Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The great special effects regarding the "Invisible Man" "gags" are outstanding and almost over-power the entire movie. Costello is quite a bit thinner here than he is was in 1948, in their "Frankenstein" monster classic. Typical A&C routines abound. As usual, almost everyone thinks Costello is "seeing things" and is imagining an invisible man. As always, Lou is taken advantage of by the "pretty woman" and Bud gets ignored completely. The film is so well-cast that it is superior to many Bud and Lou movies. Supporting actors include: William Frawley, Sheldon Leonard, and Arthur Franz. A lot of fun for all. Cute ending, as Lou disappears for a short time and re-appears with his feet on backwards.(Note: no playback problems in this 2015 four movie re-issue.)

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) *** (out of 4) Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play characters who have just graduated from a detective school when they get their first case. It turns out that boxer Tommy Nelson (Arthur Franz) is running from the law after being accused of killing his manager. A doctor he knows creates a formula that turns him invisible, which he uses to try and find the real killer of his manager with Bud and Lou along for the ride.After the success of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, Universal teamed their comedy duo up with several of their most famous monsters and one really could argue that this here was the duos last really good movie. While there are certainly a few gags here borrowed from previous movies, this one really does come across as being funny and fresh. It also offers up some very good special effects that will appeal to those fans of the Universal horror series.The best thing going for this film is that it actually gives you a fairly good and simple story that has plenty for the comic duo to do. There's a great sequence where the boys are given five-hundred-dollars and Costello keeps trying to take some of the money from Abbott. There's a great sequence where Lou is inside a gangster's girlfriend apartment trying to score some evidence. The highlight of the film has to be once Lou is in the ring and the invisible man must help him box. Of course, this one also benefits from us getting to see Abbott take some of the abuse.The special effects are certainly worth talking about as they look downright great. Universal's "Invisible" series had effects that would get better with time but they're quite impressive here and especially the scenes with the invisible man eating spaghetti. Both Bud and Lou are in fine form here as both men seem fresh and full of energy. The supporting cast is quite good as well. Overall, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN is a very good "B" movie and one of the last good films from the comedy legends.

Not the very best, Meet Frankenstein is my personal favourite and was their to me their last truly great one. Afterwards their films didn't reach the level set by Meet Frankenstein and their earlier outings but there were a few that did come close. The best one being Meet the Invisible Man, which, personally and to by the looks of it a few others, of the Meet...films is bettered only by Meet Frankenstein(Meet Jekyll and Hyde was fun though too). There is very little actually that's wrong actually, for personal tastes a couple of parts are ever so slightly rushed and the ending was more grotesque than funny and the special effects in that scene were very slapdash, a let down after being so impressed by the rest of the special effects in the film. The plot is silly and on the thin side, but that can be forgotten and forgiven if the material is good and that is the case with Meet the Invisible Man.Actually the material is more than good, it's great and the best parts are the funniest of Abbott and Costello's later films. The dialogue is smartly written throughout and makes one laugh so much that there's the danger of missing something(Costello has the best lines) and the gags and slapstick while a tad overdone(again forgivable as that is part of the charm with Abbott and Costello) similarly delightful. The highlight of the film is, agreed, the boxing match but the dinner and Abbott's drunk act scenes stand out too. From a technical standpoint, Meet the Invisible Man impresses, it's well shot and has an appropriate setting but especially good were the special effects which not only look good but are especially for the Invisible Man some of the most ingenious of all their films. The score has the right amount of jauntiness and the film is briskly directed. The supporting cast are solid as rocks with Sheldon Leonard faring best but it's Abbott and Costello, as they rightly should, who steal the show. Abbott plays it straight effectively and Costello proves that being bumbling can be hilarious.To conclude, Meet the Invisible Man is A&C's best film of the 50s, the second best of the Meet...films after Meet Frankenstein and it's one of their better outings overall without being towards the top. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This was A & C's second attempt at using the "Universal Monsters" to provide a horror counterpoint to their comic antics. Obviously, after the logjam of monsters in A & C meet Frankenstein (including a bit with The Invisible Man at the end) this film couldn't compete. There's no Claude Rains here from the 1933 classic (or even Vincent Price), but instead an unimpressive Arthur Franz. Of course Rain's John Griffin character was dead by that film's end, and this story is as much about boxer Franz as it is about invisibility. It should be titled: 'A & C Meet The Invisible Boxer.' The link to the original is an almost "blink and you'll miss it" reference to "John Griffin's original formula" and a shot of a photograph of Claude Rains.A & C play novice, fresh-out-of-school, detectives. By 1951 they both looked tired and dissipated, although Costello's earlier career as a stuntman helps him with the slapstick his aging body is put through here. Their characters get involved in helping the now invisible Franz clear his name of murder and bring down the boxing mob that did the actual killing (led by Sheldon Leonard doing his umpteenth slick New York-style gangster role). Frawley is the uncomprehending cop quite reasonably suspicious and alternatively disgusted with A & C. It's all pleasantly handled and features some terrific effects (for some reason Hollywood films, even way back then, could do invisibility tricks very well). The film moves along fairly fast at first, then slows down badly in the middle (lots of sitting at card tables and restaurants in order to do some invisibility bits but they go on too long, making the story and pace stiffen up). On the plus side for this film, the A & C comedy team benefits from having Abbott play things dumber than Costello at times, and also happily dispenses with those curiously violent and unfunny bits where Abbott rages and slaps at Costello. And Costello abandons most of his annoying baby-ish antics in this one (although at one moment he unaccountably starts sucking on a magnifying glass as if it were a lollipop--weird). And speaking of weird, the closing gag with Costello's legs is funny but makes absolutely no sense.