THE INVISIBLE MENACE (1938) is one of a group of films Boris Karloff made under a contract with Warner Bros. in the late 1930s. With horror movies temporarily on the wane, Warners gave Karloff character actor parts. THE INVISIBLE MENACE may sound like an imaginative thriller, but it's actually an underwhelming murder mystery, based on an unsuccessful play.
The story is set on a military base named Powder Island. A dopey soldier (Eddie Craven) sneaks his ditzy new bride (Marie Wilson) onto the island, and while trying to find a place to hide they discover the mutilated body of a murdered man. The base is shut down while the authorities try to find the culprit.
THE INVISIBLE MENACE runs only about 55 minutes, but even that's a bit too long for this tale. It's a very talky movie, and it really isn't all that different from the Mr. Wong mysteries Karloff would soon be starring in for Monogram. What does help THE INVISIBLE MENACE is a cast made up of veterans such as Regis Toomey, Henry Kolker, and Charles Trowbridge. They give some vitality to the proceedings.
Karloff plays a suspicious-looking fellow who goes by the name of Jevries. Jevries is on the base as a civilian contractor, and it is revealed that he not only knew the murder victim, but had a good reason to kill him. This is shown in a flashback set in Haiti, which tries to gain some sympathy for Karloff's character, despite the fact that he's accused of mistreating the natives. Boris spends the entire film wearing a forlorn, hangdog expression, which isn't surprising, considering what his character goes through....but you have to wonder if the actor was showing how he personally felt about being in such a inconsequential movie.
Karloff, as expected, becomes the main suspect, which means, if you go by old movie rules, he didn't do it. (If you ever see a movie murder mystery with Karloff or Bela Lugosi, be assured that they are never guilty.) A special investigator flown to the island to help solve the case (Cy Kendall) knows about Jevries' past, and he's obsessed with charging the poor guy with the crime....so much so that he even resorts to physically abusing Karloff. Boris does have a major impact on the climax.
THE INVISIBLE MENACE was produced by Bryan Foy, directed by John Farrow, and the screenplay was by Crane Wilbur. These three men did the same jobs on the much better WEST OF SHANGHAI, which was the film that Karloff had starred in at Warners the year before. There's an attempt to inject some atmosphere in THE INVISIBLE MENACE by having the action take place on a foggy night at the island, but this also may have been a way to hide the production's low budget. The story here is just too thin to make the film more than just a below-average programmer.
Boris Karloff is the only reason for anyone to have any interest in THE INVISIBLE MENACE. Hardcore Karloff fans will be disappointed, though....his whiny, put-upon character isn't very appealing.
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