Invisible Woman [VHS]
Claude Rains may have meddled in things that Man must leave alone, but that doesn't mean Woman shouldn't get in on the act. Hence,The Invisible Woman, entry number two in Universal's series of '40s takes on the idea of making people too transparent for their own good. Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce) answers an ad in the paper to be an experimental subject for John Barrymore's dauntingly daffy Professor Gibbs, whose  invisibility serum, if successful, promises to replenish the dwindling fortune  of his benefactor, Dick Russell (John Howard)--if only he can get a human subject. Kitty's aim, however, is to wreak havoc on the draconian boss of her modeling job, the aptly named Mr. Growley (Charles Lane). Early on, she gazes hopefully into the distance, her face rhapsodized by a fog filter, as if to say: Oh, if only I were invisible! Then I could really kick some backside--which she does, literally. Complicating matters is gangster Blackie  Cole (Oskar Homolka), who schemes to steal the professor's formula because he yearns to visit his native land again, where he can't show his face. Bright and entertaining, swift and silly,The Invisible Womansports a first-class array of supporting roles. Quite visible are Charles Ruggles (Ruggles of  Red Gap),  hilarious as the much-put-upon butler, Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard of Oz), all too  opaque as the professor's housekeeper, and a brief appearance byCobra Womanherself, Maria Montez, as one of the cruelly subjugated models.--Jim Gay