For many people outside of Japan, Daiei Studios’ The Invisible Man stayed invisible for decades. You might see a publicity photo in a book about Japanese science fiction movies, but the film itself had never legally ventured across the Pacific Ocean. But there was an audience curious about the film simply because it featured early work of Eiji Tsuburaya who would go on to give us Godzilla and other Toho monsters. Now after 71 years, both of Daiei’s Invisible Man movies have arrived on our shores so that you can see his footprints on the screen. The Invisible Man Appears and The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly both show that the vanishing title character translated into Japanese culture as well as it did going from Englishman’s H.G. Well’s novel to America’s Universal Pictures Invisible Man movie series.
The Invisible Man Appears (1947 – 82 minutes) takes us back to the days of high school chemistry when your teacher warned you to no put any of the experiments in your mouth. Professor Kenzô Nakazato (Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji‘s Ryûnosuke Tsukigata) has come up with a new formula that holds a bit of magic to it. After a few minor tests, he determines the elixir contains the secret to turning people invisible. Instead of waiting to do everything proper and scientific, he gives himself a dose and vanishes. He can roam around the town unnoticed. Although someone does notice him and it isn’t the Noble Prize voters. It’s a criminal gang who badly want the formula so they can go on a crime spree and steal a precious diamond. Because the professor is too busy dealing with the mobsters, he can’t focus on making a formula that can make him reappear. This isn’t good because he’s becoming unhinged in his invisible state.
The Invisible Man vs The Human Fly (1957 – 96 minutes) isn’t a proper sequel since we get a whole new way to turn a person invisible. A mysterious killer is on the loose. People are getting murdered without any real explanation or suspect. Sure they are stabbed to death in the back, but there’s not way anyone was near the victims. The main police officer is baffled at the case. The only clue is people near the crime scene recall a buzzing sound. He discovers a group of scientists who during the war were working with cosmic rays. He thinks one of them might have devised a way to shrink down to fly-size and is the killer. When the police officer discovers a different scientist has created a way to use the cosmic rays to turn a person invisible, he wants to be a test subject. He thinks being invisible will make him the ultimate investigator. While he’s warned there is no way to regain visibility, he is so focused on finding the killer to care about his own health.
The Invisible Man Appears and The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly are more than just foreign language remakes of the Universal films. There’s a culture embrace of the act of making a man see-through. The Invisible Man Appears keeps up the action with the scientist tangling with the mobsters. We get to see their approach to the unwrapping scene that made the American version so iconic. The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly pushes the cop angle so it’s science fiction law enforcement. Both films should have arrived in America long ago.
The Video is 1.33:1 full frame. This is not the most stellar of transfers since the original negative elements are missing. Even the 35mm elements aren’t around. The Blu-ray uses a 16mm print that’s been restored as much as possible. It’s not painfully bad. If you’ve waited decades to see the invisible action, you’ll be able to enjoy the view. Human Fly does look the better of the two. The audio is the Japanese soundtrack in LPCM mono. The levels are fine. The movies are subtitled in English.
Transparent Terrors (24:40) has writer Kim Newman discuss the history of the scientist who disappears from the original H.G. Wells story to Universal’s movies and how this character ending up appearing and disappearing in Japan. He’s informative on the character and includes footage from an early silent use of the character.
The Invisible Man Appears Theatrical Trailer (2:38) goes overboard on letting us know the studio has perfected the special effects. We are promised “the magic of cinema.” The announcer is really excited.
Image Galleries (6:50) are presented for both films with publicity stills, posters and VHS covers. They even found laserdisc jackets.
Arrow Video presents The Invisible Man Appears & The Invisible Man vs The Human Fly. Directed by: Shinsei Adachi, Shigehiro Fukushima & Mitsuo Murayama Screenplays by: Hajime Takaiwa. Starring: Chizuru Kitagawa, Takiko Mizunoe, Cast Ryuji Shinagawa & Yoshiro Kitahara. Rated: Unrated. Boxset Contents: 2 movies on 1 Blu-ray disc. Released: March 16, 2021.
