The Invisible Man: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-ray - Classic Horror Movie Set for Film Collectors & Home Theater Enthusiasts

PHOTO 1: INVISIBLE MAN (1933) with Claude Rains, directed by James Whale, who also directed ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Bride of Frankenstein’PHOTO 2: INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940) with Vincent Price.PHOTO 3: INVISIBLE WOMAN (1940) with Virginia Bruce.PHOTO 4: INVISIBLE AGENT (1942) with Jon Hall.PHOTO 5: INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE (1944) with Jon Hall.PHOTO 6: ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (1951) with Arthur Franz.‘Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) has a thirty second cameo by Vincent Price as the Invisible Man. That film is not in this box, but the cameo is shown in it's entirety in the documentary on disc one.Back in 2014 Universal released the "Classic Monsters Complete 30 Film Legacy Collection" in a DVD mega-box.All the Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, Invisible Man and Wolf Man movies produced by Universal in the 1930s and '40s, plus + the 1943 “Phantom of the Opera” plus some stragglers from the 1950s.With the “Invisible Man Legacy Collection” everything has finally been re-released on Blu-Ray in improved black & white pictures.It’s amazing how many shades of gray those old negatives had.Quite beautiful pictures.No new extras on Blu-Ray, but all the extras from DVD have been carried over (listed on Amazon’s website).'The Invisible Man' has audio in English or French + a commentary track + SDH subtitles in English and Spanish.The remaining five films have audio in English + SDH subtitles in English, French and Spanish.See the end of this review for Amazon links to the other Blu-Ray boxes.H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man was always out-of-place in this collection: Science Fiction rather than Horror.Of course Frankenstein was also Science Fiction, but at least he looked scary (actually he was just misunderstood).Technically, the Invisible Man didn’t look like anything.Actor Claude Rains and director James Whale knew H.G. Wells from their time on the London stage in the 1920s.Uniquely, Wells was still alive for the first five of six films (he is on record as disapproving of them, though he had no problem collecting royalties).H.G. Wells died in 1948 and tragically never saw ‘Abbott & Costello Meet the Invisible Man’.The Invisible Man sequels were more diverse than other Universal monster sequels:--- ‘The Invisible Woman’ (1940) was one of those awful comedies that John Barrymore filmed shortly before his death, when his acting was reduced to mugging for the camera. He plays the mad scientist.--- ‘The Invisible Agent’ (1942) was a World War II espionage film: The Invisible Man is an American spy pursued by Cedric Hardwick and Peter Lorre as Nazi and Japanese spies.--- ‘Invisible Man’s Revenge’ (1944) was a crime drama. This Invisible Man is thoroughly despicable: a psychopathic killer even before being injected with the invisibility drug. John Carradine plays the Mad Scientist.BLU-RAY LINKS ON AMAZON:Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection [Blu-ray] (but don't order until you've read the last paragraph of this review).Available separately:--- Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray]--- Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray]--- The Mummy: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray]--- The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray]--- Invisible Man: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-Ray: reviewed on this page.--- Phantom of the Opera (1943) [Blu-ray] *--- Creature From the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray] *** ‘Phantom of the Opera’ (1943) officially lacks a sequel.Universal considered one, but the finished result is a curiosity, closer to a remake than a sequel.‘The Climax’ (1944) starred Boris Karloff in a role suspiciously close to the Phantom played by Claude Rains.Plot: “Dr. Hohner (Karloff), house physician at the Vienna Opera, murders the star soprano when his jealousy drives him to madness.Ten years later, another young singer reminds Hohner of the late diva, and the old mania kicks in.”Susannah Foster repeated her role as the object of the Phantom/Dr. Hohner’s obsession.‘The Climax’ is set in the Vienna Opera, but if the building looks suspiciously like the Paris Opera in ‘Phantom’, that’s because the same movie set was used for both films.Both films were shot in technicolor; expensive back in the 1940s. Only used for prestige productions.‘The Climax’ is not yet on Blu-Ray (it would make a nice two-disc set with ‘The Phantom of the Opera’),but it is available in a five film, three DVD box: The Boris Karloff Collection (Tower of London / The Black Castle / The Climax / The Strange Door / Night Key)** 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' blu-ray box:It always annoyed me that Universal included the three film ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ series in this collection.The Creature from the Black Lagoon is not a Universal Studios Classic Monster.He is a 1950’s Universal-International Monster.Completely different.This boxed set was supposed to be the 3-D debut of the second film, ‘Revenge of the Creature’, but Universal Home Video botched the 3-D transfer.If you have a 3-D TV, read the Amazon reviews of Creature From the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray] before ordering.I have never seen so many one-star reviews.I can't comment on it since I don't own a 3-D TV .The blu-rays also include the standard versions of films one and two, which look OK on my TV, but I sympathize with owners of 3-D TVs (I'd like to own one some day).My advice is don't order the Creature from the Black Lagoon blu-ray collection (or the Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection [Blu-ray]) until at least September of 2019.That will give them a year to fix the problem.Then only buy it after checking the latest reviews on Amazon.And don't buy used copies.THERE IS NOTHING AT ALL WRONG WITH THE OTHER FIVE MONSTER COLLECTIONS (Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, Wolf Man and Phantom of the Opera), all of which look beautiful on blu-ray.