Kooky old Professor Gibbs (Lionel Barrymore) is certain he has finally and, more importantly, successfully invented a means for invisibility. He places an advertisement in the newspaper looking for a person brave enough to test it out. An adventurous young model, looking to escape her miserable job, answers the ad and with a mixture of the doctor’s serum and a step into his buzzing machine she vanishes from sight. Looking to show his young benefactor (who has just had to cut funding due to his playboy lifestyle) his success and oncoming wealth, he invites Dick Russell to check out the unseeable Kitty. Unbeknownst to the professor, Kitty has flown the coop and gone to get some playful revenge on her crappy boss. A trio of gangsters, seeing the ad in the paper, are sent by their boss to get their hands on the machine. With the power to be invisible, the boss can return home from his exile in Mexico. Many hijinks ensue. Kitty turns out to be a real handful for the criminals and steals the heart of sworn bachelor Mr. Russell. The cast has a blast (especially Lionel Barrymore) and some familiar faces pop up (Shemp Howard as a goon and everyone’s favorite wicked witch Margaret Hamilton as the professor’s housekeeper). The film zips along, landing a few jokes and offering some chuckles. There’s an abundance of failed humor and the special effects work leaves a bit to be desired. Still, I won’t knock anything that features a fast talking hunk flirting with a drunk invisible woman.
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