MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN

US, 1992, 99 minutes, Colour.
Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael Mc Kean, Stephen Tobolowski.
Directed by John Carpenter.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man is based on a French novel by H.F. Saint. It resembles the stories of The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, classic films starring Claude Rains and others. A more modern variation on the theme was The Hollow Man directed by Paul Verhoeven (2000).

This film is from John Carpenter, a master of genre films including Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween. He had a very strong career during the 1980s. However, only a few films during the 1990s and not so well received. He made The Ghosts of Mars in 2001 and was away from film, working in television, until the end of that decade. Memoirs of an Invisible Man is a combination of romance, chase, comedy, thriller. The various ingredients don’t mesh as successfully as hoped for.

Chevy Chase is a callow businessman who is in a nuclear plant when there is an explosion and he finds himself made invisible. The problem is for him to survive, to conceal himself from the CIA agents and rogue agents who are pursuing him. He has met a charming woman played by Daryl Hannah and eventually enlists her help to keep him undercover (so to speak) and to escape. Sam Neill is the ruthless agent in pursuit of him. Stephen Tobolowski plays Sam Neill’s boss, Michael McKean? plays his best friend.

The film is set in San Francisco, has some interesting special effects for the invisible man. The audience can see him as played by Chevy Chase. Others see only the special effects and things like cigarettes and guns in the air without anybody holding them…

The film is only a moderate success.

1.The popularity of invisible man stories? Credibility? The science background? Nuclear fears? In the 1990s?

2.The San Francisco settings, the city itself, apartments and hotels, offices and laboratories? Authentic atmosphere? The musical score?

3.The opening: Nick Halloway, invisible, giving the interview? The immediate impact of the special effects? The fact that the audience could see Chevy Chase but the characters in the film could not? The setting of the invisible man story, incidents, tricks?

4.Nick Halloway and his background, callow, his voice-over? Self-deprecating? His drinking? His friendship with George? His stumbling into the laboratory? The emergency, his being trapped, affected, the molecules, becoming invisible? His having to deal with it, clothes and cover, food? Phone calls to the office – indicating that he was all right but unable to come in?

5.His meeting with Alice, charmed by her, the meal? The discussions? Able to rely on her? Watching her at the holiday house, Richard’s behaviour? His decision to reveal himself to her? Her acceptance, the devices, clothes, covering the face, food?

6.The alarm, the laboratory and the destruction? David Jenkins and his organisation? Ruthless? With Warren Singleton, disobeying his orders? Doctor Wachs and the experiment? The pursuit of Nick? Jenkins and his sense of menace, following him, tracking him, surveillance? Morrissey and his henchmen? The continued pursuit, checking with Alice? With Nick’s friends? Their discussions, struggles? Following him to the beach house? The final confrontation, Jenkins and his smooth talk, yet his wanting to destroy Nick? The conflicts with Singleton? Taking everything into his own hands? The final fight, the fall to his death?

7.The secret agencies? Jenkins’ motivation, the espionage value of an invisible spy? Jenkins and his being the marriage? The CIA, wanting to control Jenkins? Unwilling to go along with pursuing Nick? Nick and his encounter with Doctor Wachs, the possibilities of reversal of the situation?

8.Nick, being hungry, his explanation of what it was like to be isolated, unseen, unable to give himself away? Fears, depression? The hideaway at the holiday house? His observing George and his girlfriend? Their behaviour, sexual? Watching Richard and Alice’s rejection of him? His finally deciding to go to Mexico? The plan with Alice? The train, Jenkins catching up with him?

9.Nick, his wanting to survive with his skills in banking by computer? Going to Mexico? With Alice? His future?

10.The background characters, Nick’s friends, George, Richard? The henchmen for Jenkins, Morrissey? Their behaviour, toughs?

11.The romantic aspects? The comic aspects? The thriller aspects? How well did they blend together?