The Invisible Woman (1940 film)

This article is about The 1940 film. For other uses, see The Invisible Woman (1983 film).

The Invisible Woman is a american science fiction-comedy film directed by Albert Edward Sutherland.

## Plot

The wealthy lawyer Dick Russell (John Howard) funds the dotty old inventor Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) to create an invisibility device. The first test subject for this machine is Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce), a department store model who had been fired from her previous job. The machine proves quite successful, and Kitty uses her invisible state to pay back her sadistic former boss, Mr. Growley (Charles Lane).

While the Professor and the invisible Kitty are off visiting the lodge of the millionaire Russell, the gangster Blackie Cole (Oscar Homolka) sends in his gang of moronic thugs (including Shemp Howard) to steal the device. With the machine back at their hideout, however, they cannot get it to work. By now, Kitty has returned to visibility, and the thugs are sent in to kidnap her and Gibbs. However, she has learned that some alcohol will restore her to invisibility, and uses this to defeat the gang (with help from Russell).

At the end of the film, it is revealed she has married and become a mother. To top it off, she and the professor learn that her treatment has apparently become hereditary, as her infant son vanishes upon being rubbed with an alcohol-based lotion.

## Cast

* Anne Nagel as Jean
* Maria Montez as Marie
* Shemp Howard as Hammerhead/Frankie
* Kathryn Adams as Peggy
* Kitty O'Neil as Mrs. Patten
* Eddie Conrad as Hernandez
* Kay Leslie as model
* Kay Linaker
* Sarah Edwards as Fashion Show Buyers
* Harry C. Bradley as Want-ad Man
* Kernan Cripps as postman
* Virginia Bruce as Kitty Carroll
* John Barrymore as Prof. Gibbs
* John Howard as Dick Russell
* Charles Ruggles as George
* Oskar Homolka as Blackie Cole
* Edward Brophy as Bill
* Donald MacBride as Foghorn
* Charles Lane as Growley
* Thurston Hall as Hudson
* Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Jackson
* Mary Gordon as Mrs. Bates

## Staff

* Director: A. Edward Sutherland
* Screenplay: Robert Lees Frederic I. Rinaldo Gertrude Purcell
* Story by Curt Siodmak Joe May

## Production

After the success of The Invisible Man Returns, Universal Pictures began work on a followup and signed Curt Siodmak to develop the idea in 1940 with comedy writers Frederic I. Rinaldo and Robert Lees. Universal gave the film a $300,000 budget. For the role of the invisible woman, Margaret Sullavan had originally been slated for the role of the invisible woman as she owed Universal one more film in her contract. Sullivan had been approached by director John Cromwell to play the lead in So Ends Our Night which led to her failing to report to Universal for The Invisible Woman. Sullivan received a restraining order preventing her from working elsewhere. These details were later worked out allowing her to finish Cromwell's film, if she would continue work on two films of Universal. Virginia Bruce was cast as the role of the invisible woman and signed her contract on September 12, 1940.

John Barrymore was cast as Prof. Gibbs, who was beginning to have trouble memorizing his dialogue. According to John Howard, Barrymore began doing lines by cutting up the script and placing it on set behind vases, behind phones, so he could look and find his lines. Howard states "Barrymore was an ordinary fellow. He wasn't stuffy and he had no pretense whatsoever. Even in pictures that you felt weren't up to snuff, I don't think he showed any distain. We knew perfectly well The Invisible Woman wasn't going to be an award-winning picture, but it was fun to do. No one took it seriously." Also among the cast was Maria Montez, in her first film role.

## References

This is a list of references for **The Invisible Woman (1940 film)**. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

1. ↑ https://letterboxd.com/film/the-invisible-woman/crew/
2. ↑ https://letterboxd.com/film/the-invisible-woman/crew/
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Invisible\_Woman\_(1940\_film)

## Gallery

Main article: The Invisible Woman (1940 film)/Gallery

**Japanese**
**Invisible Man Appears* (1949) · *The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly* · *The Invisible Avenger* (1954) · *Invisible Man: Rape!* · Oh! Invisible Man · *Oh! Invisible Man – Invisible Girl Appears!?* · *Invisible Demon* · *The Invisible Swordsman* ·*
**Other**
*Invisible Avenger* · *Invisible Invader* · *Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare* · *Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts* · *Kujira Gami* · *Memoirs of an Invisible Man* · *The Invisible Man* (1984) · *The Invisible Man* (1977) · *Dr. Jekyll Meets the Invisible Man* (1977) · *The Human Vapor* · *The Secret of the Telegian* · *The H-Man* · *The Fly* (1958) · *The Invisible Woman* (1969) · *The Amazing Transparent Man* · *Fear the Invisible Man* · *The Invisible Witness* · *The Invisible Man* (2016) · *The Invisible Maniac* · *The Invisible Man* (2017) · *The Invisible Man* (2018) · *Invisible Man* (2018) · *Mad Monster Party* (1967) · *Strangler of the Swamp* · *The Invisible Man Attacks* · *The Incredible Shrinking Man* · *The Astral Factor* · *Attack of the 50 Foot Woman*