Former U. S. Army major, Paul Krenner (James Griffith), plans to conquer the world with an army of invisible soldiers and will do anything to achieve that goal. With the help of his hired muscle, Julian (Red Morgan), Krenner forces Dr. Peter Ulof (Ivan Trisault) to perfect the invisibility machine Ulof invented. He keeps Ulof’s daughter, Maria (Carmel Daniel) imprisoned to keep Ulof in line.
The nuclear materials Ulof needs to better his invisibility machine are extremely rare and kept under guard in government facilities. Krenner arranges the prison break of notorious safecracker, Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy), to steal the materials he needs. Of course Faust will do the jobs while invisible. Krenner offers Faust money for the jobs and Faust expresses his grievances against working for him. Faust tells him that he’ll sing like a canary if he’s returned to prison. Krenner tells Faust that he’s wanted alive or dead. Faust reluctantly complies. However, when he meets Faust’s woman, Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman), he slowly charms her into a double cross.
Faust continues attempting to escape and tries to get one over on Krenner. It looks like he may have the edge on Krenner when Faust attacks Krenner while invisible. However, Dr. Ulof’s guinea pig dies and, during the second time he’s invisible, Faust uncontrollably reverts from invisible to visible and back again. Despite these drawbacks Faust forges ahead intent on breaking free from Krenner’s control.
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Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, produced by Lester D. Guthrie, Robert L. Madden and John Miller, written by Jack Lewis, starring Marguerite Chapman, Douglas Kennedy, James Griffith and Ivan Triesault.
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Source: “The Amazing Transparent Man” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 28 February 2013. Web. 15 July 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Transparent_Man.
source
The first
wonderful
What would you do?….LOL
I guarded a military base for a few weeks in the Army while waiting for a security clearance. There is no way I could have been tricked by the ruse at the beginning of this movie where she says the guy is her drunk husband. We weren't born yesterday.
Like it – and @ my desktop the quality is 480p.
wonder if the CIA, etc…, have thought about invisible soldiers and spies.
I am so use to all true documented stories (like One Step Betond series) that it is hard to get interested in .. Fiction.
Didn't care much for them at the time but I wouldn't mind having that 59 Buick convert today.
1959 MCMLIX
I thought I saw this movie as a kid but it turns out I didn't. the title should have tipped me off.
What's amazing is that anyone viewing this would call if amazing. Dull as Mud would have been a better title.
a transparent man would be amazing. this movie is still better than a lot of movie's made since it was.
0:23 Patrick Cranshaw was a friend of mine. He was into acting for many years playing bit parts as a character actor. Just died a few years ago.
Wow, the ending, that was deep.
these types of movies were an excuse to go to the movies with a girlfriend. not much on screen to hold your interest.
not too good
TIME FOR ANOTHER GOOD SCI-FI FILM ON YOUTUBE.
The director of this B movie, Edgar G. Ulmer (1904-1972) is one of the subterranean joys of American cinema. He frequently had to make films like this one on the stingiest of shoestring budgets. But he put his own signature stamp on many of these, and one of them, Detour (1946), is frequently cited as one of the all time great film noirs.
Very briefly, the plot of The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) is that Former U. S. Army major, Paul Krenner plans to conquer the world with an army of invisible soldiers and will do anything to achieve that goal including springing a hard boiled criminal from jail. With the help of his hired muscle, Julian, Krenner forces Dr. Peter Ulof to perfect the invisibility machine Ulof invented. He keeps Ulof's daughter, Maria imprisoned to keep Ulof in line.
From TCM—"Probably the most resourceful director of the American cinema, Edgar G. Ulmer carved out a reputation for making stylish, strange and often innovative films while being shackled to budgets that were, by Hollywood standards, microscopic. Working outside the major studio system had its drawbacks but Ulmer accepted the lack of production resources in exchange for a much greater degree of creative freedom. Ulmer used this freedom to explore his personal interests and to bend, almost to the breaking point, the conventions of genre filmmaking.
Produced for Miller-Consolidated Pictures (MCP), a short-lived concern that hoped to tap into the low-budget drive-in market which thrived on exploitation pictures, The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) would test the limits of how quickly and cheaply a film could be made. Ulmer was given a small crew in Dallas, Texas, and was afforded only eleven days to shoot not one but two films. One of these films, Beyond the Time Barrier (1960), was a science fiction spectacle and, by its very nature, consumed the lion's share of Ulmer's production budget, requiring more sets, costumes, props, actors and perhaps the most precious commodity of all: time. The futuristic drama was filmed first, and any remaining time was devoted to the second feature.
As if matters could not be worse, The Amazing Transparent Man faced another obstacle when the hotel which housed the cast and crew burned to the ground after the first day of shooting. But Ulmer was contracted to deliver two films and two films he delivered. One (Time Barrier) is a tidy little sci-fi thriller, laced with political allegory. The other film is less easily categorized: a remarkable exercise in cinematic thrift and reckless creativity.
There were no illusions about the fate of The Amazing Transparent Man. The finished film lasts just less than one hour, barely long enough to qualify as a feature, guaranteeing its place on the lower berth of a double or triple bill. Ulmer was therefore relieved of the burden of narrative coherence and deep meaning. He could weave an extemporaneous thriller that was swift, energetic and perfectly fitting the designation of "added attraction."
Scripted by Jack Lewis, The Amazing Transparent Man compensates for its technical shortcomings by sending itself in a half-dozen thematic directions. On one level it is a modernized retelling of Goethe's Faust, as the criminal sells his soul for magical powers that promise wealth, power and love. It is also a Cold War thriller (complete with stock-footage A-bomb detonation in the final reel). It is a heist picture. It is social commentary (a German doctor during WWII, Ulof was forced to experiment on concentration camp victims). It is an homage to the classic horror film (specifically James Whale's The Invisible Man, 1933).
But no single film can be all these things. Eventually, the entire plot explodes and Ulmer abruptly ends the film with the cinematic equivalent of a question mark: a character, faced with a moral dilemma of monumental proportions, turns to the camera and says, "What would you do?" Roll credits.
Corners were cut not only in narrative structure but in the special effects as well. Only a handful of optical shots were used to depict the "transparency" of Faust. Instead, Ulmer was satisfied to show doors opening and closing, objects hanging from wires and, most brilliantly resourceful of all, to merely focus the camera on empty sets, as if someone were actually there.
The publicity artists of MCP likewise reaped the value in invisibility, and released the film with the following warning: "Joey Faust, escaped convict, The Amazing Transparent Man, has vowed to 'appear' invisibly in person at every performance of this picture in this theatre. Police officers are expected to be present in force, but the management will not be responsible for any unusual or mysterious happenings while Faust is in the theatre."
The Amazing Transparent Man is lean, fast paced, dark and has a gritty look that reminds me of many of the French New Wave films around this time. It also has some extremely nasty little scenes, like the one at 28:30. Lasting less than an hour, this fine Edgar Ulmer film from poverty row will keep your attention all the way through.
there's going to be a jail break tonight. watchout
Yes. Our real enemies are ourselves.