KARLOFF: THE INVISIBLE MAN (paperback)

ISBN  9781629333779

Winner of the 2012 Halloween Book Festival Award!

In 1932 many projects were announced for Boris Karloff, now Universal’s top monster film star; they ranged from the supernatural 'Cagliostro,' the classic monster film 'The Wolf Man,' to the science fiction projects 'A Trip to Mars' and 'The Invisible Man.'

'Cagliostro' was transformed into 'The Mummy,' and 'The Wolf Man' was put on the shelf for 9 years. Director James Whale was stalling because Universal wanted him to make a sequel to 'Frankenstein' - but after countless rewrites by Preston Sturges, Gouveneur Morris, John Huston and a dozen other writers, R.C. Sherriff managed to capture H.G. Wells' original concept and 'The Invisible Man' was put into production.  However, the film went ahead without Karloff who turned down the part in a salary dispute with Carl Laemmle Junior. With Claude Rains in the starring role (even though he does not appear on screen except for a few minutes at the end of the film,) 'The Invisible Man' became a huge success and one that most historians and fans think is Whale's best picture, after 'The Bride of Frankenstein,' which was made two years later.

This volume is more of a portfolio in the development of Universal’s 'The Invisible Man.' It is different from the other volumes in the series in that, after attempts by many writers, Carl Laemmle Jr. was not satisfied with any of the treatments until James Whale got R.C. Sheriff to write the final shooting script.  As you will see even Whale himself wrote a treatment for 'The Invisible Man.'