During WWII, the Japanese army had done experiments on some soldiers. The experiments resulted in rendering the soldiers invisible. An accident at sea killed all but two of the invisible soldiers. Not being able to have a normal life, one of the remaining soldiers commits suicide. The government admitted that reversing the process was not possible and also admitted that there was still one invisible man left alive. The public became nervous that an invisible man was still among them. After the suicide of the first invisible man, a gang of thieves calling themselves the “Invisible Men” began robbing jewelry stores, racetracks and banks. They wrapped their heads in bandages, thus disguising their faces.
Takamitsu Nanjo (Seizaburo Kawazu) works for a nightclub called Kurofune as a human billboard. Dressed as a white-faced clown, Nanjo walks around the streets of Tokyo carrying an advisement sign. Nanjo becomes friends with Mariko (Keiko Kondo), a blind girl, and her grandfather (Kamatari Fujiwara). Mariko and her grandfather live next door to Michiyo (Miki Sanjo), a singer at the nightclub. The grandfather is approached by members of the “Invisible” gang wanting his cooperation in one of their heists. The grandfather, needing money for an operation to restore Mariko’s sight, agrees to help. He is subsequently killed by the gang so as to leave no witnesses.
A newspaper reporter, Komatsu (Yoshio Tsuchiya) has been investigating the original invisible men and finds out that the creator of the procedure that made the soldiers invisible died three years ago. Komatsu is now trying to find the last invisible man. Komatsu becomes suspicious of Nanjo and begins following him. He eventually confronts Nanjo and finds out that he is the last remaining invisible man. Nanjo convinces Komatsu that he has nothing to do with the crimes being committed by the gang. Komatsu agrees to help Nanjo find the real criminals and expose them. Komatsu and Nanjo figure out that Yajima (Minoru Takada), the owner of Kurofune, is also the leader of the “Invisible Men” gang. Yajima finds out who Nanjo really is and plans on using him as a scapegoat and blaming the thefts on the real invisible man.
“The Invisible Man” AKA “The Invisible Avenger” AKA “Tomei Ningen” was released in 1954 and was directed by Motoyoshi Oda. It is a Japanese science fiction movie. The film is sort of a very loose adaptation of the 1897 H.G. Wells story. The only real connection to Wells’ story is that that both have invisible men in them. It is the second invisible man film that was produced by Japan.
Some liken the film to the American film noir genre. I wouldn’t go that far. It is, however, a very well-done film for its time. The story takes a while to unfold but it does have some interesting style to it. The pace is a little slow and, at times, the story is a little depressing, but the noirish elements add a little extra dimension to the plot elements.
The special effects are pretty decent for the time. The effects and cinematography were done by Eiji Tsuburaya who also did the effects for many of the Godzilla films as well as other Japanese monster movies. Tsuburaya also did the effects for the first invisible man film “The Invisible Man Appears” 1949. His resume is pretty impressive.