Memoirs of an Invisible Man ** (1992, Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill) – Classic Movie Review 9430

Director John Carpenter’s 1992 Memoirs of an Invisible Man is a shaky but tolerable special effects-led comedy action thriller revision of the 1933 Claude Rains classic The Invisible Man that casts the wrong star in Chevy Chase as the man who becomes invisible when a scientific experiment goes wrong. Since a comic is cast, we have to see the invisible Chase for most of the time, which is a mistake, and the tone has to be light and amiable rather than dark and dangerous.

The story, based on a book by H F Saint, attends to some routine action stuff and some romance in the shapely form of Daryl Hannah as Alice Monroe falls in love with the invisible man. Memoirs of an Invisible Man is an inoffensive, acceptable time-passer, with some nice jokes, a few good stunts, and plenty of terrific special effects. The performances vary from Chase’s pleasant clowning as yuppie Nick Halloway and Sam Neill’s expert camp villainy as treacherous CIA official David Jenkins , to some inept support playing.

Carpenter (who appears in a cameo as a helicopter pilot) seems to let a project he is perfect for slip out of his grasp.

Co-scriptwriter William Goldman recalled in 2000: ‘I thought I could make the novel work and there was talent connected with the project. Chevy Chase – a lovely fellow – is in his mid-fifties now, and his career as a major movie star is over. But, when we met (in 1992), he was the number five box-office star in the whole wide world.’

Also in the cast are Michael McKean, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jim Norton, Pat Skipper, Paul Perri, Richard Epcar, Steven Barr, Gregory Paul Martin, Patricia Heaton, Barry Kivel, Donald Li, Rosalind Chao, Jay Gerber, Shay Duffin, Edward L Shaff, Sam Anderson, Elaine Corral, Ellen Albertini Dow, Jonathan Wigan, I M Hobson, Chip Heller and Aaron Lustig.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man is directed by John Carpenter, runs 99 minutes, is made by Warner Bros, Canal+, Regency Enterprises, Alcor Films and Cornelius Productions, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Robert Collector, Dana Olsen, William Goldman, based on a book by H F Saint, is shot in Technicolor by William A Fraker, is produced by Arnon Milchan, Bruce Bodner and Dan Kolsrud, is scored by Shirley Walker and is designed by Lawrence G Paull.

The film flopped: costing $40,000,000, it grossed $14,358,033 in the US.

Lawrence G Paull, Oscar-nominated Blade Runner production designer art director, died in November 2019, aged 81.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9430

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com