Movie Review: Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) directed by Charles Lamont

Abbott and Costello graduate from a detective academy and are given the night shift at a local detective agency. A guy shows up offering them money to escort him to an address. The guy is Tommy Nelson (Arthur Franz), a boxer who is accused of killing his manager and is on the run from the law. He claims he's innocent and wants to find proof. The address is the lab of a doctor who is Tommy's friend and is working on an invisibility formula. The formula is the same one from the original Invisible Man movie (there's even a picture of Claude Rains in the lab) and has the same problem--it drives the recipient crazy and there's no reversing formula. The doctor is working on the cure and refuses to inject Tommy. Then the cops show up and the doctor goes downstairs to stall them. Tommy injects himself and works with Abbott and Costello to prove his innocence. Costello winds up mistaken for a great boxer (it helps if you have some invisible fists) as they investigate the boxing corruption that got Tommy falsely accused. 

The movie takes the plot of The Invisible Man Returns but switches it from a British coal-mine owner falsely accused of killing his brother to an American boxer falsely accused of killing his manager. A few of the special effects look like they were spliced out of the earlier film. And Tommy has a "I can rule the world" speech like the one Vincent Price delivered. The invisible man stuff in the story is mostly unoriginal. On the other hand, the comedy is a nice mixture of verbal sparring and physical gags that Abbott and Costello are so good at. One scene has Costello surreptitiously stealing cash from Abbott in a variety of funny ways. The final gag is ridiculous in good and bad ways. Overall, the movie is a fun, light comedy.

Recommended.