THE INVISIBLE MAN APPEARS (1949)

 

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

One online review touts THE INVISIBLE MAN APPEARS as Japan's first science fiction film. It could well be the first such movie produced in post-war Japan, and Daiei Studios definitely crafted it to compete, at least in Asian markets, with similar movies from the US, not least the Universal "Invisible Man" series. Though the director and most of the performers didn't go on to great fame, APPEARS features effects-work from Eiji Tsuburaya, and later he would become justly famed for his labors on Toho's Studios' GODZILLA films and other SF-flicks. Sadly, whatever the "first" status of APPEARS, it's also a generally dull outing, more so than any of the Universal entries-- and only one of those was truly outstanding. 

The initial dramatic conflict is set up in the laboratory of older scientist Professor Nakazato, who's working on a method of creating an "invisibility paint." Both of his younger assistants, Shinji and Kyosuke, have the hots for Nakazato's cute daughter Machiko. The professor hints that whoever comes up with a breakthrough in the project might get his support in swaying the daughter's decision, since Machiko herself hasn't been able to choose between the two swains. 

Then the conflict is exacerbated by a crimeboss, Kawabe, who learns about the project and thinks that an "invisible man" would be the perfect tool with which to steal a fabulous, well-guarded diamond necklace. The film plays coy as to which of the assistants cooperates with Kawabe and becomes the New Invisible Man, though, given that the two guys are nearly indistinguishable as characters, I don't think the revelation of the unseen felon's identity counts for much.

The script's biggest problem is that instead of letting the Invisible Man swipe the necklace and then go on to bigger and more ambitious crimes-- possibly going mad a la the Wells original-- the writers were content to keep harping on various plots to steal the necklace. There's also some duplicity from the cops about whether or not there's a cure for the invisibility formula, but this too doesn't add up to anything. Neither Machiko nor her father are any better characters than the assistants, and Kawabe is a bush-league villain. There's a club performer, Ryoko (Takiko Mizunoe), who's eventually revealed to be the sister of the Invisible Crook, and she gets a big dramatic scene at the end. I suspect the actress may have been some local celebrity who got shoehorned into the narrative to hype the movie. As it happens, Mizunoe is one of the few performers to boast an American film credit, having appeared in THE BAD NEWS BEARS GO TO JAPAN.

APPEARS is said to have done good box office, but Daiei didn't take a chance on another unseeable fiend until eight years later, with 1957's sequel-in-concept-only INVISIBLE MAN VS THE HUMAN FLY-- and as I point out in my review, the bottom-billed "Human Fly" is really more important than that particular spawn of H.G. Wells.