The 1949 Japanese Invisible Man movie, The Invisible Man Appears (ha!) is probably the best Japanese invisible man movie of the lot. It beats out the simply-titled The Invisible Man (Tomei Ningen, 1954) and easily trounces the complicated, fussy Invisible Man Vs. Human Fly (Tomei Ningen to Hae Otoko, 1957). Nevertheless, it has certain commonalities with them.
All three movies insert a fair amount of gangsterism into their narratives, though the title character is never a gangster himself. The gangster stuff allows for frequent trips to swank nightclubs, in every film, where the narrative can be suspended while some kind of sexy floor-show is enacted (Human Fly’s best scene has the miniature antagonist clambering over the curves of his normal-sized showgirlfriend). And all the films situate the source of the trouble in wartime.
Awakens begins with three scientists debating the method by which invisibility might be produced. One guy (let’s call him the asshole) says that if something doesn’t reflect light, it’s going to be invisible, so he’s working on a kind of special black paint. The other guy (smart guy), who is also his romantic rival, has a slightly more convincing bit of pseudoscience on his side. He will become the invisible man, but it’s the older scientist, father of the Girl In Question, who makes the breakthrough. Then the whole plot turns out to be about stealing a necklace: a nasty criminal abducts the old guy and tricks smart guy into becoming invisible and stealing, or trying to steal, the valued jewels. But, as in the 1933 Hollywood movie, the drug induces psychosis–illustrated in a neat bit with an invisible cat which knocks over everything in sight and leaves damp paw tracks across a room.
The film’s two directors, Shinsei Adachi, and Shigehiro Fukushima, according to the IMDb, never made anything else, which is crazy, since this movie is so inventive, not only in its simple but resourcefully-deployed special effects, but in its framing, cutting and camera movement, with frequent Dutch tilts and even shots which start out level and then pitch crazily off-kilter, a bit like the protagonist.
Then there are the narrative twists–since the invisible man puts on a raincoat, hat, bandages and sunglasses when he wants to be seen, he is susceptible to impersonation, and since the nightclub scenes introduce a male impersonator, we get a visible woman pretending to be an invisible man, a first, if I’m not mistaken. It’s full of invention.
If you’re going to watch one Japanese invisible man movie this festive season, make it this one!
by David Cairns