"The Invisible Man(Avenger)" movie from 1954 review, part one

 

This movie also went by the name Avenger instead of Man which is why both are above.

 Release Date: December 29, 1954  Length: 70 minutes Director: Motoyoshi Oda

Screenplay: Shigeaki Hidaka  Subs by Mashhamid, most of these older films are.

Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya, is to the immediate right of the clown in the pic below.

 Think there is one more oldish Invisible Man movie from Japan though could be wrong as what I read may be referring to "H-Man". Have seen that movie as it is part of a TOHO movie collection that also had the first Mothra movie, in "H-Man" the main character was invisible but it was so different than these two films I've reviewed. And this film is so much different than the one released in 1949, this wasn't a sequel nor was based on the Wells novel. While that first movie was better to me this one had some fine moments and actually did seem to be more popular, at the top here are many promo pics for the film. The only constant between the two movies was that the master Eiji Tsuburaya did the special effects for this film and as you can see above they were mostly effective. But as I read not always for as you can see in the screenshot below if you look closely wires are attached to the motorcycle! No big deal as many big budget and hit movies also have some minor goofs in them.

 Won't spoil things too much but the Invisible Man in this movie is on the left above and there was a very good reason for him dressing as a clown. The woman above was quite attractive, while it is true actresses didn't dress like Idols back in the 1950's there's nothing wrong with the way they looked. The woman's name was Miki Sanjo who was 26 when this movie was made, she was born in 1928 but didn't pass away until 2015 and seems so many Japanese actresses lived past the age of 85. It's unbelievable how many movies actors used to appear in during the 1950's, 60's and 70's, seemed she was in over ten a year up until 1960 and that was so common back then. Below are two more promo pics and seemed this film was much more heavily promoted than the 1949 movie but then again that first one came out only four years after the war ended.

 Main Cast: How the Invisible Man came to be that way will be explained below after the movie's trailer and will leave it there for both posts. It is wiser to have a section to explain everything as when the film opened up there were two men who were invisible and wouldn't a pair make for an interesting movie? Actually a whole army of them would and in a way there was during the war for Japan, will get into that a bit further down.

Seizaburou Kawazu as Takemitsu Nanjo.... aka the Invisible Man. Being invisible is the reason for Nanjo dressing as a clown, as you can see above his job was working as a 'Sandwich Man', that was the nickname for those who carried around signs advertising clubs, stores, etc. Nanjo is invisible so when he puts on the clown makeup he's able to be seen and can lead a somewhat normal life. Even when one is invisible they still have to eat, clean and wear clothes when it gets cold which would be most of the time if you're invisible! Nanjo had been part of the special forces for the Imperial Army during the war, that's when he became invisible and so didn't a whole battalion but only Nanjo and one other survived.

 Miki Sanjo as Michiyo.... She had no last name and worked as a singer at the Kurofune cabaret club and if that was her real voice Miki was quite the singer. She lived at the Peace House apartment building, so didn't Nanjo above plus the character of Mariko who is blind and Michiyo seemed to really care for her. Work wasn't going too well as the club is owned by a Yakuza named Yajima and his main henchman Ken too often has tried to take advantage of Michiyo but has always been rebuffed. She also an errands/dropoffs for the Invisible Gang leader Yajima. As you can see below what an attractive woman she was.

 Keiko Kondo as Mariko.... Blind girl about fourteen in age, her parents are deceased so was living with her grandfather Fujiwara. He didn't have a lot of screen time so won't have an entry, he did work as a security guard and was murdered by Yajima's gang. Mariko had been well liked by Michiyo and Nanjo who promised her a music box for Christmas as this was set in December.

 Yoshio Tsuchiya as Komatsu.... Yoshio was in many of those classic sci-fi films from the 1950's and 60's often playing the bad guy or an Alien. In this film he played the role of Komatsu who was a reporter for the Shoyo newspaper. Komatsu discovered the identity of the Invisible Man before anyone else and believed him when told he was innocent of any crimes. Komatsu and Nanjo(IM) did form a partnership to bring the gang down but Nanjo did almost all of it, Komatsu is on the right in the below screenshot.

Minoru Takada as Yajima.... Owner of the Kurofune cabaret which is where Michiyo works as a singer. Yajima was also the leader of the Invisible Gang who disguised themselves as Invisible Men by wrapping bandages around their heads. The gang did pull off many heists and had stolen over 20 million yen but also had murdered Mariko's grandfather Fujiwara. That's Yajima on the right below talking to Michiyo, like some other main characters didn't have a ton of screen time.

Kenjiro Uemura as Ken.... The main henchman for Yajima and what a creep this guy was. He often threatened Michiyo and it appeared had tried taking her to bed many times in the past but every time he was put in his place!!!!

 That's it above for the major characters, of course there were others who you will be hearing about in the review. There was just one trailer for this movie so won't change the video for the next post, it may appear as though there was a lot of action which wasn't the case or at least not until the finale.

 

 

 Will explain briefly here how Nanjo ended up as the Invisible Man, there was also one other person with that problem and will have this here in case you want to refer back to it. Back in the war Nanjo and the other invisible person Akita had served in the special forces of the Imperial Army. A doctor named Nishizaki was working on a different experiment using Cyclotron Proton when he discovered if mixed with another substance could make a person or object transparent. But it appeared the Japanese Army never used that 'secret weapon' enough during the war and perhaps there were some side effects which hampered the soldiers. These experiments took place on the island of Saipei, after the war ended this group of invisible soldiers had been killed though by who is unknown. What was also unknown is that two were not killed, Nanjo who is the Invisible Man in this movie and a soldier named Akita who was in the first scene but in no others for he was killed then, actually it was a suicide mission. That is a simple breakdown of how the 'hero' Nanjo became transparent and wouldn't an army of invisible soldiers be unbeatable, wonder if there's been any movies with that plot?

 Did enjoy this movie but will admit the "Invisible Man Appears" film from 1949 was much better though this wasn't a sequel. Movies such as this are rarely classics but I can't get enough of them and you may be seeing many more of these older films coming up. In that first screenshot wearing the clown outfit is this movie's Invisible Man who is named Nanjo. Did say in the character section why he was a 'Sandwich Man' for it allowed Nanjo to paint his face which of course was invisible, this way he could lead a semi normal life. This was set in December 1954 so it was over nine years since the war had ended and doubt if Nanjo had been a 'clown' for all those years but what else he did wasn't revealed. Eiji Tsuburaya did the special effects once again in this film and it was just a few months after he had done them for the first and ultra classic Godzilla flick. There's a special effect above of the Invisible Man riding a motorcycle, we also saw him shoot a gun, get into fights, etc. As is the case for all my movie reviews this will be broken down into two posts but it should be much shorter than the previous Invisible Man movie.

 Most of the action, perhaps all, took place in Tokyo and mainly the Ginza section which in 1954 wasn't as ritzy as it became though it did have many jewelry stores. In the top three screenshots there was an accident in Ginza, a man driving his car could have sworn he ran over a person. But when he got out of his vehicle there was no person there and no others noticed anything either. For a few seconds that is as blood began to seep out from beneath the car and soon becoming visible was a man! The way he went from being invisible to transparent of course shocked the Ginza crowd, a policeman did arrive and checked the victim's pockets. His name was Haruo Akita and also found in a pocket was a suicide note. Much of this is explained above but Akita wrote on his note that he had been part of a war experiment that changed regular soldiers into invisible men and he just couldn't take living that way anymore. It was because there had been no antidote developed and the Tokyo citizens were in an uproar as were there more of these invisible men? NO for holding a press conference the next day was the Tokyo police chief Onda who did admit that Akita had been part of a war experiment and there was one other surviving Invisible Man. Onda assured everyone at this time and at a later press conference that the person would be nabbed but the police were of no help in the film.

 The man in the middle screenshot wearing glasses was an editor at the Shoyo newspaper named Suda, he was talking to his best reporter Komatsu about this new story. Komatsu has been trying to create his own story about what had taken place during the war with these invisible men with not much success. However Komatsu knew there were two survivors from the war, now of course there is just one left. Komatsu does have an inkling on who it may be, this was a semi important role though thought it would be larger. That girl in the middle above is about fourteen in age whose name is Mariko. She's blind but wasn't born that way, surgery may bring her vision back but it is expensive. Mariko's parents are deceased and she lives with her grandfather Fujiwara at the Peace House apartment building. We didn't see Fujiwara too often, he worked nights as a security guard and he will have an important scene later on. Also living in the building is the Clown above and by now you must know that is the Invisible Man aka Nanjo. He gets along well with Mariko and visits her every day, though she acts happy Mariko has to be a bit sad as she never leaves that small apartment and is often alone. Living in the apartment across a small divide(five feet?) from Mariko was a woman named Michiyo, that's her singing above. She is an important character and was also friends with Mariko, we learn later that she may have a crush on the Invisible Man! As far as crushes go the man above does have one on Michiyo, it's a creep named Ken.

 The second paragraph is ALWAYS the longest in a recap and not sure why, none of the others between this and the next post should be that long though it was shorter than most second paragraphs.

 Michiyo is a popular singer at the Kurofune cabaret, did say what an attractive woman she was a few times and also had a fine voice. The nightclub is owned by a gangster named Yajima, were they called the Yakuza back then? His right hand man is Ken who has often tried to nab Michiyo for a night rolling around in the hay, to date it's never worked for him(good!). It didn't this time either as Nanjo walked in while Ken was about to perhaps assault Michiyo, Nanjo just wanted his pay from Ken who threw it at the clown and stormed out. Sure most have read the large intro section which is so informative so you would know that Nanjo is the last remaining Invisible Man. He works as a 'Sandwich Man' which means he walks the streets all day carrying signs to promote a business, he had been doing that for the Kurofune cabaret. Being a clown is so important to Nanjo as wearing makeup means he can lead a somewhat normal life and in my honest opinion what a nice chap he was. Also thinking that way was Michiyo who thanked her 'savior', though they both live at the Peace House building it may have been their first time conversing and to me think that's when Michiyo got a crush on Nanjo.

 Mentioned the name of Yajima, he's the leader of a gang that has become dubbed the Invisible Gang. Thar's them in the third screenshot above, they were robbing a racetrack and soon after many other places, they were so successful with their hauls adding up to be over twenty million yen. They're named the Invisible Gang because they wear bandages around their heads and more on them in both posts. Some of the public was wondering if the Invisible Man was leading this group, of course not and also a believer was the reporter Komatsu. Above he was still doing research on the WWII invisible men experiments the Army had done, Komatsu finally found the professor who led the project. He's above in two screenshots and his name was Nishikawa, he explained all the technical terms that went into creating an invisible man but I won't as it was over my head! Nishikawa was the leader of the project but the man who developed the serum had died three years ago and had never created an antidote. This seemed like an important scene but not sure what we learned from it though it did help Komatsu with his story. Bottom three screenshots above are from the Peace House, Christmas is coming up and Nanjo promised he would get Mariko a music box for a present which only semi happened(?).

 This will wrap up the first part of the review, the screenshots below are more of what took place in the first 35 minutes. There was an intense ending to this first part but as you can see in the top screenshot above Nanjo went into a Ginza jewelry store and did order a music box for Mariko. Soon after arriving on the scene was Komatsu and he was a top notch reporter who never gave up, he found out about the music box and how much longer can Nanjo keep his identity a secret(?).... if it still is!. Komatsu is hot on the tail of the Invisible Man and after that talk with the professor Nishikawa plus with the info at the jewelry store has deduced that the Invisible Man is Nanjo! Of course he was correct and Komatsu hid out in Nanjo's Peace House apartment and didn't have long to wait as Nanjo returned from work. That's the two above chatting with Nanjo swearing up and down he wasn't part of the Invisible Gang who had been committing so many robberies plus their first murder! Komatsu believed him and the pair formed a team to bring this gang down and to avenge the murder that happened the previous night, thought it would be better to end with how the killing took place.

 The older man in the fourth screenshot is Mariko's grandfather Fujiwara and had been talking with the leader of the Invisible Gang, Yajima. Actually it was more of a case of Fujiwara taking orders as Yajima wanted him to make sure things went smoothly that night for Yajima's gang, in return Fujiwara would receive 100,000 yen! That's how much Fujiwara needed for Mariko's eye operation but was so leery of Yajima and his thugs though Fujiwara had also been threatened so he really had no choice but to obey Yajima. Fujiwara was a guard at the Shibaura Warehouse which was at a pier and that night was receiving a huge shipment. Yajima wanted the valuable goods and Fujiwara's task was to make sure his Invisible Gang got away cleanly which did happen. However Yajima was also a two timing lowlife and ordered one of his men to rub out Fujiwara after the heist was done which did happen. The thug that killed Fujiwara was dressed as the Invisible Man, when he fled another guard spotted him which is why Nanjo felt the police could be after him. That wraps up part one, dramas and movies often seem better to me when I write up a review and so far that's been the case for this film.