The Invisible Ray (Universal Studios, 1936)

One Sheet Poster

Universal’s third star teaming of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, they also had cameos in 1934’s Gift of Gab, played up the scientific aspect rather than horror in the wake of a back lash against extreme Hollywood output, including both gangster and horror films. For once, Lugosi was cast in a non-villainous role as a good scientist pitted against Karloff’s noble man of science driven insane by exposure to a radioactive substance brought to earth by a meteorite. During pre-production the film had several proposed titles – The Shining Spectre, Ghoul of Piccadilly and The Death Ray.

Production Company: Universal Studios

Producer: Edmund Grainger

Executive Producer: Fred S. Meyer

Director: Lambert Hillyer

Assistant Directors: Sergi Petschnikoff and Fred Frank

Screenplay: John Colton

Original Story: Howard Higgins and Douglas Hodges

Cinematography: George Robinson

Special Effects: Raymond Lindsay

Special Cinematography: John P. Fulton

Effects Assistant: David S. Horsley

Matte Artists: John Cosgrove and Russell Lawson

Art Direction: Albert D’Agostino

Music: Franz Waxman

Make-up: Jack P. Pierce and Otto Lederer

Gowns: Beymer

Sound Supervisor: Gilbert Kurland

Sound Recordists: Charles Carroll and William Hedgcock

Script Clerk: Myrtle Gibsone

Editor: Bernard W. Burton

Editorial Supervisor: Maurice Pivar S

ecretary to Producer: Camille Collins

Secretary to Director: June Blumenthal

Technical Advisor: Ted Behr

Production Assistant: Alfred Stern

Running Time: 80 minutes

Copyright Number: LP6060, January 14 1936

Cast:

Boris Karloff: Dr. Janos Rukh

Bela Lugosi: Dr. Felix Benet

Frances Drake: Diane Rukh

Frank Lawson: Ronald Drake

Walter Kingsford: Sir Francis Stevens

Beulah Bondi: Lady Arabella Stevens

Violet Kemble Cooper: Mother Rukh

Nydia Westman: Briggs

Daniel L. Haines: Rukh’s head bearer

George Renevant: Chief of Surete

Paul Weigel: Monsieur Noyer

Adele St. Mauer: Mme. Noyer

Frank Reicher: Professor Mendelssohn

Lawrence Stewart: Runner boy

Etta McDaniels: Diane’s safari attendant

Charles Bastin: French newsboy

Ynez Seabury: Celeste

Winter Hall: Minister

Fred ‘Snowflake’ Toones: Frightened native

Hans Schumm: Clinic attendant

Ricca Allen: Bystander

May Beatty: Mme. LeGrand

Ted Billings: Counterman

Ernest A. Bouveron: French newsboy

Helen Brown: Blind girl’s mother

Andre Cheron: Surete official

Alex Chivra: Cook

Anne Marie Conte: Blind girl

Jean De Briac: Gendarme

Dudley Dickerson: Safari member

Charles Fallon: Gentleman

Constant Franke: Police detective

Lloyd Whitlock: Scientist

Edward Davis: Scientist

Alphonse Martell: Surete official

Daisy Bufford: Infant’s mother

Clarence Gordon: Porter

Robert Graves: Gendarme

Issabel La Mal: Bystander

Francisco Maran: Gendarme

Paul McAllister: Papa LaCosta

Walter Miller: Derelict

Edward Reinach: Scientist

Ray Turner: Bearer with geiger-counter

Luceo Villegas: Pierre

The Film Daily, June 22 1935

John Colton has been assigned by Universal to adapt “The Invisible Ray,” by Howard Higgin and Douglas Hodge. The two principal roles will be assigned in all probability to Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

The New York Times, Aug 29 1935

Eugene Regikster-Guard, July 26, 1936

Boris Karloff Coming In “Invisible Ray”

More than any other screen stars, Karloff and Bela Lugosi are so indelibly associated with certain characters that Karloof has been nicknamed “Frankenstein” and Lugosi “Dracula.” Both these players come to the State theatre on Thursday as co-stars in “The Invisible Ray,” thrilling drama of the man who drew power from the heavens in his world-shaking invention, “Radium X,” and wielded his power for good and for evil. Frances Drake and Frank Lawton support the stars. The Louis-Schmelling fight pictures round out the program.

Universal Weekly, July 27, 1935

Photoplay Magazine, January, 1936

The Invisible Ray, Photoplay, January, 1936

The New York Times, January 11, 1936

At The Roxy

FSN

Time marches on. When last we saw Mr. Karloff he was the tragic monster trapped in the tumbling masonry of Frankenstein’s mountain laboratory. Now, according to the Roxy’s “The Invisible Ray,” Karloff has restored the laboratory to its former state and, subleasing it from Frankenstein, has become a scientist on his own. More than that, he has discovered a new element—Radium X—which can blast a boulder at fifty paces or heal the lame, the halt and the blind at ten. As the story unreels, you realize that this is just another case of a man’s manager bringing him along too fast. It is no wonder Karloff’s mind cracks under the strain. Becoming poisoned with the new element and acquiring the deadly property of killing everything he touches, he decides to rid the earth of his wife, her lover, the woman whom he suspects fostered their romance and the two scientists who revealed Radium X to the world. Universal, which seems to have a monopoly on films of this sort, has made its newest penny dreadful with technical ingenuity and the pious hope of frightening the children out of a year’s growth. There is evidence, too, that Carl Laemmle wanted to say “boo” to maturer audiences. In a printed foreword is the legend, “That which you are now to see is a theory whispered in the cloisters of science. Tomorrow these theories may startle the universe as a fact.” Boo right back at you, Mr. Laemmle! THE INVISIBLE RAY, from a story by Howard Higgin and Douglas Hodges; screen play by John Calton; directed by Lambert Hillyer; a Universal production. Dr. Janos Rukh . . . . . Karloff Dr. Benet . . . . . Bela Lugosi Diane Rukh . . . . . Frances Drake Ronald Drake . . . . . Frank Lawton Sir Francis Stevens . . . . . Walter Kingsford Lady Arabella Stevens . . . . . Beulah Bondi Mother Rukh . . . . . Violet Kemble Cooper Briggs . . . . . Nydia Westman Headman . . . . . Danell Haines

Movie Action Magazine, February 1936

The Invisible Ray, The Telegraph, February 13, 1936

Mt. Pleasant Daily Times, February 25, 1936

The Invisible Ray, Mt. Pleasant Daily Times, February 25, 1936 1

The Afro American, February 29, 1936

Photoplay Magazine, March, 1936

The Shadow Stage

The Invisible Ray – Universal

The Shiver and Shake Boys, Karloff and Bela Lugosi, combine their talents in this de-horrorized (by comparison with previous efforts) story of a scientist who discovers a new element astounding in its abilities to both heal and destroy. Poisoned by it so that his lightest touch is instant death, Karloff goes mad, eventually destroying himself. Lugosi is the hero this time.

Spokane Daily Chronicle, March 6, 1936