The Invisible Man (1933 film) The Invisible Man (1933 film) The Invisible Man is an American 1933 Pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by James Whale. It was based on H. G. Wells' science fiction novel "The Invisible Man", published in 1897, as adapted by R.C. Sherriff, Philip Wylie and Preston Sturges, whose work was considered unsatisfactory and who was taken off the project. Produced by Universal Pictures, the film stars Claude Rains, in his first American screen appearance, and Gloria Stuart. The film has been described as a "nearly perfect translation of the spirit of the book". It spawned a number of sequels, plus
The Invisible Man influence on "The Invisible Man" was Plato's "Republic", a book which had a significant effect on Wells when he read it as an adolescent. In the second book of the "Republic", Glaucon recounts the legend of the Ring of Gyges, which posits that, if a man were made invisible and could act with impunity, he would "go about among men with the powers of a god." Wells wrote the original version of the tale between March and June 1896. This version was a 25,000 word short story titled "The Man at the Coach and Horses" which Wells was dissatisfied with,