The Amazing Transparent Man

Plot synopsis:
Former U.S. Army major Paul Krenner (James Griffith) 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 muscle, Julian (Red Morgan), Krenner forces Dr. Peter Ulof (Ivan Trisault) to perfect the invisibility machine Ulof invented. He keeps Ulof's daughter, Maria (Carmel Daniel), imprisoned to keep Ulof in line.
The nuclear materials Ulof needs to better his invisibility machine are extremely rare and kept under guard in government facilities. Krenner arranges the prison break of notorious a safecracker, Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy), to steal the materials he needs. Of course Faust will do the jobs while invisible. Krenner offers Faust money for the jobs and Faust expresses his grievances against working for him. Faust tells him that he will sing like a canary if he is returned to prison, but Krenner informs Faust that he is wanted dead or alive, so Faust reluctantly complies. However, when he meets Faust’s woman, Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman), he slowly charms her into a double cross.
Faust continues attempting to escape and tries to get one over on Krenner. It looks as if he may have the edge on Krenner when Faust attacks Krenner while invisible. However, Dr. Ulof’s guinea pig dies and, during the second time he is invisible, Faust uncontrollably reverts from invisible to visible and back again. Despite these drawbacks Faust forges ahead, intent on breaking free from Krenner's control.

Tags: murder

Review:
Many critics and viewers have panned this movie because they expected some sort of INVISIBLE MAN-style plot with good acting and plenty of special effects.
But if it was high-quality cinema they were looking for, then why in the hell did they choose to watch a movie with a title like "THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN"?Viewers with no expectations, a good sense of humor, and an open mind will probably enjoy this bizarre little sci-fi romp.
The whole mad scientist/escaped prisoner/invisible Nazi story is beyond befuddling, but it is so unbelievably far-fetched that you'll be entertained anyway.THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN does a nice job at not dawdling on boring fake science jargon (a shortcoming that most sci-fi yarns of this era suffer from) and somehow manages to dole out one outrageous scene after another during its unusually short running time.
Extremely compact (57 minutes) yet entertaining story of ruthless safe-cracker (Kennedy), sprung from gaol by a demented former military agent (Griffith) and his cheap-wine associate (Chapman), forced to endure radiation experiments that make him invisible in order to steal guarded uranium deposits so Griffith can build an invisible army to take-over the world.
Street-wise Kennedy decides to turn his transparency into an opportunity to pull a bank heist, but things go awry when the invisibility wears off mid-way through the crime.Griffith is an impeccably dressed, meek-looking but sadistic villain, keeping his associates subservient via various forms of duress, Chapman plays the life-of-crime broad, mistreated by Griffith (there's a great scene in which Griffith slaps her twice the second he calls "the dot on the i") seeing an opportunity to make it big with Kennedy's safe-cracking skills.
Kennedy is the cornerstone, delivering an economical performance of a career criminal with no pride or patriotism, only a loyalty to his young daughter from whom he's forcibly estranged.You won't get much in your special effects on this budget, nevertheless it's not a bad variation on the "invisible man" theme like an "Outer Limits" or "Twilight Zone" episode with real exteriors and a capable and reasonably distinguished cast.
Joey Faust (what a name!), safecracker, is busted out of the pokey and made an offer - turn invisible and steal radium for a mad scientist/soldier planning on setting up an invisible army to conquer the world.
Cheesy Rip-Off. The notorious safecracker Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) escapes from the state prison and Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman) drives the getaway car.
Underlying the mediocre special effects, the occasionally overblown dialog, and the uneven performances, the story line presents an interesting take on the invisible man theme.The heavy, played without much verve by James Griffith, is an ex-Nazi spy who looks and speaks like Mr. Rogers.
His plan, involving all manners of extortion, involves forcing refugee German scientist (Ivan Triesault) to use radiation to turn an escaped convict safe-cracker (Douglas Kennedy) invisible.
Enjoyable Atomic Age version of the The Invisible Man. The Amazing Transparent Man is very similar to The Invisible Man and one main difference with this movie is that involves the Atomic Age, radiation etc.A criminal who has escaped from prison is made invisible by a mad scientist and gets him to steal nuclear fuel to help with future experiments.
Things go wrong when he robs a bank though as becomes visible and is also dying through radiation poisoning.This movie has some good special effects considering the low budget.
And the opening prison escape bit is good, as well as the police checkpoint scene, and they involve some nicely framed external shots.In fact its all looking like this might be a surprisingly enjoyable film, until the escaped safe-cracking crim Faust (played by Douglas Kennedy) has his first real indoor talking scene.
Anyway - - I don't think I'm giving much away to point out the early setup in the film when Krenner (the Bad Guy) says something like "Dr, make sure the radioactive material is kept away from the beam, or else we will all blow up", and then Dr Ulof repeating something similar back to Krenner five minutes later - - clearly, something is eventually going to go wrong along these lines much later in the film, and they really don't want you to miss it.The other annoying thing about this movie is how quickly the characters (Faust, Krenner, Dr Ulof, Laura (the bad guys girl), and Julian (the bad guys hired help)) seems to keep swapping alliances and personality, all as a result of some simple statement that would even make a daytime soap opera blush.(eg: a "But your son is dead" has Julian swapping sides without a thought that "Hey, maybe she is lying because I have a gun pointed at her?").So, the film is not too strong on the logic of how and why the characters act and respond.
When combined with its over-earnestness, the final sentence uttered in the film, instead of being the deep and meaningful thought provoker the director and producer obviously intended, resulted in me chuckling for quite a while after the closing credits finished.Ultimately - The Amazing Transparent Man is better than its title suggests, but not something to recommend..
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!
The sets are cheesy, the story is pretty stupid, the actors either overact or can't act at all, the ending is over the top.......these are all part of the elements that make low budget films fun to watch.
Ulmer is only 58 minutes.DOUGLAS KENNEDY (looking a bit flabby and tired) is the lead, a man who has just escaped from prison and has a girlfriend (MARGUERITE CHAPMAN) waiting just outside for a quick getaway.
Here's a scheme that could have done with just a little more thought: help professional safe-cracker Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) to bust out of prison, force desperate scientist Dr. Peter Ulof (Ivan Triesault) to turn the thief invisible, and then send him to steal enough radium to create an entire army of undetectable soldiers.
Hardly the most reliable of chaps, career criminal Faust has his own ideas once he vanishes from sight, robbing banks with the aid of Krenner's sidekick Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman).At not even an hour long, this low-budget early-'60s sci-fi/gangster B-movie doesn't really have time to drag, and consequently proves rather entertaining for the duration, with some decent performances from the largely unknown cast, a few enjoyable bargain-basement special effects, and a big dose of goofiness (the radium heist and a bank job where Faust becomes visible as he leaves are the film's highlights).
The Invisible Man it most certainly isn't, but as a painless way to waste 58 minutes, The Amazing Transparent Man does very nicely (and is better than its current IMDb rating of 3.8 suggests).5.5 out of 10, rounded up to six for ending with an atomic blast!.
Despite its shortcomings, "The Amazing Transparent Man" is smarter and better than most of the cheap sci-fi films you can find in your average movie bargain bin.
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.
At 57 minutes, you've got a nice compact sci-fi film that won't tax your brain too much (unless you try thinking about the plot).Joey Faust gets busted from the barry hole by a dame, and gets taken to a farmhouse run by a mysterious and shifty ex-army guy who wants to use both Joey's lockpicking skills and a mad scientist's invisible ray gun to create an army of invisible men.
Clearly written "on the fly", the script manages some strong moments, like Faust's decision to return to the farm house for the final confrontation, as well as evoking some unpleasant political and historical issues - the development of the atomic bomb, obviously, but, more subtly, the tortuous pseudo-scientific "experiments" conducted at Nazi concentration camps (which the doctor confesses to having performed).All of this not only raises difficult questions for the viewer, but also remind us that the director once made a number of truly amazing films, most memorable being the virtuoso performance of "Black Cat".
This movie starts with a man hiding in the woods.A car pulls up and he gets in it.We later learn he's a safe cracker that just broke out of prison but not before they go through a road block.The cops just stand on the side of the road waving flashlights and people stop.The escapee pretends to be sleeping and the cops say they don't want to bother him.That's when you should know to shut the movie off but I didn't.It turns out that he was broken out by people he didn't know and that's not the weird part.He's wearing a tuxedo and carrying a gun!How can anything after that even matter?The plot involves a guy forcing a not so evil scientist to invent a machine to make people invisible.And he does just that,yet the movie is called The Amazing Transparent Man.I don't understand why they always lied in old b-movie titles.Today if a movie is called Big Ass Spider, there's a big ass spider in it not a fairly large spider.
The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)** (out of 4)A convict (Douglas Kennedy) gets busted out of jail by his girlfriend (Marguerite Chapman) and a scientist (Ivan Triesault) who has plans for the escapee.
He certainly makes this film a lot better than it would have been in the hands of most B-movie directors but there's still no question that there's nothing too good here.The story itself is simple enough at at just under 60 minutes it certainly doesn't feel too long or forced.
"The Amazing Transparent Man" has a good idea for an agreeable B movie viewing experience, but its potential for the most part is pretty wasted.
Douglas Kennedy is the escaped convict who becomes The Amazing Transparent Man as the result of a laboratory experiment by Dr. Ivan Triesault under the direction of perennial movie villain James Griffith.
Yes, indeed.Anyways - The Amazing Transparent Man's story features a typically crazed ex-military officer (merrily dreaming of world domination) who forces an unwilling scientist to develop a process that will induce invisibility through good, old atomic-radiation.
(How delightful!) As expected - Even before his plans to create an invisible military force are ever realized, matters swiftly take a mighty ugly turn for the worse.Yep. I'm sure, if you're like me, you'll find The Amazing Transparent Man so "amazing" that you'll definitely forget to be amazed.
Krenner's men break safecracker Joey Faust out of jail and make him invisible, so that he can steal more radium, and then events take an unexpected turn," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Not only does "Invisible Man" Douglas Kennedy (as Joey Faust) suffer from on-again/off-again transparent powers; but also, he is also given less than a month to live, due to radiation poisoning.
Black and white didn't help this movie.Sometimes just being in black and white can help a bad horror or sci/fi movie be a little bit more creepy.That didn't help this clunker one bit.Some evil genius guy intent on creating an army of invisible men breaks a bank robbing safe cracker out of prison so he can get the safe cracker to break into a government installation and steal a powerful radioactive material called X-13.With this more powerful agent the man can create an army of invisible men.But the guy already has some scientist held captive and the scientist is already working on some sort of x-ray that can make things invisible so the plan is to make the safe cracker invisible so he can just stroll into the plant and get the X-13 out easily.The X-13 will make better invisible stuff or something,than the stuff they were using,at least I think that's what was going on here.....it a little hard to follow the plot of a clunker cause stuff tends not to get explained in very much detail.You might think it sounds cool but it wasn't.The acting was bad and the plot was just silly.Why would you want to create an army of invisible men if you had the power to make people invisible?How would you control invisible people and get them to do your bidding?
I'd just make myself invisible and spend my days stealing a bit of money but mostly I'd just lurk around in the female dorms on every college campus on Earth.But that is just me.Anyway things go awry when the invisible bank robber convinces the evil genius' moll to help him rob a bank.The only special effect to speak of was when things went invisible.And that wasn't very special at all.When invisible it was clear that the actor was just out of the camera shot saying his lines.And when he would carry stuff ,like a bag of money,it was easy to see that it was a bag being moved by a string.The government installation was a chubby guy in a police uniform sitting at a desk in what looked to be a hallway.Despite the title there is nothing the least bit amazing about this film---it's just a dull slow ride to nowhere..
Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) escapes from prison with the help of Laura (Marguerite Chapman) and Maj. Paul Krenna (James Griffith).
But insert 'the Major', a real type A geek who wants to create an army of invisible men to terrorize the world - very much like real life commie rats who infiltrated our society and corrupted every bit of it unseen - and you get riveting action!Add to this 'Mr. Faust', the man-turned-lab-rat who disappears, then goes on a bank robbing spree.
Paul Krenner plays the role as a ex-major in the Army who has managed to contact Peter Ulof a scientist who has developed a radiation technique that will make men invisible.
Bitter and crazed ex-military officer Paul Krenner (an excellent performance by James Griffith) forces kindly scientist Peter Ulof (a sturdy turn by Ivan Triesault) to create an invisibility process using radiation.
"The Amazing Transparent Man" is a good little B-movie that people are ridiculing unfairly because it lacks a big-name cast..
The Amazing Transparent Man. A determined(quietly deranged under the surface) Major Krenner(James Griffith)wishes to possess the ability to create an invisible army and enlists, through an arranged escape, notorious criminal Joey Faust(Douglas Kennedy)a thief and all-around bad hombre, to steal money from banks while completely unseen thanks to the genius of dying former Nazi scientist Dr. Peter Ulof(Ivan Triesault)(..the "former Nazi" part is more subtly mentioned in the screenplay never elaborating what country he worked for, but the horrifying description of what he did to his wife, through undetermined experiments, one can see who he represented considering the atrocities committed).
But Faust has different ideas about how to use his invisibility  most of which involve bank robbery.First I'll mention the relatively small list of positives I found in The Amazing Transparent Man. I think the basic idea behind the movie is interesting.
Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) safe cracker is sprung from prison so he can do the bidding of the evil Major Krenner (James Griffith).
Being in the mood to watch a short,snappy ,fun film on this leap day I decided to take a look at some ultra cheap triple feature DVDs that I had watched parts of during Haloween.As I got to the last two DVD's,I noticed one which I had watched the first two features of, (Attack Of The Giant Leeches and Revolt Of The Zombies)but had never got round to taking a look at the final film on the disc.Finding out that the movie had a running time of 58 minutes,I decided to get myself set for what would hopefully be a film that featured everything that I was after for a days viewing.The plot: Getting broken out of jail by old flame Laura Matson,convict safe cracker Joey Faust starts to wonder where Laura is planning to take him.Soon after Laura has finished driving Joey away in a getaway car she takes him up to a strange looking lab.Desperate to find some sort of normality Joey looks round the lab until he catches a glimpse of a crazy looking scientist!.Trying to get a grip on the situation that's accruing around him,Joey meets a new individual at the lab called Paul Krenner,who due to having a grand military vision wants to perform some "tests" on Joey which will cause him to become invisible.View on the film: Since seeing the films extremely low IMDb rating,my first expectation was that the screenplay by Jack Lewis would be filled with an almost endless supply of "technobabble" which I have disappointingly often come into contact with when watching these types of movies.Happily Lewis actually spent almost the whole film (bar the ending-which hits the movies message down like a hammer!) leaving the plodding exposition behind and instead making a pretty fun gangster spin on The Invisible Man that moves at a really brisk pace.For his work on the film director Edgar G.
Dr Ulof is now a peace loving pacifist who doesn't have long to live due to his experiments that, like with the Nazis, he was forced to conduct by the crazed Major Krenner.Forced to be put under the super X-Ray machine Joey does turn invisible and gets the X-13 from a US military nuclear plant.
Major Paul Krenner (James Griffith) engineers a prison break for Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy), because he needs a human subject to further Dr. Peter Ulof's (Ivan Triesault) experiments in invisibility.