The Invisible Woman

The Invisible Woman is an American science fiction comedy film directed by A. Edward Sutherland. It is the third film in Universal Pictures' The Invisible Man film series, following The Invisible Man and The Invisible Man Returns, the latter which was released earlier in the year. It was more of a screwball comedy than a horror film like the others in the series. Universal released The Invisible Woman on December 27, 1940. The film stars Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charlie Ruggles, and Oscar Homolka, and features Margaret Hamilton, Charles Lane and Shemp Howard. Plot Wealthy lawyer Richard Russell (John Howard) funds the dotty old inventor Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) in his creation of an invisibility device. The first test subject for this machine is Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce), a department store model who has been fired from her previous job. The machine proves quite successful, and Kitty uses her invisible state to pay back her sadistic former boss, Mr. Growley (Charles Lane). While the Professor and the invisible Kitty are off visiting Russell's lodge, gangster Blackie Cole (Oscar Homolka) sends in his gang of moronic thugs—including “Hammerhead’ (Shemp Howard)—to steal the device. Once the machine is back at their hideout, they cannot get it to work. Kitty is now visible, and Blackie sends the gang to kidnap her and the Professor. Kitty learns that alcohol will restore her invisibility, and, with Russell's help, she exploits this to defeat the gang.