The Invisible Man (1933)

The American science fiction horror film, The Invisible Man (1933), was directed by James Whale and produced by Universal Pictures. On a snowy evening in the English village of Iping, a stranger with bandaged face and dark goggles arrives at The Lion’s Head Inn. Despite demanding to be left alone, the stranger has caused chaos and fallen behind on rent due to his research. In response, Mrs. Hall sends her husband to evict him, but the stranger angrily throws Mr. Hall down the stairs. When confronted by a policeman and locals, he removes his bandages and goggles, revealing his invisibility. With maniacal laughter, he strips off his clothes and vanishes into the countryside before escaping from his pursuers.

The stranger, who is actually Dr. Jack Griffin, is a chemist who made the groundbreaking discovery of invisibility while conducting experiments with a little-known drug called monocaine. Flora Cranley, Griffin’s fiancée and the daughter of his employer, becomes troubled by his prolonged absence. Both Dr. Cranley and fellow assistant Dr. Kemp search through Griffin’s deserted laboratory and discover a solitary note in a cupboard that raises concerns for Cranley when he reads it. The note contains a list of chemicals, including monocaine, which Cranley knows to be highly dangerous after an incident in Germany where it drove a dog insane. It appears that Griffin was unaware of this danger as he had only come across it in old English books that described its ability to bleach rather than its harmful effects.