Main Cast: Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charlie Ruggles, Oscar Homolka
Release Year: 1940
Country: US
Run Time: 73 minutes
Plot
Dispensing with the melodramatic excesses of Universal's previous "Invisible Man" films, 1941's The Invisible Woman aims strictly for laughs. Virginia Bruce stars as Kitty Carroll, an outspoken department store model fired from her job by tyrannical Mr. Growley (Charles Lane). Intrigued by an ad in the personal columns requesting the services of an "adventurous woman", Kitty offers her services to eccentric scientist Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore, doing a dead-on impression of his brother Lionel). Much to the dismay of his timorous butler George (Charles Ruggles), his housekeeper Mrs. Jackson (Margaret Hamilton), and his nephew-financier Richard Russell (John Howard), Gibbs has been experimenting with an invisibility formula, and Kitty turns out to be a most willing guinea pig. Cloaked in her new invisibility, our heroine gets even with her old nemesis Growley and sets out for new escapades, while Gibbs and his entourage anxiously search for the girl lest harm befall her. The whole affair ends up in the Mexican refuge of gangster Blackie (Oscar Homolka), who hopes to use Gibbs' formula for his own nefarious purposes. Given the fact that Blackie is saddled with such moronic henchmen as Bill (Ed Brophy) and Frankie (Shemp Howard), he doesn't stand a chance against the resourceful Kitty, who thoughtfully permits the nonplussed Richard into thinking that he's rescuing her. Shakespeare it isn't, but The Invisible Woman is consistently funny and inventive, enhanced by Universal's usual excellent special effects. Future leading lady Maria Montez shows up as one of the models in the early scenes, along with former Warner Bros. star Anne Nagel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Famous for beating most of their dead horses, Universal dragged out the aging The Invisible Man franchise for the third time, but with a change in gender. After Margaret Sullavan wisely had refused any participation, the title role went to luckless former M-G-M starlet Virginia Bruce, who did not have the pizzazz to make this ill-conceived soufflé rise above its B-Movie origins. In the same vein, director A. Edward Sutherland and a gaggle of writers failed to flesh out the comedy-thriller's much vaunted special effects and basically left it up to a mugging John Barrymore to supply the entertainment. Patterning his comically mad scientist after older brother Lionel, Barrymore's performance has taken near legendary status and remains the primary reason for viewing The Invisible Woman today. John Fulton's special effects, used here solely for comedy, had been done better in previous films and Bruce seems to have been rendered invisible mainly to titillate an audience constantly reminded that the character is -- gasp! -- stark naked. Universal knew they had a turkey and the fact that Bruce cast a shadow even when supposedly invisible no longer mattered. The Invisible Man and his descendants had become fodder for the busy B-units and would remain so through The Invisible Agent (1942), The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944), and the inevitable Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
The Invisible Woman is a science fiction, comedy film that was released near the end of 1940 by Universal. It is the third film in the Invisible Man series following the successful The Invisible Man Returns film that had been released earlier in the year, but this movie was instead written as a farce that would exploit the humorous possibilities of the invisibility concept. The comedic writers Robert Lees and Fred Rinaldo wrote the screenplay in slapstick style, while H. G. Wells would again be credited as the original author of The Invisible Man. The film was be directed by A. Edward Sutherland.
The cast included the aging John Barrymore, Virginia Bruce in the lead role, as well as John Howard, Charlie Ruggles, Charles Lane and Oscar Homolka. Margaret Sullavan had originally been slated for the role of the invisible woman, but the part did not appeal to her and as a result she did not report for the filming. (As she was under contract with Universal for another film she was issued a restraining order to prevent her from appearing in other films. She later satisfied her contract with a part in the 1941 film Back Street.)
This movie runs for 70 minutes and was filmed in black and white with mono sound. The special effects were produced by John P. Fulton, who earned another nomination for an Oscar following his comparable effects work in The Invisible Man Returns.
The wealthy lawyer Dick Russell (John Howard) funds the dotty old inventor Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) to create an invisibility device. The first test subject for this machine is Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce), a department store model who had been fired from her previous job. The machine proves quite successful, and Kitty uses her invisible state to pay back her former sadistic boss, Mr. Growley (Charles Lane).
While the Professor and the invisible Kitty are off visiting the lodge of the millionaire Russell, the gangster Blackie Cole (Oscar Homolka) sends in his gang of moronic thugs to steal the device. With the machine back at their hideout, however, they cannot get it to work. By now Kitty has returned to visibility, and the thugs are sent in to kidnap her and Gibbs. However, she has learned that some alcohol will restore her to invisibility, and uses this to defeat the gang (with help from Russell).
At the end of the film it is revealed she has married and become a mother. To top it off, she and the professor learns that her treatment has apparently affected her DNA--as her infant son vanishes upon being rubbed with an alcohol-based lotion!
At the time of its release, this film was considered slightly risqué because much is made of the fact that the heroine, though invisible, is naked during much of the action.[citation needed] The madcap comedy elements include role reversal, slapstick tumbles, some humorous lines, and a lively pace.
