Directed by “King of Poverty Row” Edgar G. Ulmer, this was shot back-to-back with Beyond the Time Barrier over two weeks in Dallas, Texas. The cost? Around $100,000 or so.
The story kicks off when disgraced former Army officer Major Paul Krenner (James Griffith) orchestrates the prison breakout of master burglar Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy). Krenner isn’t acting out of charity; he has imprisoned brilliant German scientist Dr. Ulof (Ivan Triesault) and Ulof’s daughter, Maria (Carmel Daniel), forcing the doctor to perfect an invisibility machine using rare radium. Krenner plans to sell an invisible army to the highest foreign bidder and achieve global conquest.
Faust is forced to become the test subject, gaining the ability to turn invisible at will. Krenner sends the newly transparent thief on a series of daring daylight heists to steal the additional radium required to power the machine. Meanwhile, romantic and lethal double-crosses brew behind the scenes: Faust begins cozying up to Laura (Marguerite Chapman), Krenner’s cynical associate, while plotting to escape Krenner’s grip.
However, Dr. Ulof hides a grim secret: the invisibility process is unstable and fatally radioactive. Faust soon suffers intense radiation sickness, realizing he is rapidly dying of cancer. Worse, his invisibility begins toggling uncontrollably. Driven by desperation, Faust turns on Krenner. At the end, Faust destroys the lab’s nuclear reactor to stop Krenner’s megalomaniacal plans, triggering a localized atomic blast that consumes both men—leaving a dying Dr. Ulof to warn the authorities of the deadly fallout.
You can watch this on YouTube.
