Friday, May 1, 2015

Mr. Superinvisible (1970)



In between cranking out family comedies for Walt Disney Productions, actor Dean Jones made this rotten flick for a consortium of European companies. Riddled with frenetic camera zooms, horrible voice dubbing, and weird musical scoring, Mr. Superinvisible tries to mimic the Disney formula and fails on nearly every level. The plot is convoluted and stupid, the slapstick gags and verbal jokes are unfunny, and the special effects look cheap. By comparison, even the weakest of the movies that Jones made for Disney seems like masterpieces of kid-friendly entertainment. In Mr. Superinvisible, Jones plays Peter, an American scientist working in a European lab on a cure for the common cold. Concurrently, one of his colleagues discovers a formula for rendering living beings invisible. Through silly circumstances, Peter becomes invisible shortly after criminals steal his current experiment, which they mistakenly believe is a biological weapon. Peter uses his invisibility to defeat the villains—but not before wasting enormous amounts of time embarrassing suave coworker Harold (Gastone Moschin), a rival for the affections of beautiful scientist Irene (Ingeborg Schoener). Mr. Superinvisible is filled with things guaranteed to annoy any thoughtful viewer. One of the supporting players gives a Peter Lorre impression instead of a performance. A fluffy dog is the most developed supporting character. One scene involves Jones, while invisible, blowing raspberries in order to give the impression that Harold is flatulent. The climax involves exploding eggs. All of this drags on for 91 dreary minutes, replete with music suitable for a softcore sex farce. Even though Jones gives his usual valiant effort, his affability is not nearly enough to make Mr. Superinvisible tolerable.

Mr. Superinvisible: LAME

1 comment: