Dir: Joe May | Horror
Although second billed to Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price’s first effective horror lead came nearly fifteen years before ‘House of Wax’ succeeding Claude Rains in the title role of ‘The Invisible Man Returns’. Again the character is heard not seen, requiring an actor with an impressive voice (although as with the original the appearance of the actor playing the invisible man is more familiar to the viewer today than when the film was originally released).
Lacking the ruthlessness of James Whales’ version, visually the production is up to Universal’s usual high standards, with novelties such as an invisible guinea pig, the invisible man silhouetted by a puff of smoke from Cecil Kellaway’s cigar and helping himself to a scarecrow’s clothes. Richard Chatten