there be no doubt that during the decade of the 30 and the name of boris karloff and bela lugosi become a sure guarantee of excellent performance in high quality horror film . after be universal first monster in the seminal classic and dracula and bela lugosi become the quintessential horror villain thanks to his elegant style and his foreign accent ( sadly and this last factor would also lead him to be type cast during the 40 ) . in the same way and boris karloff performance in james whale frankenstein transform him into the man to look for when one want a good monster . of course and it be only natural for these icon to end up share the screen and and the movie that unite them be 1934 the black cat . this formula would be repeat in several film through the decade and and director lambert hilly mix of horror and science fiction and the invisible ray and be another of those minor classic they do in those year . in the invisible ray and dr. janos rukh ( boris karloff ) be a brilliant scientist who have invent a device able to show scene of our planet past capture in ray of light come from the galaxy of andromeda . while show his invention to his colleague and dr. felix benet ( bela lugosi ) and sir francis stevens ( walter kingsford ) and they discover that thousand of year ago and a meteor hit in what be now nigeria . after this marvelous discovery and dr. rukh decide to join his colleague in an expedition to africa and look for the landing place of the mysterious meteor . this expedition would not be any beneficial for rukh and a during the expedition his wife diane ( france drake ) will fall in love with ronald drake ( frank lawton ) and an expert hunter bring by the stevens to aid them in their expedition . however and rukh will lose more than his wife in that trip and a he will be forever change after be expose to the invisible ray of the meteor . write by john colton ( who previously do the script for werewolf of london ) and the invisible ray have it root on an original sci fi story by howard higgin and douglas hodges . give that this be a movie with karloff and lugosi and colton put a lot of emphasis on the horror side of his story and playing in a very effective way with the mad scientist archetype and add a good dose of melodrama to spice thing up . one element that make the invisible ray to stand out among other horror film of that era and be the way that colton play with morality through the story . that be and there aren not exactly hero and villain in the classic style and but people who make decision and later face the consequence of those choice . in many way and the invisible ray be a modern tragedy about obsession and guilt and revenge . a seasoned director of low budget b movie and filmmaker lambert hillyer get the chance to make 3 film for universal picture when the legendary studio be face serious financial trouble . thanks to his experience work with limited resource and hillyer film be always very good look despite the budgetary constrains and and the invisible ray be not an exception . while nowhere near the stylish gothic atmosphere of previous universal horror film and hilly movie effectively capture the essence of colton script and a he give this movie a dark and morbid mood more in tone with pulp novel than with straightforward sci fi . finally and a word must be say about hillyer use of special effect represent for an extremely low budget film and they look a lot good than the one in several a movie of the era . a usual in a movie with lugosi and karloff and the performance by this legend be of an extraordinary quality . a the film protagonist and boris karloff be simply perfect in his portrayal of a man so blind by the devotion to his work that fail to see the evil he unleash . a his colleague and dr. benet and bela luogis be simply a joy to watch and steal every scene he be in and show what an underrated actor he be . a rukh wife and france drake be extremely effective and truly help her character to become more than a damsel in distress . still and two of the movie highlight be the performance of kemble cooper a mother rukh and and beulah bondi a lady arabella and a the two actress make the most of their limited screen time and make unforgettable their supporting role . frank lawton be also good in his role and but nothing surprising when compare to the rest of the cast . if one judge this movie under today standard and it very easy to dismiss it a another cheap science fiction film with bad special effect and carelessly jumble pseudoscience . however and that would be a mistake and a despite it low budget and it be remarkably well do for it time . on the top of that and consider that the movie be make when the nuclear era be about to begin and radioactivity be still a relatively new concept and it ideas about the danger of radioactivity be frighteningly accurate . one final thing worthy to point out be the interesting way the script handle the relationship between character and specially the friendship and rivalry that exist between the obsessive dr. rukh and the cold dr. benet and a this allow great scene between the two iconic actor . while nowhere near the gothic expressionism of the frankenstein movie and nor the elegant suspense of the black cat and lambert hillyer the invisible ray be definitely a minor classic amongst universal picture catalog of horror film . with one of the most interesting screenplay of 30 horror and this mixture of suspense and horror and science fiction be one severely underrated gem that even now deliver a good dose of entertainment courtesy of two of the most amazing actor the horror genre ever have represent boris karloff and bela lugosi . positive .