I Have To Admit It, Girls--Rubber Chicken Steals The Show On "Svengoolie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                               At one time, I actually had a rubber chicken, long before it became popular, thanks to "Svengoolie."  I wish I still  had  it.

                                  Last week, Svengoolie showed  Universals's 1940 "The Invisible  Man Returns."  Nowhere near as good  as the Claude Rains original--which was directed by James Whale, and which Claude Rains brought  a heartbreaking pathos to the  title character.  When the dead Rains' figure actually appeared at the end,  I found  myself  shedding tears.

                                    The first thing needed for this role is a  great,  theatrical  voice.  As Rains was killed  off, another  was found--Vincent  Price, probably the next best thing.   He gave it  his all,  but much of  it  was  repetitious.

                                      But there were a number of  things that made  it novel.  Like seeing Sir Cedric Hardwicke, often cast as a good guy--play a bad one, corporate bastard Richard Cobb.  Who is out to snatch the Radcliffe  Factory, owned by Price,  as Sir Geoffrey Radcliffe.  He starts out by murdering his brother,  Michael, framing Price for it, and then electing the most  incompetent worker to  the position of Supervisor.  I'm telling  you, girls, isn't that always the case.

                                        There is  a  lab  on the factory premises,  where Frank Griffin, brother of the late Jack (Claude Rains) devises a way for Radcliffe to escape, which he does, to exact revenge.  Meanwhile,  Griffin  has to  come  up  with an antidote to remedy the inevitable madness that takes over  each time  the invisibility serum is used.  Can  he  do it,  and  save  Price?

                                           The movie  rides on this.  And has some of  the  same  poignance.   As well as the novelty of Cecil  Kellaway,  famous for charming,  whimsical  types, enacting a hard  bitten detective.  And Nan Grey, best known as  Lily, the lesbian prostitute, in 1936's "Dracula's Daughter," as the very proper and  overwrought fiance, Helen.

                                             This monster had its  limits,  which is why  Universal stopped churning out such films.  Not until  Price  played him again, at  the end of "Abbott And Costello" Meet "Frankenstein," was he  effectively employed again. Of  course,  there was 1944's "The Invisble Man's Revenge," with Jon Hall, but, I have not seen it, and the "Revenge" in the  title almost gives  the whole  thing away.

                                               What is "Svengoolie" showing this Saturday night?   Stay tuned,  to find  out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                 And kudos  to that Rubber  Chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!