Now You See Him: 'The Invisible Man' Revealed! (2000)

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

"Now You See Him: The Invisible Man Revealed!" is a 35-minute documentary about the movie "The Invisible Man", an old film from the 1930s that is considered an early horror classic today. But this already shows one of the biggest challenges for this documentary here: There were almost 70 years between the makings of these two and cast and crew were all dead, so how do you fill this over half an hour. Writer and director David J. Skal found a way and his experience may have helped him. His very prolific filmmaking years between 1999 and 2003 had him work on several documentaries like this one here, sadly nothing really creative or original by himself was come up with there during that period. Anyway, back to this one here: We get many scenes from the film it is about, interviews with film historians and we get to hear Ian McKellen's and Bill Condon's statements as these two made a film on James Whale, the director of "The Invisible Man" that gave Condon an Oscar and McKellen an Oscar nomination. That's a pretty solid idea and inclusion I would say. But sadly it cannot distract from the fact that even for 35 minutes the material was simply too thin and not enough. They randomly talked about Gloria Stuart's Oscar nomination and included references to and scenes from several other old movies, including the sequels to "The Invisible Man". That is why all in all I give this documentary a thumbs-down here. It sure was a big challenge, but I don't think they came close to making a convincing tribute. I have not seen The Invisible Man (yet), but honestly this documentary did not get me more curious about it or its epicness. It's also about a lot more than the film in the title, so the title is a bit of a lie. No revelations here. Don't watch. Final note: Still, if you did actually enjoy this one more than I did, take a look at Skal's other works too as he for example made another documentary about Whale himself.

This 35-minute documentary offers an enjoyable and illuminating glimpse into the making of James Whale's horror classic "The Invisible Man." Among the people interviewed are Claude Rains's daughter Jessica, film historians David J. Skal and Paul M. Jensen, actor Ian McKellan, and Whale's director friend Curtis Harrington. Jessica Rains share a nice story about her father taking her to see the movie at a theater where Rains was recognized by the ticket counter man. Moreover, we also learn that Whale grew up in poverty, H.G. Wells was reluctant to have "The Invisible Man" adapted into a movie due to his dissatisfaction with "Island of Lost Souls," Boris Karloff and Colin Clive were both originally considered for the lead role, how various elements were combined together to create the invisibility effects, Whale loved casting distinctive character players in colorful supporting parts, and Whale eventually became a recluse because of his disillusionment with the meddlesome Hollywood studio system at the end of his career. In addition, there's a brief overview of the several sequels. Worth a watch for fans of the film.

Rudy Behlmer hosts this 35-minute documentary. It's about Universal Studio's foray into the monster movie genre in the early 1930s. The studio was the leader in this field. It had two early smash hits in "Frankenstein" of 1931 and "The Invisible Man" of 1933. This film has interviews with a number of film historians, actors and others. This bonus featurette has interviews with a number of film historians, actors and others. It shows how the invisibility was achieved for the invisible man. The documentary is very interesting and well done. It makes a good addition for a film library. Universal made this documentary to go with the movie DVD that went on sale after 2000.The technology was masterful in its day and appears more real than CGI could make things today. Of course, that's because it was real. It was just done with the use of different camera shots, backgrounds, etc. Watch this documentary to see and learn how it was done.

As a monster kid from way back, I enjoy much of the attention and adulation that these movies have garnered over the years. But what has always been a pet peeve is that some of the "lesser" films like The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, etc...never get the same kind of pomp as Dracula and Frankenstein. I can understand why, but films like these have had just as much a powerful if not indeed more subtle influence. Well, here David Skaal, making documentaries for the big Universal horror films for DVD release around 2000, does his tribute for James Whale's revolutionary science fiction film - a film that had breakthrough technology at the time, used the Whale style to perfection, and made Claude Rains into a star. It had four sequels - granted only the second one near the quality of this, but all were fun. It had countless imitations as recent as the horrible Hollow Man and its sequel. This documentary chronicles the production of the film fusing anecdotal history with facts. We get interviews with some second-hand observers like Jessica Rains(telling a wonderful story about how her father took her to see this film for the first time as a child, Curtis Harrington(who had met and knew James Whale), and some film historians. There are plentiful scenes too. The documentary runs 35 minutes and though I found their analysis of the first film quite good, the rest of the sequels are lucky enough to get a mention. I would have liked to have seen some more on them as they are the films least known. Skaal does a great job with these documentaries as evidenced by the wonderful ones completed for Dracula, Frankenstein, and even The Mummy, but this one falls a little short on their scale. It definitely left me wanting to see more.