“Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man” (1951) is first and foremost a boxing movie. Admittedly, it’s also slapstick. It’s a detective show. And – in some minor respects – a lighthearted horror film. Kind of like “Scooby Doo” (2002) laced with black-and-white pugilism.
Universal roots
One of this minor film’s strengths is the way it gives homage to “The Invisible Man” (1933), one of the great 1930s horror films. Less popular, perhaps, than “Frankenstein” (1931), “Dracula” (1931), “The Mummy” (1932) and – in the next decade – “The Wolfman” (1941) – but every bit as gothic and effective. Moreover, “The Invisible Man” was especially psychologically engaging, in large measure because of its star, Claude Rains (unseen, though he was, through almost the entire movie).
Every attentive fan of the lyrics of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975) knows this. The chorus of “Science Fiction/Double Feature” proclaims: “Claude Rains was the Invisible Man.”
“Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man” (1951)
Director: Charles Lamont
Writers: Hugh Wedlock, Jr., Howard Snyder, Robert Lees
Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Nancy Guild, Arthur Franz
If you’re rusty on your “Rocky Horror” lyrics, they go like this:
Michael Rennie was ill the Day the Earth Stood Still
But he told us – where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there – in silver underwear
Claude Rains was the Invisible Man
Classic. Because Claude Rains truly was the Invisible Man. He owned it.
Building on the original
In the original classic “The Invisible Man” (directed by none other than James Whale), chemist Dr. Jack Griffin makes a terrific optics discovery: invisibility. It’s not a screen or a paint or a cream; it’s delivered by injection.
The earnest-looking scientist in the Abbott and Costello film acknowledges his debt to Doc Griffin and even has a framed publicity shot of Rains in his lab. (It shows Rains in visible mode, of course, and while it might have been a lot funnier had the photo shown an invisible Rains, few would have gotten the joke).
The A&C scientist further acknowledges the defect in the formula highlighted in the original – a side effect of grandiose madness, a flaw that said scientist has been unable to fix.
Can Lou box his way out of a jam?
Bud and Lou, freshly minted private detectives, find their way to the scientist’s lab after being approached by distraught middleweight champ Tommy Nelson (named Nelson in order to allow for half-funny “half Nelson” jokes). Tommy is on the run, a suspect in the murder of his trainer, but it’s a frame-up. And so naturally he turns to Abbott and Costello for help. He needs their assistance, but he does not choose wisely.
Desperate when the cops arrive at Tommy’s girlfriend’s home (where the aforesaid doctor’s lab is conveniently situated), commanded by detective Roberts (William Fraley, “I Love Lucy”), Tommy injects himself with the formula. It’s his only means of escape and of buying time to prove his innocence with the help of the bumbling duo. Quickly, he fades from sight.
All that follows is predictable. Cue the boxing matches with the invisible fighter going a bit nuts (on account of the formula’s side effects) while helping Lou fend off roundhouses and jabs. The film is impressive in dishing out healthy portions of slapstick where a key player is invisible. That’s no easy task. The film lands – if not a knockout — at least a tolerably watchable match.
Worth your time?
Is “Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man” worth a view? I mean, sure, but only if you’re into that kind of thing – invisible slapstick and boxing, that is. If you are, this film is perfect. If you’re not, well, it’s not.