Review of The Amazing Transparent Man

Amazingly…short, maybe? With a running time of barely 55 minutes, this looks more like a random episode of "The Twilight Zone" rather than like a full Sci-Fi picture. Or amazingly wasted potential, perhaps? Naturally, the shortness of this movie also inflicts abrupt plot twists, insufficient character drawings and a forced climax. But probably, it just stands for amazingly good entertainment despite a truckload of shortcomings! With a man like Edgar G. Ulmer ("The Black Cat", "Bluebeard") sitting in the director's chair, it's at least certain that the movie you're about to see will be stylish and containing a handful of well-mounted suspense sequences. The basic premise has a mass of great ideas (that all begged for a more detailed elaboration, actually) and the fluently written dialogues allow all the players to give away stellar performances. Douglas Kennedy stars as a charismatic and eloquent safe-cracker with a very cool name (Joey Faust), running from prison with the help of a vicious ex-military officer who developed a bizarre plan to gain world power! Faust has to serve as a human guinea pig and, whist invisible through radiation, steal more uranium to investigate the possibilities of creating invisible armies. Don't you just LOVE these insane evil masterminds and their grotesque ideas? The wayward criminal he is, Faust doesn't simply follow these orders blindly. The special effects are weak and there's a lack of set pieces, yet it's a fun movie with a good pace. James Griffith portrays my favorite type of underdog-villain; distinguished and calm, but relentless and greedy when it comes to the crunch. Considering this is late 50's/early 60's Science Fiction, the movie ends with a mandatory philosophical debate. Warmly recommended, after all.