give this picture a cool film noir-style atmosphere. The special effects are admittedly rough, but overall decent and acceptable. The tight 57 minute running time ensures that the movie never becomes dull or overstays its welcome. A neat little flick.

Solid action sci-fi

[funkyfry · 6/10 · 24 September 2002]

A prisoner is freed by people who want him to do a job for them -- he doesn't know what it is, just that he'll be "free", but he finds himself the subject of a weird experiment. He eventually turns "transparent" because of radiation treatments, and the guys who are doing it to him are Nazis out to conquer the world with an invisible army (?!!!?). They want him to use his transparency to rob military bases of plutonium for building their army, but he eventually goes back to his stock and trade -- bank robbery. When his floating bag finally attracts notice, he starts to flash in and out of visibility -- cool scene. Decent photography, tight direction redeem this seeming 5 day quickie.

Dull...

[Space_Mafune · 3/10 · 22 March 2003]

A lack of sympathetic characters, lackluster acting and inherent dullness are factors even the talented Edgar G. Ulmer couldn't overcome. Maybe with an A-level cast and a decent budget for FX and stunts, this could have had potential.

Entertaining b-grade sci fi thriller.

[Infofreak · 23 May 2003]

Why are people so down on this modest but enjoyable movie? Beats me. Joey Faust (what a name!), safecracker, is busted out of the pokey and made an offer - turn invisible and steal radium for a mad scientist/soldier planning on setting up an invisible army to conquer the world. Joey goes along with it but quickly decides to use his powers for what comes naturally - stealing lots of do re mi. This causes conflict as you can imagine, and then his invisibility goes on the fritz. Faust is played by Douglas Kennedy who played one of the cops in 'Invaders From Mars', the baddie is James Griffith who had a bit part in Kubrick's 'The Killing', and the movie was directed by Edward G. Ulmer who made the strange Lugosi/Karloff classic 'The Black Cat' back in the 1930s. 'The Amazing Transparent Man' won't change your life, but it's entertaining enough. Worth a look for fans of 1960s/60s b-grade thrillers.

Low budget mess

[rosscinema · 4/10 · 19 February 2003]

Harmless sci-fi about an escaped convict that is selected by a deranged doctor to submit to radioactive experiments to make him invisible. The cast is primarily older than usual and the sets are very cheap looking as is the effects of invisibility. You can see the wires in scenes as you would expect.

The real silly part of the film is the ending when director Edgar Ulmer tries to get a message across that's meant to really warn the viewers of the film about either the dangers of radioactivity or the red menace! Ulmer's early films were terrific and it is kind of sad to see where his career ended up. Not a bad low budget effort if your into these types of films.

A little hit in the head and he's gone completely cuckoo

[sol-kay · 4/10 · 13 May 2007]

(There are spoilers) Another mad scientist-like movie but in this case it's not the scientist who's gone mad but the major who was hit it the head with shrapnel from a German artillery shell during the Battle of the Bulge and has never been the same since. Obviously suffering from a severely scrambled brain Major Paul Krenner, James Griffith, has come up with this mindless idea to create an army of radiated and invisible zombies. Krenner plans to the zombies to either take over the world or sell, at a hefty price, his invention to a country like the USSR to do it, take over the world, itself.

Major Krenner together with his reluctant girlfriend Laura, Marguerite Chapman, concocts the springing of master safe cracker Joey Faust, Douglas Kennedy, from prison to help him with his weird plan to have Joey crack a few safes, while he's made to be invisible, and steal this element X-13 that's needed for him to complete his strange and off-the-wall experiment. Of course Major Krenner doesn't have the expertise to pull off this crazy plan all by himself so he has been holding hostage, together with his daughter Maria (Carmel Daniel),former Nazi concentration camp scientist, he only did what he did because he was forced to do it not because he liked to do it, Dr. Peter Ulof, Iva Triesault. Dr Ulof is now a peace loving pacifist who doesn't have long to live due to his experiments that, like with the Nazis, he was forced to conduct by the crazed Major Krenner.

Forced to be put under the super X-Ray machine Joey does turn invisible and gets the X-13 from a US military nuclear plant. Unknowing to Joey is that he had contaminated himself with a lethal dose of nuclear radiation which, to say the least, makes Joey very very mad at the major. Now using his invisibility to rob a bank and use the money to skip out of the country Joey is persuaded by Dr. Ulof, who's also dying from radiation poisoning, to stop the mad Major Kernner from completing his experiments of invisible as well as nuclear human zombiefacation before it's too late.

Knowing that he's got no more then a month to live Joey feels that the money he got from his last bank robbery would do nothing for him in the future and decides to go back to Major Krenners laboratory and stop him from making an army of mindless and invisible zombies, like Joey himself, from becoming a reality. Joey bravely has it out, creating an atomic meltdown in the process , with the mad major as the entire laboratory and house as well as the surrounding countryside goes up in flames in a thermo-nuclear blast.

The movie, despite Joey and Laura getting nuked, did have somewhat of a happy ending. Joey ends up saving Dr. Ulof's daughter Maria from the crazed major, who kept her hidden in a closet in his laboratory. We also get a chilling and ominous warning by the doc, Ulof, to the audience as he turned to the camera as the movie was ending and asked, I guess he meant the CIA, if you had the ability to do what Major Krenner tried to do would do do it? After seeing what happened in the movie only a deranged and out of control nut-case like the Major would answer that question in the affirmative.

Okay

[SanteeFats · 5/10 · 3 May 2014]

First off the scientist was not crazed as it states in the lead in. Doctor Ulof is being forced to do the bidding of a Major Krenner. Krenner is holding Ulof's young daughter locked in a room. Krenner is threatening to kill the girl if Ulof does not cooperate and conduct the experiments. Krenner springs Joey Faust, a well known safe cracker, from prison. Joey is needed to get Krenner the things he needs. Joey is turned invisible and robs a depository of a nuclear material called X13 to facilitate the experiments. Krenner forces Ulof to use the new stuff on Joey. Invisible Joey goes to rob a bank and turns visible and then invisible. He is recognized so the jig is coming to a climax. Returning to the decrepit hide out Joey finds out he has maybe a month to live. So he goes up to the lab, fights it out with Krenner, and they get blown up in a nuke blast. So the world is saved from an army of invisible soldiers which was Krenner's ultimate goal.

Even Ulmer Cannot Save This One

[BaronBl00d · 3/10 · 16 April 2006]

I think very highly of Edgar Ulmer's work in general. Some of his work for Universal in the 30's is the standard of great horror for generations to be sure. This lamentable science fiction production; however, is not a part of that legacy. A convict is sprung from the state pen to be part of a series of radioactivity tests that will allow him to become transparent and thus allow him to steal some important minerals for his benefactor. Problems arise when this man - called Joey Faust(allusion connected) - has issues with his new found "boss" and the woman who stays with the boss. Marguerite Chapman plays the woman that would double-cross her own mother rather effectively as does Douglas Kennedy do a fair job as the transparent man. Jack Griffith as his foil will do but is less than stellar to be sure. This is a cheap movie with virtually no budget. The science fiction aspects are tenuous at best. The script is very weak as well. Ulmer does a serviceable job behind the camera, but he really does not exhibit any innovative techniques here that helped establish him decades earlier. A shame to be sure, because despite its budget and lack of strong talent, I really thought he could do more with the material than was given. The acting is really not very good but it is always nice to see Boyd "Red" Morgan in action once more. I'm sure this film helped Ulmer "disappear" amongst the directorial ranks subsequently.

"You're too old-fashioned to be a genius."

[bensonmum2 · 3/10 · 26 October 2007]

Paul Krenner, a would-be criminal kingpin, hooks up with a safe-cracker named Joey Faust. Through extortion and force, Krenner has coerced a scientist to develop a process of making animals and people transparent. Krenner's idea is to use this discovery to create and army of invisible men to do his bidding. His more immediate plan, though, is to make Faust invisible so he might steal the radium needed to continue the experiments. But Faust has different ideas about how to use his invisibility – most of which involve bank robbery.

First I'll mention the relatively small list of positives I found in The Amazing Transparent Man. I think the basic idea behind the movie is interesting. The notion of an invisible master criminal who could literally rob a bank in broad daylight presents some interesting possibilities. The other positive element of the movie is the film's score. The central musical theme that gets repeated throughout The Amazing Transparent Man is successful in creating the desired ominous atmosphere.

Unfortunately, however, the list of negatives is huge. While the movie may present some interesting plot ideas, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. In general, director Edgar G. Ulmer was as good as any director at working with a low budget to make interesting and entertaining movies. That's not the case here. The Amazing Transparent Man never overcomes the limitations of its low budget. Bad acting, a poor script, ridiculous dialogue, ambiguous character motivation, and uninteresting sets are just he beginning of the many problems readily apparent in the movie. Honestly, I could go on and on, but what's the point? This is low-rent film-making at its worst.

Probably the only good review you'll ever see given to this movie...

[squirrel_burst · 7/10 · 22 November 2014]

Despite its shortcomings, "The Amazing Transparent Man" is smarter and better than most of the cheap sci-fi films you can find in your average movie bargain bin. It has an interesting premise, original characters and at just under an hour, it moves quickly so you won't be bored. There's some sci-fi mumbo jumbo to explain the invisibility, some pretty laughable special effects, but you can tell there was some effort put into this. The special effects aren't always awful either, I'd say most of the time they're passable. The ending is where the movie really shines, which is what makes up for the rough spots. If you're at all curious about this one or if you are a fan of these older quickie sci-fi flicks, this is one of the better ones. If you're not one of the connoisseurs though, I don't know if there's going to be anything here for you. (Dvd, September 20, 2012)

The Amazing Transparent Movie

[Red-Barracuda · 2/10 · 10 June 2009]

This very short sci-fi film is pretty forgettable. It tells the story of a safe-breaker who is busted out of prison by a criminal mastermind. A subservient scientist is forced to experiment on the safe-cracker, turning him invisible; from this position the thief can effectively rob banks. The master criminal, meanwhile, dreams of creating an invisible army.

There are some reasonable effects on display here. But any film that features an invisible man as its centre-piece has its work cut out keeping things interesting. Invisible actions aren't a recipe for cinematic gold. And in this instance we have props on wires, invisible fights and, best of all, an invisible guinea pig. It's all a bit tedious really but clocking in at under an hour it isn't too painful.

A philosophical sci-fi tale

[jramirez-66906 · 8/10 · 17 January 2019]

The Amazing Transparent Man has deep connections to the director's own experiences from his native country of Austria and the aftermath of what happened during World War II. The use of the names Faust, Krenner and Ulof have European connotations to represent Old, Middle, and New Germany as a metaphor. I thought that it was deep in the ideology of politics from Ulmer's point of view.

Depends on your interpretation of "amazing"

[Coventry · 6/10 · 31 May 2006]

Amazingly…short, maybe? With a running time of barely 55 minutes, this looks more like a random episode of "The Twilight Zone" rather than like a full Sci-Fi picture. Or amazingly wasted potential, perhaps? Naturally, the shortness of this movie also inflicts abrupt plot twists, insufficient character drawings and a forced climax. But probably, it just stands for amazingly good entertainment despite a truckload of shortcomings! With a man like Edgar G. Ulmer ("The Black Cat", "Bluebeard") sitting in the director's chair, it's at least certain that the movie you're about to see will be stylish and containing a handful of well-mounted suspense sequences. The basic premise has a mass of great ideas (that all begged for a more detailed elaboration, actually) and the fluently written dialogues allow all the players to give away stellar performances. Douglas Kennedy stars as a charismatic and eloquent safe-cracker with a very cool name (Joey Faust), running from prison with the help of a vicious ex-military officer who developed a bizarre plan to gain world power! Faust has to serve as a human guinea pig and, whist invisible through radiation, steal more uranium to investigate the possibilities of creating invisible armies. Don't you just LOVE these insane evil masterminds and their grotesque ideas? The wayward criminal he is, Faust doesn't simply follow these orders blindly. The special effects are weak and there's a lack of set pieces, yet it's a fun movie with a good pace. James Griffith portrays my favorite type of underdog-villain; distinguished and calm, but relentless and greedy when it comes to the crunch. Considering this is late 50's/early 60's Science Fiction, the movie ends with a mandatory philosophical debate. Warmly recommended, after all.

Boring junk

[mrush · 2/10 · 14 May 2008]

Black and white didn't help this movie.Sometimes just being in black and white can help a bad horror or sci/fi movie be a little bit more creepy.That didn't help this clunker one bit.

Some evil genius guy intent on creating an army of invisible men breaks a bank robbing safe cracker out of prison so he can get the safe cracker to break into a government installation and steal a powerful radioactive material called X-13.With this more powerful agent the man can create an army of invisible men.But the guy already has some scientist held captive and the scientist is already working on some sort of x-ray that can make things invisible so the plan is to make the safe cracker invisible so he can just stroll into the plant and get the X-13 out easily.The X-13 will make better invisible stuff or something,than the stuff they were using,at least I think that's what was going on here.....it a little hard to follow the plot of a clunker cause stuff tends not to get explained in very much detail.

You might think it sounds cool but it wasn't.The acting was bad and the plot was just silly.Why would you want to create an army of invisible men if you had the power to make people invisible?How would you control invisible people and get them to do your bidding? Why would you let anyone know your secret? I'd just make myself invisible and spend my days stealing a bit of money but mostly I'd just lurk around in the female dorms on every college campus on Earth.But that is just me.Anyway things go awry when the invisible bank robber convinces the evil genius' moll to help him rob a bank.

The only special effect to speak of was when things went invisible.And that wasn't very special at all.When invisible it was clear that the actor was just out of the camera shot saying his lines.And when he would carry stuff ,like a bag of money,it was easy to see that it was a bag being moved by a string.The government installation was a chubby guy in a police uniform sitting at a desk in what looked to be a hallway.

Despite the title there is nothing the least bit amazing about this film---it's just a dull slow ride to nowhere.