Dorathen
Better Late Then Never
Pacionsbo
Absolutely Fantastic
ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
He_who_lurks
I mean, we've seen other stop-motion works from Segundo de Chomón, such as his "The Electric Hotel". As in all his films, Chomón's animation is very well done here--it flows at a decent pace, and is quite convincing. Their is a plot too--one which is pretty clever for 1909 (although it's inspiration appears to have come from H. G. Well's "The Invisible Man" book).The film is about an innocent man who buys a copy of "The Invisible Man". He becomes quite fascinated with the book and upon finding a recipe for invisibility in the back he mixes up a potion, drinks it, and begins his life of crime. Then the effects really take over, with stop-motion photography and stuff. They are pretty good, too, and can entertain even today. Not at all a bad effort and while it's essentially a trick film, it's got a clever story. A pretty good watch with really nice effects, and definitely superior to the work Georges Méliès, who was still making trick films with no plot at this time. Chomon could've taught him a thing or two.
Michael_Elliott
The Invisible Thief (1909) *** (out of 4) This French film has a man buying H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man book and getting the idea of turning himself invisible so that he can commit crimes. Apparently the book itself gives the chemical to turn yourself invisible so the would-be thief has no problems doing it. THE INVISIBLE THIEF is in no way, shape or form a masterpiece but it's an interesting little movie and especially when you consider the era that it was made. If you're expecting something like James Whale's THE INVISIBLE MAN then you can forget it. With that said, fans of that film are going to enjoy this because it shares some of the same story including the man living in a boarding house with a landlady as well as another scene where he beats up some cops. The special effects are very obvious today because when he's invisible you can still see the outline of the actor. But again, this was 1909 we're talking about so you can't be too hard. Some of the other effects like the moving furniture is something Georges Melies was doing better even a decade earlier.
MartinHafer
H.G. Wells "The Invisible Man" amazingly loud suit nice stop-motion and strings. Used green screen like effect? why did he begin stealing AFTER he put on clothes and makeup?While a bit primitive today, the special effects in "Le Voleur Invisible" are incredible. It begins with a man buying a copy of H.G. Wells' book "The Invisible Man". However, this must have been a special edition, as it gave the exact formula that the man in the book used to become invisible, so the guy tries it and soon disappears. Then, using a variety of film tricks, they made an amazingly convincing film. It's obvious they used stop-motion and strings for some of the effects (though they hid the strings very well) but the invisibility was a lot tougher and I assume they used some early version of blue or green screen to achieve this. Interestingly, for part of the time you can barely see a the invisible guy--like he's 95% invisible.As far as the plot goes, it's very basic given that it's only about 7 minutes long. Using these new powers, this dishonest guy steals and then attacks the poor cops who try to arrest him. All in all, a completely incredible film for 1909 and proof that Segundo de Chomón was a very, very skilled filmmaker.
