Karloff as The Invisible Man

by Philip J. Riley

This volume is more of a portfolio in the development of Universal's The Invisible Man. It is different from the other volumes in the series in that, after attempts by many writers, Carl Laemmle Jr. was not satisfied with any of the treatments until James Whale got R.C. Sheriff to write the final shooting script. As you will see even Whale himself wrote a treatment. Many projects were announced for Boris Karloff, now Universal's top monster film star; they ranged from the supernatural Cagliostro, the classic monster film The Wolf Man to the science fiction projects A Trip to Mars and The Invisible Man. Cagliostro was transformed into The Mummy, The Wolf Man put on the shelf for 9 years Director James Whale was stalling because Universal wanted him to make a sequel to Frankenstein - but after countless rewrites by Preston Sturges, Gouveneur Morris, John Huston and a dozen other writers, R.C. Sherriff managed to capture H.G. Wells' original concept and The Invisible Man was put into production, however without Karloff who turned down the part in a salary dispute with Carl Laemmle Junior. With Claude Rains in the starring role (even though he does not appear on screen except for a few minutes at the end of the film, The Invisible Man became a huge success and one that most historians and fans think is Whale's best picture, after The Bride of Frankenstein, made two years later.

This volume is more of a portfolio in the development of Universal's The Invisible Man. It is different from the other volumes in the series in that, after attempts by many writers, Carl Laemmle Jr. was not satisfied with any of the treatments until James Whale got R.C. Sheriff to write the final shooting script. As you will see even Whale himself wrote a treatment. Many projects were announced for Boris Karloff, now Universal's top monster film star; they ranged from the supernatural Cagliostro, the classic monster film The Wolf Man to the science fiction projects A Trip to Mars and The Invisible Man. This volume is more of a portfolio in the development of Universal's The Invisible Man. It is different from the other volumes in the series in that, after attempts by many writers, Carl Laemmle Jr. was not satisfied with any of the treatments until James Whale got R.C. Sheriff to write the final shooting script. As you will see even Whale himself wrote a treatment. In 1932 many projects were announced for Boris Karloff, now Universal's top monster film star; they ranged from the supernatural Cagliostro, the classic monster film The Wolf Man to the science fiction projects A Trip to Mars and The Invisible Man. Cagliostro was transformed into The Mummy, The Wolf Man put on the shelf for 9 years Director James Whale was stalling because Universal wanted him to make a sequel to Frankenstein - but after countless rewrites by Preston Sturges, Gouveneur Morris, John Huston and a dozen other writers, R.C. Sherriff managed to capture H.G. Wells' original concept and The Invisible Man was put into production, however without Karloff who turned down the part in a salary dispute with Carl Laemmle Junior. With Claude Rains in the starring role (even though he does not appear on screen except for a few minutes at the end of the film, The Invisible Man became a huge success and one that most historians and fans think is Whale's best picture, after The Bride of Frankenstein, made two years later.