In 1933, horror pioneer James Whale directed a film adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1897 novel The Invisible Man. It was followed 7 years later by The Invisible Man Returns, directed by Joe May. Later that same year came the campiest entry of them all, The Invisible Woman. But beneath that silly exterior lies some serious commentary on capitalism and excessive consumption.
The film is directed by A. Edward Sutherland, from a script by Curt Siodmak, Joe May, Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo, and Gertrude Purcell. The Invisible Woman tells the story of kooky scientist Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore), whose research into invisibility is funded by wealthy lawyer Richard Russell (John Howard). Right as Dick is about to pull funding, Gibbs says that he has a machine ready to go. All he needs is his first test subject. So he posts an ad in the paper initially offering $3,000, or $72,297.84 in 2026. An amount that he is required to change to zero due to a lack of funding.
Of course, the responses to an ad basically reading “Who wants to be invisible for no pay?” are mostly joke letters. (Since this was long ago, before the internet and shit posting/trolling.) That is, until they find one letter from someone who seems to be taking this invisibility business as seriously as they are.
The (Invisible) Woman of The Hour
And this is when we meet Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce). She is working as a department store model. Her entire job is to be a living mannequin for rich people. She works this far-from-glamorous job under the tyrannical Mr. Growley (Charles Lane).
Her boss threatens to fire a woman with a head cold if she sneezes in front of a customer. This is after threatening to dock Carroll’s pay for coming in a few minutes late, which she points out has never happened before. And like most micromanagers, he allows customers to be rude to staff. When Carroll is modeling a dress, a customer grabs at her, looking for a price tag. Carroll does a natural maneuver to get away while being pawed at, and the dress gets ripped. Words are exchanged, and Growley demands she apologize.
Carroll proceeds to give a speech about how this job isn’t worth the $16.50 a week they are getting paid. (Approximately $397.64 in 2026). She encourages them to walk out with her, but they refuse. So she is off to become invisible.
The Perks of Being Transparent
When she arrives to see Professor Gibbs, she is greeted by his assistant, Mrs. Jackson (Margaret Hamilton). The professor is confused and concerned that Carroll is a woman, but he is desperate to keep his funding, so he decides to move ahead anyway. Lucky for the film’s hour-and-12-minute runtime, the machine works! (This is also the first transformation scene seen in the franchise. Previous entries have the protagonist start off as invisible.)
Carroll is now transparent, and Gibbs runs off to invite Dick over to show him the good news. As Gibbs awkwardly tries to explain he has turned a woman invisible, he offers to bring her over after “undressing.” Something that Dick mistakes for him offering to bring over a sex worker, which he angrily refuses.
Beat The Rich
While she is told to stay put, Carroll runs off from Mrs. Jackson to settle the score with her boss, Mr. Growley. Once she makes it back to the department store, she politely takes a dress from a freaked-out co-worker. She then puts on the garment and does a little dance for the rich women looking at the living models. Of course, a floating dress scares the hell out of them, and they run off screaming. At the same time, Growley is firing her sick co-worker. Seemingly unaware that a living wage and paid time off (PTO) would eliminate the worry of sick models looking unattractive to customers.
Carroll finds him and gives him an invisible beatdown while talking about what an awful boss he is and how she is “Tired of leering men.” She bends him over and literally kicks his ass repeatedly before slamming a window down onto him. All while saying things like “If a girl is late, you’ll fire us. If a girl is sick, you’ll fire us.”
Neither of these things seemed to be done to excess in the film. Her co-worker even argued that some time off to heal would get her back to work faster. Since, you know, it would. But she was too scared to try to take time off, more than likely due to fear of termination.
When Carroll is done beating her boss, she slams his office door and shatters the glass. She moves on to trashing the place, on a rampage that only ends with destroying the time clock. This part of the film is not subtle in the slightest, nor should it be. Treat your workers poorly, and you’ll no longer have workers.
Meanwhile
At the same time, Gibbs is trying to show Dick this fantastic invisible woman. Each time Mrs. Jackson tries to speak, he interrupts her, even acknowledging that he has never bothered to learn her name. Given the context and the fact that Dick’s butler is constantly getting into accidents for comedic effect, this exchange reads as classist. Considering both are working in roles for the wealthy and clearly being viewed/treated as lesser than the more educated characters we see in this film. Despite the fact that Gibbs is now also broke due to losing seemingly his only benefactor.
When she is finally able to explain that Carroll has run off, Dick leaves in frustration. He demands that his butler take him to his summer home, a choice he has made and revoked several times already in the movie.
The problem is, at the same time, gangster Blackie Cole (Oscar Homolka) has found the professor’s address. He sends his band of thugs to see what’s going on with all this invisibility business. They show up, and a still-invisible Carroll realizes they aren’t interested parties from the ad, like they claim. Given that the address was never included in the paper. So how did they get it? (Violence, that’s how). She also clocks that they have guns, but the novelty of being chased by seemingly flying scissors and a threat of “I’ll cut ya dead” scares them off.
After this exchange, Professor Gibbs angrily takes her with him to Dick’s other home to prove his machine works. One issue, though: Carroll has become visible again.
More Invisibility
Since she has gone from invisible to visible again with no ill effect, the professor asks her to do it once again. But Carroll has already taken a lot of time off work and can’t justify the risk of being fired for an unpaid gig. The professor offers her $3,000 if she calls her boss to take more time off. Cut to her boss abolishing the time clock, rehiring her sick co-worker, and offering afternoon tea all in one speech. Of course he grants Carroll’s request for time off because there is no way he could identify her voice during the beating he received.
We’d just like to note that by this point in the film we have already seen a scientist and a lower-class worker take great risks for any kind of financial gain. Gibbs is basically using desperate people as lab rats in hopes of keeping his work funded. While Carroll is subjecting herself to an untested procedure on the promise of a future return beyond the joy of beating up her boss. Though that did yield better working conditions once/if she returns to her day job.
Mock the Rich
After turning invisible again, Gibbs and Carroll go to Dick’s fishing lodge. Once there, she initially refuses to disrobe so she can scare him, but eventually reneges. Inside, he uses this invisibility to mock Dick and his butler while also stealing his nice booze. After several diatribes about how Dick is a playboy, saying things like: “I don’t think much of him; he is no businessman: he is a playboy.” And that he “can’t handle women.” Carroll eventually falls for him.
He wins her over by teasing her that she must be ugly or fat to want to be invisible. She puts on a pair of stockings to prove she isn’t overweight, and the two immediately fall in love because this is 1940. (We’d also like to point out the rich guy in this film is almost exclusively referred to as “Dick.” This movie is really not subtle.)
At the same time, the gangsters break in and steal the invisibility machine. Once they get it back to their lair, they cannot get it to work. So they set out for Dick’s lodge to kidnap Gibbs and Carroll.
Luxuries & Excess
Around this time, the second round is wearing off, and Carroll will be visible again. She is horrified at the prospect of Dick seeing her in a wrinkled dress. But not to worry, Gibbs bought her a nice one and the day is saved. If the transition from ass-kicking attempted strike organizer to someone who falls to pieces over a boy sounds awkward, that’s because it is. You could blame the booze for this weird plot point. However, good old-fashioned sexism and sloppy writing seem more likely.
But the bottom line is, buying nice stuff erases your real problems, like the fact you hated this guy a few hours ago. Soon after, Dick, the Professor, and Carroll discover that getting her good and plastered makes her invisible again; no machine needed. Alcohol being almost universally considered a luxury item adds to this theme of excess.
Final Showdown
Of course, the gangsters get there and abduct the professor and the now visible woman. While the gangsters try to bully Gibbs into showing them how the machine works, Carroll starts stealing their booze. Once she becomes invisible for the 3rd time, she beats the whole gang with the professor through trickery.
After everything is said and done, Dick shows up to save the day, so Carroll stages it like she still needs help. Because we guess he needed more seducing? Cut to them having a baby who also turns invisible when it is rubbed with alcohol. “Hereditary!” the Professor says to the audience.
Themes
In The Invisible Woman, we see scientific advancement stagnate under a capitalist framework. We watch a scientist resort to unpaid human test subjects. Despite the work having seemingly endless uses, the research can only find funding with one rich guy who needs to start seeing a return on investment.
And that’s not to mention the people desperate enough for the promise of future income to submit to being an unpaid test subject. In this case, it is initially done to exact revenge on a micromanaging boss. Later it becomes for the promise of future, theoretical income. Considering Carroll was the first test subject, there is still every possibility that there may be a long-term issue with the machine that will prevent it from ever going to market. In that case, the research would be considered a failure since it was not made profitable. Not because it couldn’t turn people invisible.
While labor exploitation isn’t unique to capitalism, it is on full display here. It makes The Invisible Woman an interesting and unexpected comment on capitalism and classism.
