Fans of the cult director Edgar G. Ulmer may consider this routine, forgettable, but adequately entertaining sci-fi feature to be one of his lesser efforts. Still, one could do worse. It's decently acted, features very amusing visual effects, and is thin enough on story to clock in at a very short 58 minutes. It also leads to a pretty entertaining resolution; as one would say, things end with a bang.
Tough guy actor Douglas Kennedy stars as Joey Faust (!), a criminal busted out of jail by nefarious Major Krenner (James Griffith) and his associates. Krenner has forced unhappy scientist Peter Ulof (Ivan Triesault) to perfect a method of turning a man invisible, and Krenner wants to use this method on Faust so that the hood can commit acts of espionage for him. Faust, not surprisingly, has other ideas: he'd rather rob banks.
The scenes with the invisible Faust are the most entertaining in this thing, such as when Griffith has to mime being strangled, or the development late in the tale when Fausts' body begins to appear and disappear. The music by Darrell Calker is good, maybe too good for something like this. Kennedy is a hoot as the swaggering Faust, and Griffith is an okay villain. Triesault is pitiable as Ulof, who's had a very hard life. Marguerite Chapman ("Flight to Mars"), in her last feature film, is reasonably engaging as Laura, who finds Fausts' offer of proceeds from potential bank robberies to be too hard to resist. Buffs may be interested to note that veteran character actor Patrick Cranshaw, who achieved fame late in his life and career as Blue in "Old School", plays a security guard here.
Certainly the denouement is priceless, as Triesault ends up addressing us directly, hoping that we find the idea of an "invisible army" as appalling as some of the characters in this thing do.
Five out of 10.
Tough guy actor Douglas Kennedy stars as Joey Faust (!), a criminal busted out of jail by nefarious Major Krenner (James Griffith) and his associates. Krenner has forced unhappy scientist Peter Ulof (Ivan Triesault) to perfect a method of turning a man invisible, and Krenner wants to use this method on Faust so that the hood can commit acts of espionage for him. Faust, not surprisingly, has other ideas: he'd rather rob banks.
The scenes with the invisible Faust are the most entertaining in this thing, such as when Griffith has to mime being strangled, or the development late in the tale when Fausts' body begins to appear and disappear. The music by Darrell Calker is good, maybe too good for something like this. Kennedy is a hoot as the swaggering Faust, and Griffith is an okay villain. Triesault is pitiable as Ulof, who's had a very hard life. Marguerite Chapman ("Flight to Mars"), in her last feature film, is reasonably engaging as Laura, who finds Fausts' offer of proceeds from potential bank robberies to be too hard to resist. Buffs may be interested to note that veteran character actor Patrick Cranshaw, who achieved fame late in his life and career as Blue in "Old School", plays a security guard here.
Certainly the denouement is priceless, as Triesault ends up addressing us directly, hoping that we find the idea of an "invisible army" as appalling as some of the characters in this thing do.
Five out of 10.