Tuesday, July 3, 2012

MST3K: Episode 623 - The Amazing Transparent Man

I'm watching all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes in order. More about that here and here.

Episode 623: The Amazing Transparent Man

First aired: Comedy Central on 18 March 1995
Availability: MST3KVideos.com Fan Copy

Not by H. G. Wells.
You won't see Claude Rains hoopin' and hollerin' in this film.

Okay, you didn't see Claude Rains hoopin' and hollerin' in The Invisible Man either. Because he was invisible.

The point is, Claude Rains isn't in this film. No, it's not Dr. Jack Griffen, but Joey Faust as the man who suffers from invisibility in this cinematic treasure. Faust is played by Douglas Kennedy, who actually had a long film career, ending with three episodes of Hawaii Five-O in 1973 when he died in Honolulu.

So, not a star of Claude Rains stature, but a steady worker in films for over 30 years.

Not so amazing when it wears off in the middle of a bank robbery.
This film was not the highlight of his long career. It's not a run of the mill ripoff of The Invisible Man, because while Claude Rains turns invisible, Faust becomes transparent. It's called The Amazing Transparent Man, after all. Big difference.

Bank robber Joey Faust breaks out of prison with help from Major Krenner and his she-henchman Laura, and is taken to Krenner's place where he's forcing Dr. Ulof to conduct invisibility experiments using guinea pigs as guinea pigs, so Faust wants to become invisible, but Krenner is opposed, so he ties up Faust and makes Ulof turn him invisible, so Faust breaks into a lab and steals the secret ingredient that will turn things invisible, then he is sent to steal more, but he talks Laura into stopping by the bank so he can rob the bank in broad daylight, but he starts turning visible and escapes with the money back to Krenner's place, but Krenner is all mad about the bank robbery, so Laura gets shot, Krenner and Faust get blown up by an atomic explosion, and the scientist and his daughter get away, then the scientist asks the audience, "What would you do?" The end.

Auntie Frank's is open for business.
An okay film. Had some plot holes, but they must have been invisible to the writers. The acting wasn't bad. Well, not horribly bad. Faust and the lady that played Laura had long film and TV careers, so you can figure they're decent actors. They did okay in this one. Just didn't have a lot to work with.

The episode riffing was fun, and we got to see Crow splayed across the wall as part of Servo's insect collection. Oh, and Auntie Frank's Bed & Breakfast go their first customers. Didn't stay long, though.

By the way, we're winding down on Frank Conniff's term as TV's Frank on MST3K. The next episode is Frank's last. Sort of.

Oh, and this episode hasn't been released on video. The only way to see it is by owning a fan copy. It's worth locating. I'm glad I did. I enjoyed it.

Maybe you can find it on the YouTube:

[Direct link]



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