''The Amazing Transparent Man'' is a 1960 American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

thriller

B-movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Marguerite Chapman (in her final

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

) and Douglas Kennedy. The plot follows an insane ex–U.S. Army major who uses an escaped criminal to steal materials to improve the invisibility machine his scientist prisoner made. It was one of two sci-fi films shot back-to-back in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

by Ulmer (the other was ''

Beyond the Time Barrier ''Beyond the Time Barrier'' is a 1960 American science fiction film. It was released in September 1960 on a double bill with ''The Angry Red Planet''.Warren, Bill (1986). "Keep Watching The Skies Volume 2". McFarland & Co., Inc. . Page 730 It star ...

'', also released that same year). The combined filming schedule for both films was only two weeks. The film was later featured in an episode of ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then ...

''.

Plot

Former U.S. Army major Paul Krenner plans to conquer the world with an army of invisible soldiers and will do anything to achieve that goal. With the help of his hired thug Julian, Krenner forces Dr. Peter Ulof to perfect the invisibility machine that Ulof invented. He imprisons Ulof's daughter Maria to ensure Ulof's compliance. The nuclear materials that Ulof needs to improve his invisibility machine are extremely rare and kept under guard in government facilities. Krenner arranges the prison break of notorious safecracker Joey Faust to steal the materials that he needs. Faust will do the jobs while invisible. Krenner offers Faust money for the jobs and Faust expresses grievances against working for him. Faust threatens to inform on Krenner if he is returned to prison, but Krenner warns Faust that he is wanted dead or alive, and so his life is expendable. Faust reluctantly complies; however, when he meets Krenner's female accomplice, Laura Matson, he slowly charms her into a double cross. Faust continues attempting to escape, and it seems he might succeed while invisible. However, Dr. Ulof's test

guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Animal fancy, Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the ani ...

dies and, during the second time that he is invisible, Faust uncontrollably reverts from invisible to visible and back again. Despite these drawbacks, Faust is intent on breaking free from Krenner's control. Dr. Ulof reveals to Faust that both of them are dying from

radiation poisoning Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time. Symptoms can start wit ...

as a side effect of the invisibility machine. He convinces Faust to stop Krenner. Faust and Krenner fight in the lab until an accidental nuclear explosion kills them both and puts an end to Krenner's plans for world conquest.

Cast

Production and release

The film was produced by Miller-Consolidated Pictures, which provided it a brief release in 1960. After the bankruptcy of Miller-Consolidated, ''The Amazing Transparent Man'' and ''Beyond the Time Barrier'' were picked up by

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

for the lab costs and released again later in the year as a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "Gimcrack SF-cum-crime melodrama, lacking in personality and invention. The film resembles nothing so much as those tatty little mad-scientist thrillers

Bela Lugosi Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi ( ; ), was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (19 ...

was making at Pathé-Monogram twenty years ago, with the exception that their saving grace of unconscious humour is here totally absent. Acting, staging and script are all consistently abysmal."

''Mystery Science Theater 3000''

''The Amazing Transparent Man'' was featured in episode #623 of ''

'' along with ''The Days of Our Years'', a workplace safety

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

. The episode debuted March 18, 1995 on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. The episode did not make the Top 100 list of episodes as voted upon by MST3K Season 11

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

backers. Writer Jim Vorel concurred with the fans' opinion, ranking the episode #140 (out of 191 total MST3K episodes). Vorel calls ''The Amazing Transparent Man'' "instantly forgettable" and claims that the short "completely steals the show". The MST3K version of ''The Amazing Transparent Man'' was included as part of the ''Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume XXXIX'' DVD collection released by

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

on November 21, 2017. The other episodes in the four-disc set include '' Girls Town'' (episode #601) and ''

Diabolik ''Diabolik'' () is an Italian comic series created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani. One of the most popular series in the history of Italian comics, ''Diabolik'' was created in 1962 and consists of more than 900 volumes, and has led to ...

'' (episode #1013). The fourth disc, titled "Satellite Dishes," collects non-movie segments from MST3K episodes that are unlikely to be collected on DVD.MST3K: Volume XXXIX
Shout! Factory. Retrieved on 2018-07-10.

References

External links

* * *
Online Trailer
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

The Amazing Transparent Man
at

Google Videos Google Search (also known simply as Google or Google.com) is a search engine operated by Google. It allows users to search for information on the Web by entering keywords or phrases. Google Search uses algorithms to analyze and rank websites ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amazing Transparent Man, The 1960 films 1960s English-language films 1960s science fiction films American independent films American black-and-white films American International Pictures films Films shot in Dallas Films about invisibility Films directed by Edgar G. Ulmer Films based on The Invisible Man 1960s American films English-language science fiction films