The Invisible Woman (1940 film) Fred Rinaldo wrote the screenplay in slapstick style, while H. G. Wells was again credited as the original author of "The Invisible Man". The film was directed by A. Edward Sutherland. It was the first role for Maria Montez. This film runs for 70 minutes and was filmed in black and white with mono sound. The special effects were produced by John P. Fulton, who earned another nomination for an Oscar following his comparable effects work in "The Invisible Man Returns". John D. Hall also was nominated for the Oscar. The John Howard who appears in the film and in
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,