The beginning is reminiscent of Dark Passage as a prison break is in progress. The movie has some similar enough themes, I wonder if the makers of The Amazing Transparent Man had that one in mind. The actor playing Faust even has a bit of Bogart's demeanor and look.
Mr Faust is the escapee. Another fellow, The Major, lays down some blackmail words, first threatening Faust's family then threatening to turn him in to the authorities. Despite declaring "a man with a gun doesn't have to bargain", another guy with a bigger gun is all the persuasion Faust needs to join sides with the Major. Faust is in line to get paid if he goes along with some "experiments".
Peter Ulaf is the scientist to do the experimenting. If this movie was made today, Steve Buscemi would be a nice pick for his role. The scientist uses x-ray alpha, beta, and omega rays for maximum effectiveness. That works for me.
Wow, the good doctor can turn a guinea pig invisible with his science machine. There's no doubt it'll work perfectly on Faust. And there's no reason to wonder about the door that's off limits. Ahhhhhh, intrigue!
We find out that Dr Ulaf is also being blackmailed, his daughter has been kidnapped. All of a sudden, Faust seems like the closest thing to a good guy. Supposedly she's being hidden behind the mysterious door.
Pretty soon it's no surprise, after being turned invisible, Faust figures he has the advantage and asks for more money and makes lots of threats. I'm going to be honest and say, thinking about what it would be like to make a film like The Amazing Transparent Man, I'd be just itching to make this scene. Being able to take advantage of the ridiculous special effects (that can be the magic of film, especially of this type!) would just be too much fun. The only thing that would make it better were if Vincent Price were somehow in the scene. Then, though, the movie would probably be too stinking good for me to even blog about!! Anyway... Faust is going to rob some banks, that's apparent. What else?
TATM is one of those movies where it seems like if the characters could all just sit down and have a chat, maybe try and get along, they could come up with a plan that everyone was satisfied with. That aspect reminds me of Batman Vs. Superman. Then I keep thinking, if Daniel Craig and Colm Meaney's characters from Layer Cake had been able to turn someone invisible, well, it would have been very, very profitable.
When Faust steals from a vault, I can only imagine the glee that the filmmakers had making the vault door open and cranks turn. It must have been loads of fun.
Soon we learn that the process to turn Faust invisible is actually poisonous and possibly will put him beyond saving. The Major doesn't care if it kills Faust. Faust is a bad dude, but the Major is a worse bad guy. It's interesting to watch a movie from 1960 where there seriously isn't any clear protagonist.
During the next robbery, in broad daylight, the invisibility wears off mid robbery. When the police find out it's Faust and that he can turn invisible, they're just thinking... well there's certainly no way we can get around that. I'm thinking, do you want to try?? Maybe do a bit of brainstorming? Ask some other police? It's funny that they think there's just no way around it.
Faust decides to leave town, giving the right share of money to Laura, the getaway driver, as promised. So, maybe Faust isn't such a bad guy after all? Now he's appearing and disappearing. Something is wrong, but Dr. Ulaf won't do anything about it until he and his daughter can be taken somewhere safe. Even when they lock up the Major, it's too bad Julian the shotgun cowboy is in the way. It's a good thing Laura had some dirt on the Major lying to him, or they'd have been screwed.
Faust doesn't want to help the doctor and his daughter, he only cares about himself! As he declares. He comes across like a regular Han Solo, a bad boy with a conscience to which the world has just delivered a bad hand. Now we find out that Faust is going to die from radiation poisoning, along with Dr. Ulaf. Ulaf says, "there's a man who's unlocked every door except the one to his own soul. Now he has the key." It's a nice bank robber metaphor.
The Major escapes (since nobody thought to take his gun when locking him up) and Faust goes back to finish him off. They duke it out with fisticuffs. Everything gets blown up when the Major messes with the invisible machine and the nuclear device that was part of it. It's basically a nuclear bomb that goes off. Thankfully the house was out in the middle of nowhere.
In the end, The Amazing Transparent Man is an enjoyable short odd movie with memorable moments. It could never be called good, but that doesn't matter. It is exactly the kind of movie that I wanted it to be.
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