# The Invisible Man Returns
**The Invisible Man Returns** is a 1940 American horror-suspense film from [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures) and the first sequel to the studio's 1933 film *The Invisible Man*. Directed by Joe May, it stars [Vincent Price](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincent-price) as Geoffrey Radcliffe, a man wrongly convicted of murdering his brother who escapes execution by taking an invisibility serum and uses his new condition to hunt the real killer while the drug slowly drives him insane.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS) • [2](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-invisible-man-returns)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 12 January 1940, Universal Pictures; 81 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS) |
| Director / writers | Joe May; Kurt Siodmak and Lester Cole (also credited Cedric Belfrage)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/invisible_man_returns) |
| Lead cast | Vincent Price (Geoffrey Radcliffe), Sir Cedric Hardwicke (Richard Cobb), Nan Grey (Helen Manson), John Sutton (Dr. Frank Griffin), Cecil Kellaway (Inspector Sampson)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS) |
| Recognition | Academy Award nomination for Special Effects: John P. Fulton (photographic effects), Bernard B. Brown and William Hedgecock (sound effects)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS) |
| Critical scores | 87% Tomatometer (31 reviews) and 60% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore 48 on Metacritic[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/invisible_man_returns) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-invisible-man-returns/critic-reviews/) |
| Series position | Second of Universal's Invisible Man films, followed by *The Invisible Woman* (1940), *Invisible Agent* (1942), *The Invisible Man's Revenge* (1944), and *Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man* (1951)[5](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Proctor-2/publication/353986996_Building_imaginary_horror_worlds/links/680f5333df0e3f544f4c25f6/Building-imaginary-horror-worlds.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Geoffrey Radcliffe, owner of a coal mining operation, is convicted of murdering his brother and sentenced to hang. Dr. Frank Griffin, brother of the original [Invisible Man](https://www.edgepedia.org/invisible-man), injects him with a replicated invisibility serum, allowing Radcliffe to vanish from his jail cell and search for the true culprit while Inspector Sampson of Scotland Yard pursues him. Radcliffe suspects a recent hire at his family's mining company, and his cousin Richard Cobb has something to hide.[2](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-invisible-man-returns) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/invisible_man_returns) • [6](https://www.cinematicrandomness.com/dvd-review-the-invisible-man-returns-1940/)
The serum carries the same side effect as in the first film: gradual madness. Radcliffe is unaware that the drug causes dangerous delusions of grandeur, and while he races to expose the killer, Dr. Griffin works to develop an antidote before Radcliffe goes insane.[2](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-invisible-man-returns)
## Production and cast
The film was produced by Universal Pictures with cinematography by Milton Krasner, editing by Frank Gross, and production design by Jack Otterson.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS) A pre-production news item in *The Hollywood Reporter* had named Rowland V. Lee as producer and director and W. P. Lipscomb as writer, but their participation in the final film was not confirmed.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS)
**Vincent Price** made his horror film debut as Radcliffe. Because the character is invisible for most of the running time, Price was hired largely for his voice; reviewers noted his "urbanely mellifluous" delivery as an admirable successor to [Claude Rains](https://www.edgepedia.org/claude-rains), who had played the title role in 1933.[7](https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Invisible-Man-Returns-Blu-ray/207224/) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-invisible-man-returns/critic-reviews/) Sir Cedric Hardwicke played the cousin Richard Cobb, described by one reviewer as the film's true villain.[6](https://www.cinematicrandomness.com/dvd-review-the-invisible-man-returns-1940/)
## Special effects
John P. Fulton's photographic effects team earned an Academy Award nomination in the Special Effects category, shared with sound effects artists Bernard B. Brown and William Hedgecock.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS) The invisibility illusion relied on double exposure, a technique that preceded blue-screen: two separate images were filmed on the same film, with Price wearing a black mask or body suit so that the first exposure appeared empty in the black areas.[8](https://www.oscarchamps.com/2018/06/18/1940-the-invisible-man-returns/) A scene of Price unwrapping his garments to reveal nothing beneath was shot with the actor and the set covered in black velvet, the same method [James Whale](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-whale) had used in the 1933 original.[9](https://letterboxd.com/jacobgrieser/film/the-invisible-man-returns/) Contemporary reviewers judged the effects an improvement on the first film, though later home-video viewing revealed some of the mechanics.[9](https://letterboxd.com/jacobgrieser/film/the-invisible-man-returns/) • [10](https://www.inverteddungeon.com/asteroidg/index.php?page=20200109_invisible_man_1933_2§ion=articles)
## Reception
Rotten Tomatoes records an 87% Tomatometer from 31 critics, with 27 fresh and 4 rotten reviews, against a 60% Popcornmeter audience score from more than 1,000 ratings.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/invisible_man_returns) Metacritic's smaller sample of four critics produced a Metascore of 48, mixed or average: Variety scored it 70, praising Joe May's steady, suspenseful pacing; Time Out gave 60; [Pauline Kael](https://www.edgepedia.org/pauline-kael) in *The New Yorker* gave 50, writing that "the first freshness is gone"; and Frank S. Nugent in *The New York Times* gave 40, finding it "neither so horrendous nor so humorous as the first one."[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-invisible-man-returns/critic-reviews/) Australian and British period reviews praised the technical tricks and Price's handling of his appearances and disappearances.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/invisible_man_returns)
## Place in the series
The film inverts the philosophical question of its predecessor: instead of exploring whether invisibility leads to crime, it asks whether invisibility can solve crime, with a more sympathetic invisible protagonist.[11](https://letterboxd.com/cineanalyst/film/the-invisible-man-returns/) This reflects a broader shift in studio-era Hollywood. Once the Motion Picture Production Code began being enforced more strictly in 1934, films were pushed toward scripts with more explicit moral structure, and later versions therefore tended to portray invisible figures as victims using their invisibility to correct an injustice; *The Invisible Man Returns* and *Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man* both follow this pattern, in which a man wrongly accused becomes invisible in order to evade capture and prove his innocence.[12](https://time.com/5795861/invisibility-movies-history/)
Universal continued the concept through *The Invisible Woman* (1940), *Invisible Agent* (1942), *The Invisible Man's Revenge* (1944), and *Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man* (1951).[5](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Proctor-2/publication/353986996_Building_imaginary_horror_worlds/links/680f5333df0e3f544f4c25f6/Building-imaginary-horror-worlds.pdf) The film has remained in circulation on home video, appearing in *The Invisible Man: Complete Legacy Collection* on DVD and Blu-ray and in the *Universal Classic Monsters Complete 30-Film Collection*.[2](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-invisible-man-returns) • [7](https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Invisible-Man-Returns-Blu-ray/207224/)
## References
1. [The Invisible Man Returns (1940), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4677-THE-INVISIBLE-MAN-RETURNS)
2. [The Invisible Man Returns, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-invisible-man-returns)
3. [The Invisible Man Returns, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/invisible_man_returns)
4. [The Invisible Man Returns critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-invisible-man-returns/critic-reviews/)
5. [Building Imaginary Horror Worlds (Horror Franchise Cinema, First Edition)](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Proctor-2/publication/353986996_Building_imaginary_horror_worlds/links/680f5333df0e3f544f4c25f6/Building-imaginary-horror-worlds.pdf)
6. [DVD Review: The Invisible Man Returns (1940), Cinematic Randomness](https://www.cinematicrandomness.com/dvd-review-the-invisible-man-returns-1940/)
7. [The Invisible Man Returns Blu-ray Review, Blu-ray.com](https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Invisible-Man-Returns-Blu-ray/207224/)
8. [1940 – The Invisible Man Returns, Academy Award Best Picture Winners](https://www.oscarchamps.com/2018/06/18/1940-the-invisible-man-returns/)
9. [The Invisible Man Returns review, Letterboxd (Jacob Grieser)](https://letterboxd.com/jacobgrieser/film/the-invisible-man-returns/)
10. [The Invisible Man Returns (1940), Inverted Dungeon](https://www.inverteddungeon.com/asteroidg/index.php?page=20200109_invisible_man_1933_2§ion=articles)
11. [The Invisible Man Returns review, Letterboxd (Cineanalyst)](https://letterboxd.com/cineanalyst/film/the-invisible-man-returns/)
12. [Beyond The Invisible Man: A Brief History of Invisibility on Screen, Time](https://time.com/5795861/invisibility-movies-history/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Horror and slasher series film entries › 1970s and 1980s releases*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license