This is an edited version of the 1936 serial of the same name. It is cut down to an hour and 18 minutes.
Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Zorka. He's got a new element that gives him the power to do various things. Apparently, he has an invisibility belt (called a 'devisualizer'), a Z-ray, he can perform painless surgery, and he has a huge robot. People familiar with Rob Zombie will recognize it from the music video for "Dragula,"
I'm a bit glad I watched the shortened version, because I don't think I would've made it through the longer serial. Zorka blamed the people who "betrayed" him for the death of his wife when he was the one who put a disc in her purse while she was on a plane. And he put the spider thing on there too. When the disc and the spider come together...poof!
On top of that, the robot was NOT used enough. I saw him attempt murder once, and then he just kind of threatened people a bit. Then he walked outside and blew up. Sigh...
I don't know why Zorka trusted his sidekick. The man tried to betray him more than once, but Zorka was happy to exert power over him. And the woman. A lot of her scenes must have been cut, because at the end they talked about giving her a medal. The only thing I'd seen her do was hide in a plane and drive a car. And after she drives through an explosion, the guy compliments her and immediately takes over the driving. "Good job! Now scoot over!"
Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of this one. I didn't understand why the invisible man had a weird ghost shadow, and it wasn't as exciting without the cliffhangers sprinkled throughout the story. I'm not sure I would've liked the serial better, but as it stands, I'll pass on this one.
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