boudica_'s Full Review: Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection
Universal Studios packaged some black and white "horror" films from the 1930s and 40s under their special collection called The Legacy Collection. Reviewed here is their Invisible Man collection featuring 5 films all with the “Invisible” theme.
The Invisible Man is a classic. Featuring Claude Rains as the lead, it is a film that tells of one man's madness in his search for science and the tragedy that comes of it. The original is the only decent film in this bunch, in my opinion, and you should probably buy this one separate from the rest if you want to add it to your classic horror film library.
The collection also includes, The Invisible Woman about a woman model who is tested with a formula that turns her invisible. It has gangsters, is very corny and stars Virginia Bruce and of all people John Barrymore. Not worth it at any price in my opinion.
There is also The Invisible Agent taking place in WW2 with staring bit parts by Peter Lorre and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Very dated, and the two stars add just a touch of humor to a very dull and outdated film.
Then there are the "Sons of" movies, as I call them. The Invisible Man Returns and The Invisible Man's Revenge. The Returns movie features Vincent Price in the lead, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and in this one, we try to make the mad scientist visible again. While it was nominated for an Academy Award for Special Effects, it is as tortured as Price’s performance.
In the Revenge film we see John Carradine in a bit part. The film is a rerun of the first but no where near as good. I believe at this point the luster has worn off and we are just re-writing the script and adding new actors, creating a poor second to the first.
Quality wise, these films are cleaned up, the sound is very good and overall the appearance of these films is remarkable. There are also extras, like the making of the film, theatrical trailers, stills, and film history. This is a two disk set with a double sided DVD.
These "collections" do contain some films that you will not find anywhere else, and if you are a big fan of the old Universal horror films, especially The Invisible Man, and collect cameos by classic actors, this collection will fill the bill. But to be honest, this one was good for the original film and the follow ups are just so much filler. Better off buying just the original film.
For the first time ever the original The Invisible Man film comes to DVD in this extraordinary Legacy Collection. Included in the collection is the ...More at NBC Universal
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.