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The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 11:37 pm    Post subject: The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) Reply with quote

Jimbo Berkey's website, Free Classic Movies offers this synopsis for the plot of The Amazing Transparent Man, and the link to watch it, too!
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This classic science fiction movie is one of the best of the 1960's, combining the noir crime thrillers of the 1940's with the 'modern' atomic science of the 1960's.

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Joey is a bank robber doing time in the state pen, and as the movie opens, a pretty lady arranges for his escape and delivers him to Major Paul Krenner. The Major has kidnapped an atomic scientist, and is holding his daughter hostage to force him to work for the Major. This scientist has developed a formula to make living things invisible, and the tests on a guinea pig seem to work marvelously.

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The Major plans to turn an army of men invisible so he can take over the world. Joey is a safe cracker, and the Major needs a good safe cracker to get into the nuclear stockpiles of the United States to get more nuclear materials for his formula. Joey has more crime in his blood than allegiance to the Major, and he wants to use his invisibility to rob banks and rack up the cash.

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The first night Joey is held in a locked room overnight, but even though the tough guy guarding him with a shotgun is right outside his door, Joey manages to get out of his room and into the room of the gal that helped him escape.

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He tries to convince her to team up with him instead of the Major and rob banks and live the good life. She seems to almost be convinced, but the guard breaks in, and she tells the guard that she was only pretending to agree with him to avoid trouble. But even the guard seems willing to betray the Major — it seems that the 'crime' in these folks is much more prominent than the loyalty to the 'mad science' angle.

The next day when Joey is given the treatment, he immediately becomes invisible. Instead of waiting for instructions from the Major, he gets off of the lab table and walks around the room, invisible to the Major, the scientist and the gal. While they are trying to find him, he grabs the gal and kisses her, then walks over to the Major and starts to strangle him.

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He makes the Major aware that he is more important than to get $1,000 for each 'job' that he does, and blackmails the Major for more money. The Major must agree, and now we have a full cast of amoral criminals, each out for his own purposes.

That night Joey walks undetected into the heart of the U.S. nuclear storage facility and cracks a large bank-style safe door and walks away with some new 'X-13' nuclear material that the mad scientist needs to further his experiments.

The next day Joey and the gal go into town. With Joey still invisible, he walks into a bank and grabs the money from the teller's drawers while everyone watches in amazement and wonder at what is happening.

But suddenly, as he is leaving, his head becomes visible for a moment! He rushes out to the car, totally invisible again, and they drive away.

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Certainly something is happening that may mess up Joey's plans. His invisibility may be wearing off or something. But then while totally visible and talking about it with the gal, he becomes invisible again at will.

Now, just an aside - when you are watching this movie, you must remember that all movies are fiction, with very little resemblance to reality. So don't try to analyze the science or the fact that one minute he cannot control his invisibility and the next moment he can. Just roll with the plot and imagine you're a kid again, when anything seems possible.

The plot continues to get complicated and we are sure that things will not end well for most of this cast, but just keep munching your popcorn and enjoy this thrilling story for what it is. I guarantee you'll enjoy this hybrid noir crime science fiction tale much more than mowing the lawn — or whatever you might be doing for the next 57 minutes
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____Jimbo Berkey
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Apr 07, 2019 12:50 pm; edited 5 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 2:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Here's a Jim Dandy trailer for the movie Jimbo Berkey presents at his website. Very Happy

Jimbo's version is a bit better than the half-dozen versions on Youtube, so I recommend using that one if you plan to download it. And all you have to do is right-click on the link he provides and select "save link as".

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_______ The Amazing Transparent Man - trailer


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_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:23 am; edited 2 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 1:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Here's a fine download of the full movie from YouTube. Bulldogtrekker and I watched it today, and by gum it's a better movie than I remembered from when I saw it in 1960 at the East Point Theater.

It was released on a double bill with Edgar J. Ulmer's other movie, Beyond the Time Barrier, and he shot them both at the same time with a two week shooting schedule. Impressive!



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_____________ The Amazing Transparent Man


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_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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___ Trailer - The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)


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Another variation on the Invisible Man premise. A famous bank robber (Douglas Kennedy) escapes from prison and gets help from a female confederate (Marguerite Chapman).

But, they both are in the employ — whether they want this or not — of a crazed ex-Army Major who plans to create an invisible army.

The madman also has another guy with a shotgun (Red Morgan) under his spell, as well as a scientist who has been experimenting with an invisibility machine — the mastermind has some hold over both these men.

The bank robber is soon made invisible in order to steal rare radioactive materials to perfect the machine. It's soon revealed, however, that the invisibility is unstable and that it's eventually fatal due to radioactive poisoning.

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This film is extra short, at just under an hour, made by Edgar Ulmer at the same time as his Beyond the Time Barrier (1960).

Most of the film comes across like a typical cheap crime thriller of that period, with the invisibility notion thrown in for good measure. The actors are all past their prime — Kennedy in particular was well suited for minor character roles, not leading roles. But, he manages to be somewhat commanding in this role.

The FX are bare-bones — most of the Invisible Man scenes could be accomplished without any of these, just an actor pretending that he's struggling with or getting knocked out by an invisible foe.

However, there's one startling shot of the robber halfway materializing in a bank. There's a hint early on that everything might end with a massive explosion (nuclear materials can cause this). Rolling Eyes

BoG's Score: 3 out of 10




BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus


Last edited by Bogmeister on Sun May 19, 2019 2:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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This is a fair and accurate review of a low-budget movie that would be easy for someone to ridicule if they wanted to, but BoG gave it the small amount of respect it deserves. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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The YouTube video I posted above no longer works. The late Bulltrekker and I watched it together in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy Room back in 2017.

Here's a working copy from the fine folks at Timeless Classic Movies


_________The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)


__________

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Here's another YouTube member who has created Drive-in Double Feature videos which include a vintage drive-in "welcome messages”, the trailer for the movies, and a double feature

It even has those great old “snack bar” promos during intermission!


"So, get comfortable, folks! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!" Very Happy

Enjoy!
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Double Feature Drive-in: The Amazing Transparent Man & The Incredible Petrified World


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_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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