The Invisible Man (1933 film) kicked into some hay, which damaged an exterior set. The film was released on November 13, 1933 and was marketed with the taglines ""Catch me if you can!"" and ""H.G. Wells' Fantastic Sensation"". Although the basic framework of the story and the characters' names are largely the same as in the novel, there are several great differences. The novel takes place in the 1890s, while the film takes place in 1933. In the novel, Griffin (the Invisible Man) remains almost a totally mysterious person, with no fiancee or friends; in the film he is engaged to a beautiful woman and
Invisible Man in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005, calling it "the quintessential American picaresque of the 20th century", rather than a "race novel, or even a bildungsroman". Malcolm Bradbury and Richard Ruland recognize an existential vision with a "Kafka-like absurdity". According to "The New York Times", former U.S. president Barack Obama modeled his memoir "Dreams from My Father" on Ellison's novel. Ellison says in his introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition that he started to write what would eventually become Invisible Man in a barn in Waitsfield, Vermont in the summer of 1945 while on sick leave