Like the other sequels to James Whales' Invisible Man, there's a sense that any actual horror is being actively avoided. Which is odd considering the sinister potential of the core idea, but it's perhaps the only way things could have been approached in this time period. This time around at least things are a little more creative, even if the storyline is a clear product of the Second World War. This does at least mean it's an entertaining film, just don't expect the ideas about invisibility drugs causing madness to be included. As the title suggests this is a spy adventure that is more concerned with making fools of the axis powers in a plot that includes plenty of silly gags and dodgy accents.
The opening of the film does at least have the tone of a real thriller as our villains discover the most recent member of the Griffin family working at a printing store. One moment involving a paper cutting guillotine is particularly tense as enemy agents Stauffer (Cedric Hardwicke) and The Baron (Peter Lorre) interrogate Frank Raymond, (Jon Hall) who is of course living under a pseudonym. His exact relation to the previous incarnations of The Invisible Man is unclear, no thanks to muddled continuity. But it's not really a major plot point as the story soon moves forward. Frank is unwilling to give over the family secret even to the American military, but events in Hawaii soon change his mind on the matter.
However Frank still refuses to let anyone take the invisibility formula and he insists on using it himself. He's not trained as a commando but the allied leaders let him do it anyway, which isn't a great choice. It's not a good decision for the audience either since the guy is so bland. Wasn't a more ruthless member of the family available? It would be far more engaging to hear the disembodied voice of Vincent Price. I guess they were going for wholesome and heroic rather than totally sinister, but when the character is unseen for long stretches of the plot something a bit more interesting would have done wonders for the character. Because of this it's up to the villains to inject some charisma to the proceedings.
Luckily Peter Lorre is at hand to be suitably cold and calculating when necessary. But while he adds a lot of menace to the story it's a jarring reveal that he's supposed to be a Japanese agent not a German one. It's at least half way into the film before someone says his last name; Ikito. Maybe contemporary viewers would have picked up on this choice because of the Mr Moto series. Today he looks and sounds almost exactly like Ronald Lacey from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Things are more confusing when the German characters have unconvincing accents done by Americans and actors like Cedric Hardwicke who just sticks to his usual English tones.
Ilona Massey as the double agent Maria at least feels more appropriate, even if her scenes are mostly reserved for slapstick interactions with aspiring leader Heiser (J. Edward Bromberg) who arrives just in time to share his dinner date with Frank. The mixture of comedy and thriller is usually stacked in favour of the lighter scenes despite the wartime setting, but this is probably to be expected with audiences looking for escapism and tales of derring-do. There are still enough scenes of espionage and action sprinkled throughout, but much of this is saved for the final escape as Frank discovers that everyone is expecting an attempt to steal their secret plans. Maybe he should have noticed he's dealing with the agents who found him at the start of all this.
The special effects are still handled with a lot of care and continue to impress for a film of this age. Although they're used for more... light hearted and perhaps frivolous moments in the story. The scenes in which Frank shows himself to Maria by using her face cream and later has a bath while hiding in her house are fascinating to watch, but at the same time they feel like gags that have been added for spectacle alone. His use of an enemy uniform later is far more practical, both in terms of effects work and as a part of the story. But the plot could have used more sabotage and subterfuge in place of so many romantic comedy bits.
There is a darker side to the film as the action moves forward and tensions between the two villains grows, building up to a fight between the two sides and an unrealistic but typical depiction of Japanese military suicide. A scene in which Frank is caught in a net made from fishing hooks is also a creative, and cruel sort of idea. But like everything here it's a mixture of what had been done before and the exact sort of war time escapade you'd be expecting. Not quite a full on comedy, not quite a serious thriller, it rides the line between silly and serious. Not everything works but as an unusual example of a sequel in the Universal line-up it has enough appeal to be worth seeking out.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942)
This sequel from the same year on the other hand shows that the ideas in their other franchises had all but dried up. Without the style of the previous films and without Boris Karloff, the makers were left with a lower budget and only their writing skills to make this work. So of course this is just a dry retread of earlier plot points with nothing new to offer, outside of a silly brain transplant storyline that feels like a throwaway gag stretched out to fill the running time. It's not an entirely bad film but at the same time it's all so dull and lacklustre. Even Béla Lugosi as Ygor seems tired, lacking the darker edge that made him such an appealing presence last time around.
The monster somehow survived that whole sulphur pit incident and comes back to life, since the geological fire has apparently somehow... cooled down. Meanwhile the townsfolk are given permission to demolish the whole castle on a whim, for no real reason besides the fact that seeing it everyday makes them feel bad. Maybe the next sequel should have shown them wondering why this didn't help the village's real problems and have them receiving legal action from the Frankenstein estate. The creature (now played by a mostly mute Lon Chaney Jr.) and his pal Ygor soon escape, and they plan to find a different Son of Frankenstein, this time Cedric Hardwicke.
The motives of everyone including the creature are vague and muddled, and the way it's all handed off to yet another family member is shoddy and unconvincing. Why does Ygor know about the monster and his creator? What would have happened if lightning didn't strike just at the right moment? Does the monster really understand what's going on when he kidnaps a local girl? Where did his fur coat from last time go? These are real questions. It gets points for weirdness as the main plot unravels, and some of the action involving pyrotechnics and sleeping gas traps is fun. But there's not much else here to merit this attempt at a fourth part in the trilogy.
2/5
