mark.waltz When a daffy newlywed married couple (Eddie Craven and Marie Wilson) find a corpse in a military base warehouse, fingers point automatically to the brooding Boris Karloff who must think quickly to defend himself. This lame programmer, either filmdom's longest short, or shortest feature, seems rushed into production, not giving time to really develop the characters and a plot that is extremely cliched. Combining a supposed sci fi element, this film totally disappoints, and the comedy is ridiculously unfunny. Wilson overdoes the dumb blonde act, and Craven has no screen presence. Karloff does all he can to rise above the mediocrity, and the direction by John Farrow (his second with Karloff in just a year) has no real flow. The painless short running time makes this easier to get through, but I classify this as one of the worst Warner Brothers second feature, one that should have ended up in the public domain with a few others whose copyright they chose not to renew, which like this, are among their worst films.

TheLittleSongbird The Invisible Menace has two things going for it. The dark and foggy production design is striking and very effective. And Boris Karloff gives a great sympathetic performance. Unfortunately, they are the only things about The Invisible Menace(anybody want to explain the significance of this title, because it was irrelevant as far I'm concerned. Of the cast, only Karloff is close to good. Talented character actors like Regis Toomey are wasted, while Marie Wilson is incredibly irritating-of any performance in any of the movies that Karloff starred in, you'd be hard pressed to find one as annoying as Wilson's- and Eddie Craven's mugging is just embarrassing. The fact that the comedy is dated and unfunny doesn't help, and it also seemed misplaced. The same goes with the whole thing about the voodoo, seen in a short flashback, which seemed to have been thrown in at last minute without any relevance to what was already there. The Invisible Menace does try to be a number of elements, I've mentioned already that the comedy didn't work, but we also see the film trying to be a mystery, a melodrama and a thriller. Including comedy too, all four of those elements fail. The mystery element is too obvious and coincidental, the melodrama is overwrought and brings the film to a screeching halt at times and there's nothing thrilling here, merely tedium. The script could have been much tighter, and could have given the actors much more to work from, that is including Karloff. At 55 minutes, you'd think The Invisible Menace would be too short and that it would feel rushed. Actually, the story has trouble sustaining the length, you know there's a problem when the IMDb summary alone sums up the entire plot of the film. To conclude, the production design and Karloff are good, but the rest is a disaster. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Michael_Elliott Invisible Menace, The (1938) ** (out of 4) Slightly entertaining whodoneit about a body being found at a military institution and the investigation that follows. I've seen countless films like this over the years and this one here really isn't any better or worse than the majority out there. The main reason to see this film is due to Boris Karloff but be warned that he's not in the film too much even with the top billing. The supporting cast are decent but the good thing is that the film runs a short 54-minutes. Had the screenplay been a tad bit better the film might have worked better.

marquisdeposa (THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE DVD Invisible Menace/Night of Terror)This DVD presents Karloff and Lugosi, each in a film that is not part of their usual fare seen in other collections.THE INVISIBLE MENACE is a Warner Brother's quickie (clocking in at under 60 minutes) that shows that Boris Karloff could do far more than play monsters. Most reviews of this film right it off as a poor example of his talents. I disagree. In it's 54 minute running time it manages to combine murder, red herrings, and an extremely quick paced mystery. The comedic antics of Marie Wilson and Eddie Craven may be a bit trying at times for those looking for pure mystery, but they are far less intrusive than many other mystery films where comedy is injected at random. At least their situation is part of the plot. As to Boris's role being beneath him, I tend to look at as an extension of his abilities to create a character. His gray hair, glasses and quiet manner (except when he is gesturing wildly pleading for justice) are a precursor to his role as Professor Linden in The Linden Tree, which he would play on the New York stage in the late 1940's. Overall it is an enjoyable little film.The second feature, with the generic title NIGHT OF TERROR, comes as a welcome surprise. I had only seen it listed on Bela Lugosi film bibliographies. It is a variation on the old dark house thriller, with moving panels, tunnels, a gathering of heirs for the reading of the will, etc. This film has the advantage of Lugosi's performance. Reading other reviews of the film led me to believe that he was "wasted" in the part of Degar. Once again I tend to disagree. Bela is in almost every scene of the picture. His mysterious delivery of his dialogue is perfectly in line with the film's eerie atmosphere. As for him being "wasted" he turns out to be the most intelligent person of the lot-including the police and a wise cracking newspaper reporter. Being a B picture, and over the years being subject to scrutiny, the plot discrepancies are pretty evident, but overall it is an entertaining film. As to the peculiar ending, it is no more quirky that Edward Van Sloan's prologue to FRANKENSTEIN or his epilogue to Dracula (cut from most prints of the film)