Bizarre (1970)

As you can tell by the poster above, this thing originally went under the title of Secrets Of Sex but I prefer the video title because Bizarre is exactly what we have here. Its one strange piece of cinema and if I didn't know any better that this thing came from England I would definitely believe that this is a movie from mars. I suppose we could always combine both titles and call it Bizarre Secrets Of Sex. I would say that title would suit it best.

Bizarre is not your run of the mill sexploitation flick. It was directed by Antony Balch who most would remember best for his Michael Gough slash-em-up flick Horror Hospital but he also did a bunch of really weird artsy-fartsy stuff like Towers Open fire and The Cut-Ups with William S. Burroughs. Those Burroughs flicks are really fucking Bizarre and doesn't make much sense for normal folk.

Bizarre on the other hand plays like a typical sexploitation flick from the 70's but throws in all the crazy hippie-dellic and artsy-fartsy stuff to keep it unique and separate it from the seemingly endless supply of nudie-cuties. First off Bizarre is an anthology film which in narrated by a thousand year old mummy. The mummy is fucking awesome and his appearance automatically makes Bizarre a strange watch but once he starts telling his stories the movie just gets weirder and weirder.

We get a crazy introduction to the sexes. That is male and female and the on going struggle that both sexes encounter throughout life. We get sexy Go-Go babes having rotten fruits and vegetables thrown at them from machine gun wielding men. The rotten fruits are smashed between their large breasts and their sexy go-go undies. The girls are packing straight razors and get us ready for some violent orgy action or at least for some of the madness that is in store for the viewer.

One of the better stories offers up some nasty S&M and tells of a man who is tortured by a female photographer and her sexy assistant who want realism in their photos. The man is chained up to a weighted device that pulls him down onto a sharp blade that cuts through his genitals. The man bleeds to death and the women get the photo they have been waiting for.

Another tells of a woman who carries a Bizarre genetic disease and gives birth to something that looks like a cross between the baby in Combat Shock and Eraserhead.

Then we have a story about a female cat burglar who breaks into a mans house and when caught bribes the man with a night full of sex and bathes. She of course blackmails the guy and gets away with the goods anyway. This story offers up some leather, whips and a hot brunette. Then theres a story about a female secret agent who gives plenty of up-skirt shots complete with white cotton panties.

Then we get another weird one about a woman who traps the souls of her ex-lovers inside plants. She of course waters them daily and speaks upon them with fond memory. She meats her fate with some strangulation in her own green house.      Perhaps the most Bizarre story in the whole movie follows a young hippie who calls for a prostitute and ends up in a strange parallel world filled with giant dinosaurs. Don't ask... Your guess is as good as mine. I'm not sure what it all means but I do know it all makes for a very strange watch and I wouldn't expect anything less from Antony Balch. Aside from how Bizarre it all is, Secrets Of Sex was done beautifully with some really interesting lighting, camera angels and sets alike. I would assume that the average Joe who went to see some quick tits and ass in the local smut-house was quite taken once this thing started rolling. 

Apparently upon its theatrical release Bizarre Secrets Of Sex was cut down by 9 minutes but fortunately for us it is available in its uncut form on dvd and I recommend picking yourself up a copy.  

                                      

Penitentiary (1979)

Awesome blaxploitation film that takes place almost entirely inside a prison. Written and directed by Jamma Fanaka (Soul Vengeance, Penitentiary 2) and tells the tale of a black man named Too Sweet who is imprisoned after being attacked by two bikers and killing one in self defense. Naturally the fight happens amongst white folk and since this is the 70's its safe to say they were racist white folk.

This jail is full of some crazy motha-fuckers. Upon Too Sweet's arrival to the big house he encounters some nutty bastards. One of them keeps lit cigarettes in his ear, not behind his ear... In his ear, and asks fellow cellmates for a "light". Then we get this crazy dude who covers his face with shaving cream and in a fit of rage demands to see the jail-house-punks ass. Things get worse from here on when Too Sweet's manhood is threatened by the degenerate rapist who bunks with him. Apparently in prison you should never except a candy bar from a cellmate because this means they are going to take your man-ass by force. Too Sweet being the bad-ass mother fucker that he is kicks the shit out of the rape-happy, candy bar guy and makes it known that he ain't nobodies bitch.

Next Too Sweet befriends a coward and teaches him to stand up for himself. This brings a whole world of trouble for Too Sweet and it becomes apparent that his stay in the big-house is going to be a rough ride with many enemy's.

Eventually Penitentiary turns into a boxing movie that makes Rocky look like The Sound Of Music. A boxing league is formed and the winner gets to spend the night with a woman. There are some good looking chocolate mama's in this flick and we do get some naked flesh. The fight scenes are pretty cool as well and while its not quite Raging Bull, Penitentiary makes for a good knock-em-out flick. We also get some awesomely typical blaxploitation dialogue and the big life affirming speech comes from an old man who has spent almost his entire life behind bars. There is also a bit of an unexpected twist in the plot which was nice to see and makes Penitentiary perhaps just a step above the average 70's blaxploitation film.

Apparently the sequel is even more entertaining on a much more exploitative level but I have not yet seen that one. However it is on the list of things to watch before I die and the sooner the better. This movie makes prison look scarier then any other with the exception of maybe Zombie Death House and if I learned anything it is to keep your ass out of jail.

Barfly (1987)

Americas favorite drunkard Charles Bukowski writes what is somewhat of an autobiography here. Okay maybe he is Americas second favorite boozer, under Hunter S. Thompson and what Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas was to Thompson, Barfly is to Bukowski.

Mickey Rourke takes on the role of a half dead Barlfy named Chinaski (but you can call him Bukowski if you like) who lives by the golden rules of drink, fight and write. He is an author who has gone unnoticed until some high society bimbo discovers his work and tracks him down. When she finds him she is appalled to learn that such beautiful writing came from such a distraught man. He truly lives on the fringes of society, roaming the filthy city streets and drinking away his liver in sleazy bars filled with prostitutes and other fellow wastes of life. "Anybody can be a non-drunk. It takes a special talent to be a drunk. It takes endurance." This movie is just chock full of great and memorable quotes.

Fay Dunaway (Bonnie And Clyde) plays Rourke's girlfriend. She is also an alcoholic and a bit of a lunatic but Dunaway fans will be pleased to know that she does show some nipples in a bathtub scene.

Things get really bad for Chinaski when he learns that his girlfriend went home with his worst enemy played by Frank Stallone. Barfly opens up with a fist fight behind the pub between Stallone and Rourke and it also closes out with yet another fight between the two. Not to mention that we get some more drunken fisticuffs between them in the middle.

Barfly is totally a mans movie and would definitely appeal more to a male audience. I think there are two main audiences for this film. The first being Charles Bukowski fans and the second being anyone who likes to drink a lot. "I need a drink like a spider needs a fly". Of course Mickey Rourke fans will also be drawn in as well but there is a level of philosophy that runs with the madness of Barfly that only a true drunk can appreciate. So grab your liquid of choice and step into Bukowski's world. After all any movie that opens up with this line "Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead." has to be good.

Deadly Weapons (1974)

Rest in peace Doris Wishman. The world will never know another quite like you. Female exploiter Doris Wishman is remembered for many of her oddities like Nude On The Moon and Another Day Another Man. This is another that comes to mind when I think of the lunacy of Doris Wishman flicks.

There were a lot of very unattractive sexploitation films in the 70's but this one really takes the cake. It stars Chesty Morgan, the girl with a 73 inch bust and these swinging utters will definitely grab the attention from anyone watching but may also cause nausea. Chesty struts around in some of the most un-sexy outfits to ever hit celluloid. Even the opening credits which were shot through strange fishbowl lenses and through round mirrors is an almost immediate warning that Deadly Weapons is going to be a journey into the weird and I'm sure all the twisted perverts in the theater seats zipped their pants back up knowing that there will not be anything sexually stimulating about this movie. Just wait till you see Chesty walking around in her giant pantyhose with breast-a-swinging.

With that said Deadly Weapons is high entertainment for anybody who loves the strange days of cinematic exploitation. Chesty seeks revenge on some lowlife mobsters who knock off her boyfriend with a knife to the guts. The scene does offer up a bit of the red stuff for all you gore hounds out there but that is the extent of bloodletting that you will get from this 70's sickie. It just so happens that Chesty's weapon of choice is her giant breasts. She suffocates the bad guys with their face between her jugs. What an awful way to go!

As if this isn't cool enough we also get Dr. Deep Throat himself. Mr. Harry Reems as one of the mobsters who meets his fate within the cleavage of Mrs. Morgan. Deadly Weapons would be unleashed only one year after The Devil In Miss Jones and Reems is great as usual.
His mustache appears to be slightly bigger then normal and he even plays with it on film, so keep an eye out for that.

Aside from Reems we also have a mobster with an eye patch who they call captain hook. If only he had a peg-leg then we would really be in business.

Another nice addition is the fact that Deadly Weapons shares the same soundtrack as Torso, the great Italian, euro-trash, giallo about a "Psycho-Sexual-Mind" who roams the streets of Italy and strangles beautiful women with a scarf and then saws into their naked bodies. Unfortunately D.W. doesn't have any dismemberment and perhaps that's why Chesty looks so miserable through the whole film.

I on the other hand love this movie and smile the whole way through. Check it out for heavy melons with invisible nipples and some yucky 70's underwear. This thing was shot back to back with Double Agent 73 another Wishman & Morgan collaboration. I wonder if Chesty smiles in that one.

The Last Shark (1981)

This Italian Jaws ripoff typically goes under a million different titles. Here are some of the alternate English titles The Last Jaws, Great White, Jaws Returns, Shark (Not to be confused with the Sam Fuller film of the same title). My reason for giving the alternate titles is to make it easier for you to dig up this movie. Its a must see.

Directed by Enzo G. Castellari (Keoma, The Inglorious Bastards) and staring James Franciscus (The Cat O' Nine Tails, Killer Fish) and Vic Morrow (Black Board Jungle, Twilight Zone : The Movie).

What we get is a over the top Italian take on Jaws. There for in my opinion its better then the original and way better then all the shitty sequels. Personally not being the biggest fan of Spielberg's film in the first place due to the fact that its mostly drama and lacks in gore and general shark-fu, I have shyed away from the Italian ripoffs for far to long. Big mistake!

First off we get a way bigger shark. This thing is fucking huge! Secondly these Italian sharks blast people from the water in what looks like giant explosions. Naturally the actors turn to dummy's when they are launched twenty feet into the air but when they come crashing down to the water they are mauled and usually partially eaten by the most hungry shark in cinematic history.

The best part is that this shark doesn't even seem to want to just feed itself. It seems to have a grudge against people and does its best to terrorize, and mangle anyone who gets to close to the water. In one of the best moments the shark bites a mans legs off who is hanging from a helicopter and then brings the chopper down into the water with it.

Castellari uses the perfect mix of stock footage (which surprisingly worked very well) with his own brand of special effects.

I think Joe Bob Briggs said it best when he said "Spielberg makes movies for mom not dad" I couldn't agree more and I'm sure Briggs would agree that Castellari makes bad-ass movies for pop and not mom.

Check this thing out to see Vic Morrow survive one more helicopter crash and go to war with the biggest, baddest shark of em all. The Last Shark has some truly funny moments that will have you scratching your head and wondering if your eyes are playing tricks on you. Then in the next moment offers up dismemberment and gore galore.

The Basketball Diaries (1995)

Leonardo Dicaprio takes on the role of infamous junkie, poet, writer, punk rocker Jim Carrol and gives an amazing performance of the true and tragic life that Jim lived. As the tagline says its The Death Of Innocence and death surrounds Jim as he journeys further and further into the dark depths of addiction.

I guess you could really take the quick way out of watching this thing by just playing Jim Carrol's record Catholic Boy. Most of the songs on the record explain the events which will take place in the film especially the song everyone knows and loves him for People Who Died. Its almost like listening to Lou Reed's Take A Walk On The Wild Side or watching Andy Warhol's Trash.

Being a fan of cult movies and exploitation cinema I have never been able to understand what it is that I like about Dicaprio. He plays in big budget Hollywood movies that I can't stand with few exceptions like Critters 3 : You Are What They Eat but there is just no denying that he is a talented actor. Its to bad he is casted in such bland movies for the mindless mainstream because what ever he does, he does it well. Remember him as the retard in that stupid fucking Grape movie?

Basketball Diaries sets itself aside from all that other shit. While its still a big budget mainstream movie it deals with a subject that most Americans would rather not think about. The fact that the youth is starting younger and younger with drug use and become young criminals. Dicaprio's character is so desperate in this film that he begs, steals, fights and even prostitutes himself out for a fix.

Some of the highlights that Basketball Diaries has to offer are homosexual gym teachers, priests who get off on beating young boys, a priest is blown away at close range by a shotgun, male and female prostitutes alike, gratuitous heroin use and other assorted narcotics as well, a kid jumps to his death from a city building, a old woman is punched, kicked and robed, flying vomit which lands on an angry construction workers head, religious conflict and a cameo from the real Jim Carrol.

Less humorous but in the same vein as Trainspotting. Fans of junkie films like Sid And Nancy are the true audience for this movie. Its as fun as a spike through the arm.

Critters 4 (1992)

Here it is the last and final film in the Critters series and what a fucking disappointment. I guess when you make a movie like this you know its time to call it quits. No need for a 5th apology film. Just give up!

This one takes up where the third film leaves off. Charlie is about to destroy the last two eggs when he is interrupted by his old bounty hunter friend. Charlie takes the remaining eggs to space with him where of course they hatch and wreak havoc one last time. The whole movie takes place in a spaceship and it is about as boring as it can be.

Brad Dourif (Childs Play, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) shows up but doesn't manage to make the movie any more tolerable.

I'd say the only redeeming moment in the whole movie is a shower scene where we get some boobage and a soapy ass-crack from Angela Bassett. Not that Angela Bassett is anything all that special but that's how bad this movie really is.

The gratuitous nudity in Critters 2 added for extra points but the tits and ass in this movie is the only thing that kept me from turning it off completely.
Of course we get a some kills from razor-toothed fur-balls from space but nothing very memorable or overly gory. What else would you expect from a shitty 90's movie. The director never went on to do anything else and I guess we can be grateful for that.

Fans of the Critters series be warned. Stay away from this flick. The only excuse for owning this one is the fact that it is sold in the Critters boxset.

Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1941)

The director would become known for The Wizard Of Oz and Gone With The Wind but I respect him for his remake of the 1931 film about a mad scientist who creates a drug that separates the good and evil within him, giving them two separate identities known as Jekyll and Hyde.

Ingrid Bergman would go on to do Casablanca in the following year but she does what she does best in this one as well. Her tears spill from a broken heart in this movie as well but she cries even harder from the brutal beatings that she gets from Mr. Hyde.

In one of the films most memorable moments Mr. Hyde fantasizes about being pulled on a carriage but instead of horses doing the pulling a naked Bergman pulls him around as he whips her from atop the carriage. Its not long before Hyde's fantasy becomes a reality and Bergman's character is covered in bruises and scars from Hyde's cane which he uses as a weapon of choice.

Aside from beating the beautiful Bergman Hyde's idea of good pass time include hanging out at burlesque bars, getting into bar fights, spitting grape seeds in peoples faces, jumping through windows, kicking people down stairs and having in out with the police.

We get a sort of Wolf Man transformation scene each time our doctor takes his liquid drug and the makeup is pretty awesome. I have always related The Wolf Man to Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde for this reason and the fact that the two films share an emotional and scary tone at the same time. Then there is also the fact that the two characters lose control over their body, mind and soul.

Fans of Lon Channey Jr's. classic is bound to love this movie as well.

Invisible Agent (1942)

Almost ten years after the success of The Invisible Man, Universal Studios is still cranking them out. This H.G. Wells adaption shows that the Invisible Man can be of some service rather then a power mad psychopath. This time around he is an actual hero and he leaves for Nazi Germany as a secret agent and helps America win the war.

While Universals The Invisible Woman was an all out comedy and of course the first film was horror movie The Invisible Agent is a action/war film.

Our hero slaps the shit out of Nazi's, sets fire to their buildings, steals their women and drops bombs over their heads. We get a bunch of explosions and it makes for some high class entertainment.

The lead actress isn't all that attractive but is sexploited for some sex appeal. In one scene she undresses in front of a mirror while our invisible man watches. She of course falls in love with him after all he is an American and these Nazi's "Treat women like dogs". Instead of bandages our transparent man wears cream on his face so the blond babe gets to see what he looks like (sort of).

Perhaps one of the weirdest aspects of Invisible Agent is the character of Peter Lorre. This thing came out the same year Lorre did Casablanca but this time he is on the enemies side. Peter Lorre plays a Japanese soldier in Nazi Germany. Of course he doesn't look Asian at all but he does a pretty good job at being a creepy villain. In one of his best scenes he tries to cut a mans fingers off with a heavy machine used for slicing through news papers and he meets his fate in true Japanese style by dressing in white and committing Harakiri. He also does a bit of Kung Fu and chops Nazi's in the back of the neck with his hands.

Despite the fact that Peter Lorre has a strange voice to begin with it doesn't help when he is trying to sound like he is Asian. I personally feel that Boris Karloff did a better job in the Mr. Wong detective series.

I really love all of these Universal Studios invisible movies. While obviously preferring the original James Whale film I found Invisible Agent to be just as good as the true sequel The Invisible Man Returns. If you like these films the way that I do, be sure to check this one out for a good time full of Nazi-Ass-Kickin!

The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)

This Spanish vampire flick is completely under rated in my opinion. Personally not being a big fan of vampire movies this one is way up on the top of the list of vampiric tales for me. This along with Daughters Of Darkness which is very (almost to much) similar in plot and feel are amongst my favorite lesbian vampire films.

The Blood Spattered Bride was double billed with I Dismember Mama as A Frenzy Of Blood and left behind one of the weirdest trailers in cinematic history. Its a must see for any true horror-trailer-fanatic. While I Dismember Mama may be a guilty pleasure for some and a novelty for others The Blood Spattered Bride is actually a great film and the two couldn't be more different from each other.

Of course Quentin Tarantino would pay homage to this Spanish gem in Kill Bill for the scene where Uma Thurman catches a bullet in the head on her wedding day. Like I Dismember Mama, Kill Bill doesn't come close to the Blood Spattered Bride either but none the less its nice to see that someone out there pays some recognition to this flick aside from truly demented Euro Trash aficionados like yours truly.

The story tells of a newly wed couple who spend their honeymoon in a castle with a morbid history. The young bride loses her virginity to her older husband and starts to change emotionally. Her sexual fantasies/nightmares haunt her along with a vampire named Mircalla.

The bride is of course bitten and indulges in lesbian acts of pleasure while she is being conditioned to kill her husband. "He pierced your flesh to degrade you! He spat inside you to enslave you!" Its not long before we have some murder on display but the best scenes in the movie come in the form of nightmares and at times it is difficult to tell what is real and what is dream. We have a grizzly stabbing that leaves our bride spattered in blood (hence the title), A heart is ripped from a mans chest, another man has his throat slashed and then is shot in the face with a riffle, a 12 year old girl is shot in the head at close range in true Lucio (The Beyond) Fulci fashion and perhaps the most memorable and by far the strangest scene in the movie shows a man discovering a tube protruding from the sand on the beach. When he tries to dig around it he learns that it is the breathing tube from scuba gear. He digs more and finds the scuba gear is being worn by a beautiful naked blond. Naturally he takes her home for his wife to see. Who thinks this up? What an amazing scene in the bizarre. Nothing like this ever comes from the minds of American film makers. These odd moments really just add to the charm of The Blood Spattered Bride. We also have a few rape scenes, a decent amount of nudity and of course blood drinking. We also have Spanish actress Montserrat Julió who appears in a bunch of crazy stuff like Horror Rises From The Tomb, It Happened At Nightmare Inn, Doctor Jekyll And The Werewolf.

Fans of this movie might also want to check out Daughters Of Darkness and Vampyros Lesbos.

Bad Lieutenant (1992)

Two years after King Of New York Abel Ferrara throws The Bad Lieutenant at us. Personally preferring this film over King Of New York (which I am also a very big fan of) it is easy for me to go back and watch this one again and again.

Harvey Keitel is not a happy man in this movie. His character is about as low as you can get. Human life means nothing to him. Not his own or the suffering people from the New York City streets. He spends his time drinking excessively and doing lots of drugs with prostitutes. He shoots heroin, snorts cocaine, smokes crack & opium right in front of us. The audience cant help but wonder how long he will last and it seems inevitable that he will meet his fate soon. Not to mention that there is a crime lord who is out to blow him away due to the fact that he owes him a $120,000 for some bad bets on the world series. While Baseball is not my thing, cinema is and The Bad Lieutenant offers up crazy scenes of sex & violence.

A nun is gang raped by two young criminals. There is a $50,000 reward for the man who catches the scum who did it. Harvey has to make a decision whether or not he will follow through with the case and use the money to pay off the man who has a hit on him or continue going about his evil ways. His character also struggles with religion in general and in one of the most memorable scenes Keitel kneels before Jesus and calls him a "Rat-Fuck". Then in the next moment he prays for forgiveness. "Where were you? Forgive me. I did so many bad things".

The Bad Lieutenant has a very nihilistic ending that leaves the viewer thinking after its all done and over with in a very similar way to The King Of New York. Its almost as if Keitel excepts his fate and knows it is to late for him. So in a final act of goodness (or is it?) he lets the criminals go in hope that they will find a better life. His life for theirs in a sense.

Oh and in case you wanted to see Harvey Keitel naked one more time, watch for an incredibly awkward scene of swinging Keitel dick. It shouldn't disappoint you.

Bad Boy Bubby (1993)

Like art films? If you do, watch this fucking movie. Bad Boy Bubby is an incredible piece of work that makes you think. Its not a pretty picture! Then again it might be... It can be extremely dark with incest, murder, religion, and the cruelty of mankind but at the same time has some of the most beautiful characters that I have ever seen in any movie. Not beautiful in appearance but inner beauty.

The movie follows a man named Bubby who is really more of a child due to the fact that he was kept in a apartment for the first 30 some odd years of his life by his warped mother, where he knew nothing more then what she taught him. His shotty vision of reality changes when he kills his mother with saran wrap and ventures out into the real world. Lets just say the real world is a pretty strange place for Bubby. Perhaps even weirder then he appears to the average man on the street.

Bubby learns more with each person he meets and almost every scene in the movie is unforgettable. From the lighting to the cinematography, the brilliant writing to the intense acting Bad Boy Bubby is a must see for anyone who likes cinema of the bizarre.

There is no doubt that Bad Boy Bubby would offend a lot of people but then again it would only offend closed minded morons who should have never ventured into the world of Bad Boy Bubby. Films like Eraserhead are safe compared to Bad Boy Bubby. Although it is a movie from mars it still makes sense and while one can get many ideas from this movie the over all message is much more clear then you get from films like El Topo.

In one of my favorite scenes Bubby meets a scientist in a church. The scientist has this to say " It is our duty to think God out of existence. It is our duty to insult him. Fuck you, God! Strike me down if you dare, you tyrant, you non-existent fraud! It is the duty of all human beings to think God out of existence. Then we have a future. Because then  and only then  do we take full responsibility for who we are. And that's what you must do, Bubby: think God out of existence; take responsibility for who you are." While this might offend the average Christian I found it to be an amazing piece of dialogue that we can/should all relate to.

Bad Boy Bubby offers up some very strange nudity, incest, bodily wastes, man on man rape, multiple dead cats, multiple dead humans, religious cruelty and lots of strange music to change scene and mood.

If you are looking for something different, this is it! Watch it! Love it! Think about it! Or you could always just go to church. Then you will never have to think about anything for yourself. Especially a morbid tale of humanity like Bad Boy Bubby.
"If the poison doesn't get you, Christ will"

The Invisible Woman (1940)

Wow what a surprise this was. I wasn't expecting this at all. The Invisible Woman is not another sequel to The Invisible Man. However it seems that Universal Studio's needed to cash in on the 1933 classic as much as possible because this thing would come out the same year as the true follow up, The Invisible Man Returns. Well gender isn't the only thing changed in this story. Its a whole other feel to it. In fact its not even a horror movie. The Invisible Woman is a straight up comedy from beginning to end and never attempts even one scare.

Sure we get some scenes of violence and vengeance but its done in a slap-stick sort of way. Nobody is really harmed in this wacky flick. "I'm going to kick him in the pants" and kick him in the pants she does.

The story tells of a woman who volunteers to be the subject of a new scientific experiment with invisible results. Of course she doesn't offer herself up as the guinea pig because she cares about science but instead she wants to slap her boss around a bit who is a total prick. Well she does slap her boss around but finds herself in a bit of trouble when the mob wants to get their hands on the invisible machine.

Get ready for this, this is the best part... One of the mobsters is played by Shemp Howard. That's right, the one and only Three Stooges Shemp Howard. Shemp is awesome as always. One thing I found to be very strange was that one of the other actors tried to beat Shemps classic foot-work comedy in a scene where he gets the wobbly-knees. Why would you put Shemp in a movie and not have him do the ole knee-jerk? Other then Shemp, is Margaret Hamilton who most would remember best as the green-face Wicked Witch Of The West in The Wizard Of Oz which would be released only one year prior to this flick. Well Mrs. Hamilton's witchy face sticks out like a sore thumb in anything she is in and its nice to see her in this one along side some really funny actors.

Aside from the humor The Invisible Woman is obviously more sexy then the Claude Rains classic and its obvious that the film makers wanted to beat this into our brains. The fact that Claude Rains was running around nude raised a few brows upon its release. As ridiculous as that sounds it is true and it amazes me that the studio passed The Invisible Woman at all with the strict codes that were present at the time. We are constantly reminded that she is naked and although she is invisible they found a way to make it sort of sexy. In one scene our Invisible Woman puts on some wet stockings so we "can see her figure". She flaunts her legs about in a fashion that probably caused some erections amongst male theater goers.

I guess the times have changed but this thing is an interesting watch. Filled with goofy special effects, dumb humor, silly gags and of course its worth watching for the great Shemp Howard alone.