The Invisible Ray (1936)

One of a number of vehicles devised by Universal to team up their new horror stars Karloff and Lugosi, The Invisible Ray (1936) opts for a science fiction scenario rather than the Poe-inspired Gothic horror of The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935).  Surprisingly ambitious for a horror film of the era, The Invisible Ray's action takes place across the globe, encompassing locations in Africa and Paris, amongst others, although, in reality, never leaving the Universal backlot.  This constant shifting of location gives the film a rather episodic feel, almost like a serial, opening like a mad scientist picture, before becoming a jungle adventure and finally a horror-revenge movie.  (Indeed, director Lambert Hillyer would later direct the cult favourite Batman serial for Columbia in 1943).  Obviously, the film's big selling point to contemporary audiences was the teaming of Karloff and Lugosi.  Their billing on the opening titles gives an indication of the way in which their respective careers were already heading:  Karloff's name is billed above Lugosi's with the actor identified solely by his last name (the only other actor of the time afforded such billing was Garbo), with the added suffix 'The Uncanny'.  Lugosi, by contrast, is not only billed second, his name below Karloff's, but his full name is used and is in a noticeably smaller font size that his co-star's.  This marks the point at which Lugosi found himself being relegated to what were effectively supporting roles to Karloff's star turn, a pattern repeated in subsequent team ups like Son of Frankenstein (1939), Black Friday (1940) and The Body Snatcher (1945).

Perhaps most disconcerting, The Invisible Ray sees Lugosi cast as the sympathetic character, a reasonable scientist devoted to humanitarian research,  whereas Karloff is the paranoid, ostracised rogue scientist, who eventually succumbs to the effects of his latest discovery, goes mad and becomes a literal monster.  Karloff's initial research - which has been decried by the rest of the scientific community - actually seems perfectly reasonable: he is studying light from distant stars, believing that this will allow him to see into the past.  While demonstrating his latest experiments to a group of scientists, including Lugosi, he sees in the ancient light a meteorite striking the earth millions of years ago, landing in Africa.  Believing that such an ancient meteor might contain rare elements otherwise unknown on earth, he and the other scientists team up to find it.  Karloff discovers the meteorite, which contains a radioactive element that he calls 'Radium X'.  Not only can its energy be directed as a death ray, but it also has healing properties in small quantities.  Naturally, Karloff ends up being exposed to the meteorite's full power and ends up glowing in the dark, with his touch proving deadly to all living things.  Despite Lugosi devising a serum that, with daily doses, can return him to normal, Karloff, fuelled by the knowledge that his wife has fallen in love with another man, starts losing his mind, convinced that, with his 'Radium X' powered treatments for the sick, Lugosi is trying to steal credit for his discovery.  Inevitably, he stops taking his treatment regularly and starts using his deadly touch to kill off other members of the expedition, before eventually falling to his death and exploding.  

While not quite a top drawer Karloff/Lugosi entry, The Invisible Ray is still an above average horror/science fiction film of its era, still highly watchable.  Lambert Hillyer might have been primarily a B-movie director (especially of B westerns), but he moves the film along at a reasonable pace, despite its somewhat halting, episodic structure.  Overall, despite utilising the familiar Universal backlot sets seen in countless other of their pictures, the film has decent enough production values, well above those of the B-movies that Lugosi, in particular, would subsequently find himself embroiled in, (Karloff always managed to contrive to appear in bigger budgeted and better appointed B-movies in addition to prominent character roles in A pictures).  The film's biggest weakness, perhaps, is its lack of a truly striking monster - Karloff's glowing madman is, in its way, quite striking, but nowhere near as memorable as Frankenstein's monster or the Mummy, both of which he had recently played.