The Amazing Transparent Man

Another variation on the Invisible Man premise: a famous bank robber (Douglas Kennedy) escapes from prison and gets help from a female confederate (Marguerite Chapman). But, they both are in the employ - whether they want this or not - of a crazed ex-Army Major who plans to create an invisible army. The madman also has another guy with a shotgun (Red Morgan) under his spell, as well as a scientist who has been experimenting with an invisibility machine - the mastermind has some hold over both these men. The bank robber is soon made invisible in order to steal rare radioactive materials to perfect the machine. It's soon revealed, however, that the invisibility is unstable and that it's eventually fatal due to radioactive poisoning.
This film is extra short, at just under an hour, made by Edgar Ulmer at the same time as his Beyond the Time Barrier (1960). Most of the film comes across like a typical cheap crime thriller of that period, with the invisibility notion thrown in for good measure. The actors are all past their prime - Kennedy in particular was well suited for minor character roles, not leading roles. But, he manages to be somewhat commanding in this role. The FX are bare-bones - most of the Invisible Man scenes could be accomplished without any of these, just an actor pretending that he's struggling with or getting knocked out by an invisible foe. However, there's one startling shot of the robber halfway materializing in a bank. There's a hint early on that everything might end with a massive explosion (nuclear materials can cause this).  BoG's Score: 3 out of 10