{"id":18492,"date":"2011-07-12T13:32:23","date_gmt":"2011-07-12T20:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18492"},"modified":"2021-01-26T16:59:15","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T23:59:15","slug":"invisible-ray-the-1936","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18492","title":{"rendered":"Invisible Ray, The (1936)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;The universe is very large, and there are some secrets we are not meant to probe.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Poster-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-18493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Poster-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Poster-82x128.jpg 82w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Poster.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA scientist (Boris Karloff) exposed to a rare element known as Radium X finds that he can kill people simply by touching them, and becomes increasingly reclusive. Soon he allows jealousy of his colleague, Dr. Benet (Bela Lugosi) &#8212; who wants to use Radium X for healing purposes &#8212; and his beautiful young wife (Frances Drake) &#8212; who has fallen in love with another man (Frank Lawton) &#8212; to drive him to vengeful murder.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Atomic Energy<\/li>\n<li>Bela Lugosi Films<\/li>\n<li>Beulah Bondi Films<\/li>\n<li>Boris Karloff Films<\/li>\n<li>Horror<\/li>\n<li>Mad Doctors and Scientists<\/li>\n<li>Revenge<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis uneven but atmospheric mad scientist\/revenge flick &#8212; co-starring notorious Universal Studios &#8220;rivals&#8221; Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi &#8212; is primarily notable for providing Lugosi with one of his rare non-villainous roles (with which he does a fine, subtle job). Indeed, having recently rewatched so many of Universal&#8217;s Frankenstein films &#8212; in which Lugosi either played the demented Ygor, or The Monster himself &#8212; it&#8217;s truly astonishing to see him here playing a &#8220;normal&#8221;, rational male.  If you can ignore the often <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1728bela.html\">silly and sloppy &#8220;science&#8221; behind Karloff&#8217;s death\/healing machine<\/a> (which, to be fair, is actually remarkably prescient in theory), you may find yourself at least enjoying the fun special effects and sets. Note that, as in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18542\"><em>Werewolf of London<\/em> (1935)<\/a>, the screenplay for <em>The Invisible Ray<\/em> makes somewhat clumsy use of a convenient &#8220;replacement partner&#8221; for the doomed central character&#8217;s beautiful young wife. With that said, doe-eyed Frances Drake (best known for co-starring with Peter Lorre in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25247\"><em>Mad Love<\/em><\/a> the previous year) is quite compelling here in one of her few better-known leading roles. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.classichorror.free-online.co.uk\/pals.htm\">here<\/a> to read a detailed essay about Karloff and Lugosi&#8217;s fabled, often overlapping careers. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bela Lugosi as Dr. Benet<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Lugosi.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Lugosi-1024x599.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"374\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-18498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Lugosi-1024x599.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Lugosi-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Lugosi-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Lugosi.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Frances Drake as Diana<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Drake.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Drake-1024x599.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"374\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-18499\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Drake-1024x599.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Drake-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Drake-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Drake.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Some nifty special effects and sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Still.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Still-1024x599.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"374\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-18500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Still-1024x599.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Still-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Still-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Invisible-Ray-Still.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a look.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0027800\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1936\/01\/11\/archives\/at-the-roxy.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1728bela.html\">DVD Savant Review (scroll down to fourth review)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=2074&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/79372\/the-invisible-ray#articles-reviews?articleId=121587\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/the-invisible-ray\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The universe is very large, and there are some secrets we are not meant to probe.&#8221; Synopsis: A scientist (Boris Karloff) exposed to a rare element known as Radium X finds that he can kill people simply by touching them, and becomes increasingly reclusive. Soon he allows jealousy of his colleague, Dr. Benet (Bela Lugosi) &#8212; who wants to use Radium X for healing purposes &#8212; and his beautiful young wife (Frances Drake) &#8212; who has fallen in love with&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18492\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18492"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66189,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18492\/revisions\/66189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}