The Invisible Menace (Warner Bros.) (1938)

(Opening Day Story) BORIS KARLOFF STARS IN DRAMA AT STRAND TODAY A combination of thrills and laughs and romance is the Warner Bros. mystery-melodrama “The Invisible Menace,” which opens today at the Strand Theatre with Boris Karloff as its star. But no one need be afraid that he’s going to see anything gruesome or spine-freezing just because the great Karloff’s name is mentioned. As a matter of fact, there are as many laughs as there are nerve-tingles in this movie— and Boris doesn’t even wear an outlandish makeup. He plays an ordinary, middle-aged civil engineer, and there’s nothing horrifying about that breed. The picture—made from the successful Broadway stage play of the same name—deals with a murder in a government arsenal, and cuts away, part of the time, to the island of Haiti, with its revolutions, voodoo jungle rites and the like. Eddie Craven, imported from New York to play the same part he did on the stage, and pretty, blonde Marie Wilson provide the romance and most of the comedy. Cy Kendall, Regis Toomey, Eddie Acuff and Frank Faylen have important roles. John Farrow directed the picture. (Current ) ARSENAL ISLAND IS BACKGROUND ‘OF FILM MYSTERY Ralph Spencer Zink’s successful stage play was scenarized by Crane Wilbur as “The Invisible Menace” . . the process illustrates the great difference between stage and screen . . . what on Broadway was a background of a few sets on a government arsenal island, becomes on_ the screen a real island with military passenger boats travelling over a foggy river . . . backgrounds suggested by dialogue only in the play become construction camps and bungalows. An ideal vehicle for Boris Karloff, yet don’t expect it to be another “Frankenstein” sort of thing . .. plot leans heavily on comedy . . . principal feminine character, Marie Wilson, carries both romance and “dumb” fun-making . . . Opposite her is Eddie Craven, who made the comedy hit in the original stage cast. Director John Farrow likes this sort of picture and put many a personal “touch” into it... to achieve the scope of backgrounds from Haitian jungles to waterfront to isolated, fog-bound, rigidly guarded arsenal-on-an-island, quite a bit of California geography was covered ... a river-bottom “dressed” by the studio “green crew” (greenhouse men) with real and artificial tropical flora made up the Haitian jungle... a Catalina Island headland, a Laguna shore line served for “long shots.” PRODUCTION STAFF DO URAGLON ccs John Farrow Screen Play by....Crane Wilbur Play by......Ralph Spencer Zink Photography by L. Wm. O’Connell Film Editor..Harold MclLernon Dialogue Director Harry Seymour Art Director..Stanley Fleischer Sound by........... Leslie G. Hewitt GOWNS DY. pecroesecesere Howard Shoup Page Ten A Masterpiece of Thrilling Mystery (Review) ‘Invisible Menace” Starring Boris Karloff in Thrilling Action Drama at the Strand STORY SYPNOSIS (not for publication) :— Powder Island Arsenal is a government reservation. Into this place Private Eddie Pratt (Eddie Craven) smuggles his bride of four hours, Sally (Marie Wilson), whom he has wedded while on a brief leave. While trying to find a place to hide her, he runs across the body of an officer, Reilly, who has been tortured and murdered. Col. Hackett, the commander (Henry Kolker), and Lieut. Matthews (Regis Toomey) begin an inves tigation. Realizing the mystery is beyond him, the Colonel sends for his friend Col. Rogers (Cy Kendall) of the Military Intelligence. Rogers recognizes, in the person of a civilian working on the reservation under the name of Jevries (Boris Karloff), a man whom he had arrested previously on the island of Haiti under his real name, Dolman, for embezzlement. Dolman protests that he is innocent of this crime, which circum stantial evidence seems to be pinning on him. He and Rogers alternately describe what happened in Haiti (which we see in flashes on the screen) where he was working with Reilly and began to hate him for persecutions that culminated in stealing his wife and pinning on him the crime for which he was imprisoned. A negro rebellion in Haiti, voodooism and witchcraft are cited. Meanwhile Eddie and Sally, through all this action, are being constantly interrupted at their honeymooning by being called for testifying, but in the end they help to solve the baffling mystery. Length—4914 ft. A mystery-thriller movie called “The Invisible Menace,” with Boris Karloff as its star (though minus any horror effects of makeup), had its first local showing yesterday at the Strand Theatre—and if you like mysteries this will grab your interest at the start and hold it until the fadeout. The finish is a smashing revelation of the killer (yes, it’s a murder mystery, to be sure), and he turns out to be an individual that not one out of a hundred in the audience has even suspected. That’s the way all movie mysteries should turn out. The story opens on an island occupied by the United States Army as an arsenal. A young buck private played by Eddie Craven smuggles onto this place his bride of the afternoon—Marie Wilson, whom he has married while on a short furlough. Seeking a place to hide her, he stumbles across the body of an ordnance officer, who had been tortured and killed. An investigation begins, and between this and the young bridegroom’s desperate efforts to hide his bride, there’s a whole lot of tension and suspense, liberally mixed with laughs. These are provided by Craven, who played the part in the New York stage production, “Without Warning,’ on which Running Time—59 min. the picture is based, and by the long-lashed Miss Wilson. Karloff is a civilian engineer employed at the arsenal. He is suspected of the killing, because at one time, on the Island of Haiti, he has had difficulties with the slain officer. “Invisible Menace,” at this point, presents some fascinating shots of Haiti and engrossing scenes of the voodoo worship that prevails in its jungles. Karloff, as usual, is splendid, especially in this sequence. Up until the very last moment of the picture the real killer is free and generally unsuspected, but sudden and complete justice is done in the end. Splendid performances by Mr. Karloff, who shows that he doesn’t need horror roles and complicated make-up to do a fine acting job; by the fresh and youthful Mr. Craven, and by the sparkling comedienne, Marie Wilson, make the ‘film an outstanding one in the realm of movie mysteries. The picture was directed by John Farrow from a screenplay by Crane Wilbur, based on Ralph Spencer Zink’s successful New York stage play. Included in the cast are Regis Toomey, Cy Kendall, Frank Faylen, and others. RISING STAR Blonde, lovely and streamlined Marie Wilson, a rising star on the Hollywood horizon, is currently playing the feminine lead in “The Invisible Menace,’’ thrilling mystery melodrama at the Strand Theatre. Mat 201—30c (Current) MARIE WILSON WROTE SCENARIO FOR SCREEN TEST So far as movie directors and casting officials can recall, Marie Wilson is the only movie actress who ever wrote the scenario of her original screen test. The scenario was a success and so was Marie’s acting. At any rate, it was through the resultant strip of celluloid that she ultimately got her Warner Bros. contract and is now playing the principal feminine role in the screen version of the stage play, “The Invisible Menace,’ which is now showing at the Strand Theatre. No wonder Marie was able to enact the part she did in the sketch. She wrote the thing especially to show off her histrionic talents. And she studied it for three months, so it was letterperfect before she faced the screen test cameras with it. “That was lucky, for it was just that much less to worry about,” she admits. “I was camera-shy and knew nothing about screen acting, although I’d already done some ‘Little Theatre’ plays. That sketch of mine was a life-saver. No matter how scared I got, I was so familiar with it that I didn’t have to worry about delivering my lines.” (Current) JUNGLE SCENES IN “INVISIBLE MENACE” MOVIE Where the Los Angeles River enters Warner Bros.’ film plant, that semi-dry streamlet “went tropical” again recently for about the sixteenth time in its film career. Dammed at one end, and its own feeble flow supplemented by a much greater one from water mains, the river became a_ lazy tropical stream. Beside it a “steaming jungle’ had been planted, part real, part artificial. Bamboo bungalows and part of a railway construction camp completed this set, which was erected for one sequence of the Boris Karloff mystery-thriller, “The Invisible Menace,” the picture that is now showing at the Strand Theatre. Here only Karloff and Cy Kendall of the film’s main cast worked since the tropical part of the picture is in the nature of an inserted prologue. Most of the action, with other players such as Marie Wilson, Eddie Craven and Regis Toomey, takes place on a government arsenal on an island off New York. CAST OF CHARACTERS NEEL eee ett Boris Karloff Sally Hddie Pratt Corporal Sanger .Marie Wilson Eddie Craven Eddie Acuft Lieutenant Matthews Regis Toomey Colonel Hackett..Henry Kolker Colonel Rogers........... Cy Kendall Dr. Brooks Charles Trowbridge Private of the Guard Frank Faylen Private Ferris..William Haade Reilly Harland Tucker Aline Dolman.......Phyllis Barry Private Innes..........John Ridgely Sergeant Peterson..Jack Mower Private Abbott Anderson Lawlor Private Murphy....John Harron