It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The first must-see film of the year.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Helped to break out of prison, Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) is taken to a rural location, where he is introduced to the man responsible for his release. Faust's new benefactor is a criminal mastermind , named Maj. Paul Krenner (James Griffith). Krenner has big plans for Faust, involving radiation, invisibility, and world domination. Of course, there's a mad scientist doddering about the premises, waxing melodramatic at every opportunity! Fairly predictable, w/ the prerequisite double cross, THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN is just fun enough to offset its silliness. At less than an hour in length, it's also too short to become a total nuisance! FULL DISCLOSURE: The real reason I watch this movie is due to the fact that it has the beautiful Marguerite Chapman (FLIGHT TO MARS) in its cast. Playing the role of Laura Matson, Ms. Chapman makes me feel glad to be alive! One raised eyebrow from her, and I... Well, never mind! Anyway, the rest is typical, 50's / early 60's sci-fi cheeeze...

This film has nothing to do with Universal's 'The Invisible Man' film series. This is a completely different film with a completely different story. The only similarity is the idea of a scientist inventing invisibility and an invisible person - that's it.This film does not have the same quality as any of the Universal classics nor do I think this film is better BUT it is a pretty neat sci-fi that is worth watching if you like the idea of invisibility or older sci-fi films. It has it's own charm - it's just not as good as the classic Universal "Invisible" films.I liked this film: A 'mad' scientist invents invisibility and plans on using it to take over the world by creating a group of invisible zombies. A neat sci-fi idea that is fun to watch.5.5/10

Extremely compact (57 minutes) yet entertaining story of ruthless safe-cracker (Kennedy), sprung from gaol by a demented former military agent (Griffith) and his cheap-wine associate (Chapman), forced to endure radiation experiments that make him invisible in order to steal guarded uranium deposits so Griffith can build an invisible army to take-over the world. Street-wise Kennedy decides to turn his transparency into an opportunity to pull a bank heist, but things go awry when the invisibility wears off mid-way through the crime.Griffith is an impeccably dressed, meek-looking but sadistic villain, keeping his associates subservient via various forms of duress, Chapman plays the life-of-crime broad, mistreated by Griffith (there's a great scene in which Griffith slaps her twice the second he calls "the dot on the i") seeing an opportunity to make it big with Kennedy's safe-cracking skills. Kennedy is the cornerstone, delivering an economical performance of a career criminal with no pride or patriotism, only a loyalty to his young daughter from whom he's forcibly estranged.You won't get much in your special effects on this budget, nevertheless it's not a bad variation on the "invisible man" theme like an "Outer Limits" or "Twilight Zone" episode with real exteriors and a capable and reasonably distinguished cast. Look out for craggy-faced Pat Cranshaw ("Old School") as an inept security guard in an early film role.

Being in the mood to watch a short,snappy ,fun film on this leap day I decided to take a look at some ultra cheap triple feature DVDs that I had watched parts of during Haloween.As I got to the last two DVD's,I noticed one which I had watched the first two features of, (Attack Of The Giant Leeches and Revolt Of The Zombies)but had never got round to taking a look at the final film on the disc.Finding out that the movie had a running time of 58 minutes,I decided to get myself set for what would hopefully be a film that featured everything that I was after for a days viewing.The plot: Getting broken out of jail by old flame Laura Matson,convict safe cracker Joey Faust starts to wonder where Laura is planning to take him.Soon after Laura has finished driving Joey away in a getaway car she takes him up to a strange looking lab.Desperate to find some sort of normality Joey looks round the lab until he catches a glimpse of a crazy looking scientist!.Trying to get a grip on the situation that's accruing around him,Joey meets a new individual at the lab called Paul Krenner,who due to having a grand military vision wants to perform some "tests" on Joey which will cause him to become invisible.View on the film: Since seeing the films extremely low IMDb rating,my first expectation was that the screenplay by Jack Lewis would be filled with an almost endless supply of "technobabble" which I have disappointingly often come into contact with when watching these types of movies.Happily Lewis actually spent almost the whole film (bar the ending-which hits the movies message down like a hammer!) leaving the plodding exposition behind and instead making a pretty fun gangster spin on The Invisible Man that moves at a really brisk pace.For his work on the film director Edgar G. Ulmer (who also directed the Film Noir/Horror classics Detour and the 1934 The Black Cat) gives what was to be his second to last American film (the other one being Beyond The Time Barrier) a wonderful feeling of everything but the kitchen sink,where if you are not keen on the moody gangster sections of the film,you only have to wait a few minutes before something new comes into view.Although most of the "Invisible" effects do look dated,Ulmer is cleverly able to include an effects scene that still looks pretty good now that involves the layers of a test rat being seen as it slowly starts to become invisible.Joining in on the films anything goes attitude is the very good cast with Marguerite Chapman (whose very last film was this one) giving Laura Matson a nice untrusting side whilst Ivan Triesault gives the normally stern scientist/doctor a wacky side as Dr Peter Ulof.