This is one of those flashbacks that you remember as a kid. We lived in Brooklyn, N.Y. back in the day and I remember as a child watching previews for a show that I thought was The Invisible Man. All I remember about the previews was a man with the bandages sitting in a chair (possibly in a theater)smoking a cigarett while someone opened a curtain above him looking to see where the cigarette smoke was coming from. Then in another scene I think the Invisible Man was lying on a bed while a fireman came in a door to the room and the fireman passed out from fright. This is all I remember except that I had nightmares from thinking about these scenes. To this day I don't know if this was the scenes from this show or not. I love this site because you can find pretty much all the old shows.

Early in my infancy, Richard Greene's Robin Hood was, for me, the real, the only portrait of Robin Hood. At that time, I could not notice the budgetary constraints, especially noticeable today in the minute sets where action took place. In the same way, this 1958 Invisible Man was, for me, the true depiction of the Invisible Man: a type of superhero, always fighting for justice. I was eight years of age at the time, so I was very surprised when I learned, later, that Wells original character was not a hero, but a very troubled man. I enjoyed the I.M. effects very much and I never spotted a wire; however, quite often, things like telephones, pens and cigarettes behaved strangely when lifted by the invisible man: they tended to somehow oscillate, a movement not to be expected from an object supposedly held by a hand (invisible or otherwise). Nevertheless, it was good and fun. ALL 26 EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE FOR WATCHING OR DOWNLOADING at Internet Archives dot org (Classic TV Section) or at Uncle Earl's Classic TV web site. Don't miss them.I also agree with the previous commentator that ITC, very markedly at that time, usually offered products of a superior quality. I'm an admirer of Ralph Smart (the producer of this series), who would be later responsible for the excellent and unsurpassed Danger Man (Secret Agent Man) starring Patrick McGoohan.

Warning.....Contains Mild Spoilers! This version of "Invsible Man" has the distinct advantage of not having the scientist , Peter Brady, go slowly insane. Brady turns transparent due to a "radiation" leak while exposing a guinea pig to an unspecified element. He spends the rest of the series constantly looking for a formula to make himself reappear, has a tantrum or two, but otherwise maintains a rather sunny disposition. After an initial misunderstanding with the British Government he moves in with his widowed sister and freckle faced niece and unofficially puts up a shingle to help any passer-by who needs invisible espionage assistance. The show is a little like "The Saint" in that everyone always recognizes the famous Simon Templar yet he is still able to work undercover assignments. The first few "Invisible Man" episodes has the British Government hoping to keep Brady under wraps but after a relatively harmless auto accident "the cat is out of the bag". The press starts flocking to Brady's sister's house and goes nuts trying to figure out how to photograph our unseen hero. I was impressed by the amount of exterior location shoots around London making this series refreshingly not studio enclosed. I loved the fact that Brady's sister seems totally comfortable driving him to each assignment and exposing her daughter to dangerous individuals while always having dinner served on time. The special effects are minimal - a few floating chairs, reusable head bandage unwrapping shots and dangling cigarettes, but hey, you either go with the concept or you don't.It's also good to know that Brady's cotton lab coat and shoes became invisible with him so he can avoid the chill of creeping around in the buff and stepping on broken glass.

This must have been a wondrous new addition to 1950s Television? Made by ITC who had acquired 'Official Films' and who always managed to produce something a little different.. Its very easy to criticize this series in the 21st century, but if you look at it in the context of the time it was made, It was pretty darn clever. The special effects still look effective and It must have been difficult trying to make a show like this in television time and budget? Certainly this show's effects stand up well against the 1975 'Invisible Man' remake series which used a lot of chroma key overlay for effects and consequently the large amount of blue fuzz, made that one unconvincing.