I try to watch at least one Universal Pictures monster movie every year before Halloween — it’s a little tradition of mine. This time out it was James Whale’s 1933 adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1897 novel, The Invisible Man. (I actually do remember seeing this movie, or part of it, on television in the early 1980’s. Gems played like this ran on weekends all the time.)
The film is pretty cornball stuff, but I love seeing an original Universal monster movie late at night — and it’s always wild getting a glimpse into period culture. And Claude Rains does make a nicely menacing villain, even with his voice alone. (Because, most of the time, y’know, you can’t actually see him.)
You can find the entire film right here at the Internet Archive.
And, hey, if the kindly Dr. Cranley looks familiar to you, yes, he is indeed played by Henry Travers — the angel Clarence in 1946’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 