ORLOFF AGAINST THE INVISIBLE MAN (1970)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Just as Jess Franco's first two "Doctor Orloff" films had nothing to do with one another plot-wise, this opus, by director/co-writer Pierre Chevalier, also starts from square one. INVISIBLE is more straightforward than most Franco films, though of course that's not to say it's good.

Though INVISIBLE seems to be Chevalier's only horror film, he nonetheless follows the Franco habit of working in various loose "quotes" of classic horror movies. In some Eastern European locale, young doctor Garondet (Paco Valladeres) is summoned to the castle of eccentric inventor Orloff (Howard Vernon). This setup gives Chevalier the chance to waste about fifteen minutes with a reprise of the famous DRACULA opening, in that the locals won't explain to the doctor their fears of Orloff. A coachman agrees to take Garondet to the castle, then changes his mind and obliges the doctor to walk the rest of the day. The one amusing aspect of this time-killing sequence is that the coach gets stuck in the mud AFTER the doctor's been told to leave, and once the doctor helps push the coach free, he's wildly surprised that the coachman still leaves him behind.

Once Garondet reaches the castle, the maid claims she sent for the doctor on the orders of Orloff's daughter Cecile (Brigitte Carva in her only movie performance). Cecile says she was concerned both for her father's mental state and for some strange experiment he's working on. And though she seems normal enough, Cecile also claims she's been "haunted" by some invisible entity.

Orloff receives Garondet with bare courtesy at first, but once the doctor relays what he's been told, the scientist launches into a long expository backstory as if he and Garondet have become bosom confidantes. Orloff admits that he has created an invisible super-being and that he plans to use an army of such creatures to conquer the world. (There's the first Frankenstein quote.) The scientist also makes the odd comment that he actually killed some unnamed man in order to create the super-being, though the process is left vague. At present Orloff seems content to show off (so to speak) his unseen creation by having the latter serve them tea.

The backstory: six years ago, Cecile, possessed of a weak heart, apparently passes away. Her distraught dad mourns her, adorns her dead body with fabulous jewels, and then consigns body and jewels to a coffin and the coffin to a sepulcher. Two servants, Roland and Maria, break into the town to steal the jewels. Their action stirs Cecile out of a cataleptic state (Poe quote) and the thieves flee. Once Orloff learns from his now living daughter what happened, he thrashes Roland and uses a pack of hounds to track down the fleeing Maria. He imprisons both (though at one point I wondered if Orloff had used Roland as the basis for his Invisible Creature). Orloff also claims Cecile is mad, though there's no evidence for this.

Orloff allows the doctor to spend the night, but he becomes angry at the maid for having obeyed Cecile's wishes. He then drags the maid to a cell and allows his creation to strip and rape the woman. (First invisible-man rape? Who knows?) Meanwhile the doctor goes exploring and finds the prison where Roland and Maria have resided for the past six years. Orloff arrives, claiming that he had to feed his creature on their blood for some reason (another Dracula quote). Orloff imprisons Garondet, planning to kill him. 

However, Cecile frees Garondet, and shows her utter sanity by figuring out a way to cope with their invisible stalker. The monster attacks Cecile (stripping off her clothes), but the doctor renders the beast semi-visible with white powder, and it's briefly seen as some sort of ape-man. Cecile and Garondet take off again, and encounter Orloff. The scientist claims that the Invisible Ape has set the castle on fire, but that he Orloff will destroy his creation. Instead, Orloff is felled and presumably burned to death, like any servants trapped in the castle. Cecile and Garondet escape, and so, for a time so does the Ape. But by some happenstance, the late Orloff's hunting-dogs get loose from their kennels and decide they want a taste of invisible ape-flesh-- though of course the creature can't be seen as it gets torn to shreds, saving any FX expenses.

The one thing Chevalier gets right is that the other two Orloff films seem to involve an older mad scientist doing terrible things to innocent young women for the sake of his equally innocent daughter, which some might consider Freudian displacement. Minor though INVISIBLE is, it remains a little more fun to watch than the only other Chevalier flick to get an English-language release, the dismal action-film PANTHER SQUAD.