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Ralph Gibson

Untitled (From the series "In Situ")

The    Invisible    Man    (1933)  (American Cinematographer, written on 1934 by the head of Universal’s effects department John P. Fulton):  

We used a completely black set-walled and floored with black velvet, to be as nearly nonreflective as possible.

Claude Rains was garbed from head to foot in black velvet tights, with black gloves, and a black headpiece rather like a driver’s helmet. Over this he wore whatever clothes might be required. This gave us a picture of the unsupported clothes moving around on a dead black field. From this negative, we made a print, and a duplicate negative which we intensified to serve as mattes for printing. A second route of optical printing added the moving clothes, and the composite final negative was painstakingly retouched by hand, using opaque dye to eliminate visual imperfections.

A scene in which the invisible man stands before a mirror and removes his bandages was exceptionally complex, requiring four separate negatives, [and was perhaps the most elaborate composite shot ever attempted in Hollywood, rivaled only by some sequences in King Kong, also released in 1933]. First, there was a shot of the wall and the mirror, with the mirror itself masked out by black velvet: next, a separate shot of the opposite wall of the room, as reflected in the mirror; thirdly, the shot of the invisible man, from the rear, unwrapping his bandages, and lastly, the reflection of him, from the front, doing the same act. The black suited-scenes were especially difficult. In some of these scenes, it was possible to leave small eyeholes in the helmet, through which the player could see: but in others-especially the close shots of the unwrapping action-this was impossible, and the player had to act ‘blind’. Air had to be supplied through tubes, as in a diving suit- but the tubes were concealed, usually running up a trouser leg. Midsummer filming, coupled with the intense heat of arc lights, made the work especially uncomfortable. On at least one occasion [Rains] fainted in the middle of a scene. Had he not been in splendid physical condition, I doubt if he could have survived the strenuous ordeal of working in such a costume, under such conditions.