Invisible Agent (1942 film)

***Invisible Agent*** is a 1942 American action and spy film directed by Edwin L. Marin Based on The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells. For the cast, the invisible agent is played by Jon Hall, with Peter Lorre and Sir Cedric Hardwicke performing as members of the Axis, and Ilona Massey and Albert Basserman as Allied spies.

## Plot

Frank Griffin Jr, the grandson of the original Invisible Man, runs a print shop in Manhattan under the assumed name of Frank Raymond (Jon Hall). One evening, he is confronted in his shop by four armed men who reveal that they are foreign agents working for the Axis powers and they know his true identity. One of the men, Conrad Stauffer (Cedric Hardwicke), is a lieutenant general of the S.S., while a second, Baron Ikito (Peter Lorre), is Japanese. They offer to pay for the invisibility formula and threaten amputation of his hands if it is not revealed. Griffin manages to escape with the formula. Griffin is reluctant to release the formula to the U.S. government officials, but following the Attack on Pearl Harbor agrees to limited cooperation (the condition being that the formula can only be used on himself). Later, while in-flight to be parachuted behind German lines on a secret mission, he injects himself with the serum, becoming invisible as he is parachuting down, to the shock and confusion of the German troops tracking his descent, and after landing strips off all of his clothing.

Griffin evades the troops and makes contact with an old coffin-maker named Arnold Schmidt (Albert Basserman), who reveals the next step of Griffin's mission. Griffin is to obtain a list of German and Japanese spies within the U.S. in the possession of Stauffer. Griffin is aided in his task by Maria Sorenson (Ilona Massey), a German espionage agent and the love interest of both Stauffer and Stauffer's well-connected second-in-command, Gestapo Standartenführer Karl Heiser (J. Edward Bromberg). According to their plan, Sorenson attempts to gain information from Heiser during a private dinner, with Griffin as witness. Drunk from champagne, Griffin uses his invisibility to play tricks on Heiser instead. Finally enraged when the dinner table mysteriously tips and soils his uniform, Heiser places Sorenson under house-arrest. Later, an apologetic Griffin demonstrates his existence to Sorenson by putting on a robe and smearing facial cream on his features. The two are attracted to each other.

Conrad Stauffer returns from his efforts in the United States and tries to manage his shifting alliances with Karl Heiser, Maria Sorenson, and Baron Ikito. When he learns of Heiser's disastrous romantic dinner with Sorenson, Stauffer has Karl Heiser arrested and baits a trap for Griffin, whom he comes to suspect has made contact with Maria. Despite walking into Stauffer's trap, Griffin manages to obtain the list of agents, and start a fire to cover his escape. Griffin takes the list of agents to Arnold Schmidt for transmission to England. Conrad Stauffer tries to hide the loss of the list from the prying Baron Ikito, who has been staying at the local Japanese Embassy. When Stauffer refuses to answer Ikito's questions, the two confess to each other that German and Japanese cooperation is not one of trust. Without revealing their plans to each other, both men start separate hunts for the Invisible Agent.Griffin steals into a German prison to obtain information from Karl Heiser about a planned German attack on New York City. In exchange for additional information, Griffin helps Heiser escape his imminent execution. Griffin returns with Heiser to Schmidt, who in the meantime has been arrested and tortured by Stauffer. At the shop, Griffin confronts Maria Sorenson, whom he suspects has betrayed Schmidt, and is captured with a net trap by Ikito's men.

Heiser escapes detection and attempts to save his life and career by phoning in Ikito's activities to Stauffer. Griffin and Sorensen are taken to the Japanese embassy, but manage to escape during the mayhem that ensues when Stauffer's men arrive. For their joint failure to safeguard the list of Axis agents, Ikito kills Stauffer and then performs seppuku, ritual suicide, as Heiser watches from the shadows. Assuming command, Heiser arrives too late to the local air base to stop Griffin and Sorenson from escaping. The couple acquires one of the bombers slated for the New York attack, and destroy other German planes on the ground as they fly to England. Stauffer's loyal men catch up with Karl Heiser and he is shot. Griffin succumbs to his injuries before he can radio ahead. England's air defense shoots down their craft, but not before Sorenson parachutes them to safety. Later, in a hospital, Griffin has recovered and is wearing facial cream so that he can be visible again. Sorenson appears with Griffin's American handler, who vouches for Sorenson that she has been an Allied double-agent all along. Sorenson is left alone with Griffin. Griffin reveals that he is actually visible under the facial cream, and they kiss. Sorenson happily accepts the challenge of discovering how Griffin regained his visibility.

## Cast

* Jon Hall   as   Frank "Raymond" Griffin / The Invisible Man
* Cedric Hardwicke   as   Gestapo Gruppenführer Conrad Stauffer
* J. Edward Bromberg   as   Gestapo Standartenführer Karl Heiser

## Production

By 1942, the United States had entered World War II, leading studios to produced films that were described the authors of the book *Universal Horrors* as replacing the "cynicism of the '30s" with the "flag-waving of the '40s". This led to a hybrid of "horror and propaganda" that the authors described as "uncomfortable hybrid." These films included productions at Monogram such as *King of the Zombies*, *Black Dragons* and *Revenge of the Zombies* with mad scientists that who also worked for Nazis. Universal also made an entry into this hybrid with *Invisible Agent*. James L. Neibaur, author of *The Monster Movies of Universal Studios* described the film as not being a horror film, but "an action movie with comical touches".

*Invisible Agent* was announced under the title *The Invisible Spy* in early 1942. The screenwriting team of Frank Lloyd and Jack Skirball, who previously worked on Alfred Hitchcock's *Saboteur*, were set to be the films original producers but were replaced by George Waggner who was assigned the title of associate producer. The films screenplay by Curt Siodmak has only one connection to the original *Invisible Man* film, with the "Frank Raymond" character who is the grandson of "Jack Griffin", the inventor of the invisibility formula. The film went into production on April 22 and finished in late May 1942 with a budget of $322,291.

## Release

*Invisible Agent* was distributed by the Universal Pictures Company on July 31, 1942. The film was the most susccessful of the *Invisble Man* sequels and one of Universal's highest grossing films of the season, grossing over $1,000,000 in US rentals, earning $1,041,500.

John P. Fulton and Bernard B. Brown were nominated for an Academy Award for their special effects work on this film at the 15th Academy Awards, but lost to the special effects team for Paramount's *Reap the Wild Wind*. The film was followed by the sequel, *The Invisible Man's Revenge* also starring Jon Hall.

The film was released on DVD on as part of the "Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection" set, which included *The Invisible Man*, *The Invisible Man Returns*, *The Invisible Woman* and *The Invisible Man's Revenge*. It was released again on Blu-ray as part of the "Invisible Man: The Complete Legacy Collection" on August 28, 2018.

## References

This is a list of references for **Invisible Agent (1942 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/invisible-agent/crew/
2. ↑ https://letterboxd.com/film/invisible-agent/details/
3. ↑ letterboxd.com
4. ↑ Mank, Gregory William (2015). Women in Horror Films, 1940s. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-0955-3.

## Gallery

Main article: Invisible Agent (1942 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*