Invisible Enemy (film)

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Invisible Enemy
Invisible Enemy poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John H. Auer
Screenplay byNorman Burnstine
Alex Gottlieb
Story byAlbert J. Cohen
Robert T. Shannon
Produced byJohn H. Auer
Starring Alan Marshal
Tala Birell
Mady Correll
C. Henry Gordon
Herbert Mundin
Gerald Oliver Smith
Cinematography Jack A. Marta
Edited by William Morgan
Music by Alberto Colombo
Production
company
Distributed byRepublic Pictures
Release date
  • April 4, 1938 (1938-04-04)
Running time
66 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Invisible Enemy is a 1938 American crime film directed by John H. Auer and written by Norman Burnstine and Alex Gottlieb. The film stars Alan Marshal, Tala Birell, Mady Correll, C. Henry Gordon, Herbert Mundin and Gerald Oliver Smith. The film was released on April 4, 1938, by Republic Pictures. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Plot

The film takes place in London and Paris, where Jeffrey Clavering is sent to prevent vital oilfields falling into the hands of a villainous industrialist working for a hostile foreign power.

Marketing

Republic pictures had originally planned a much wider distribution for the film then it ended up getting. Through complications in Republic Film's marketing department, the film ended playing as a B movie for a variety of other films through which it appeared as a double feature, though only in certain regions. According to John H. Auer Republic Pictures "overspent" in Southern California "all of the Southern states" before Herbert J. Yates decided it would have a more limited release. "As a result, the movie got top billing, or at least as close as we got to top billing, in the south and in parts of California, at least around Los Angeles and Bakersfield and so on, and in every Southern media market we had other than Texas. So, Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, it ran as a B movie all the time there, for a while, but we had already spent the money by the time he (Yates) pulled the plug. So instead of it getting a small release everywhere, it got a somewhat big release there and almost no release elsewhere. All of the money that we had left over that we were gonna spend pushing it in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and whatnot, all of that went to Jersey, so it was shown in basically every theater around New Jersey too, but like nowhere else in that region. Goes without saying we were all more cautious before spreading Forged Passport around." Continuing Auer added "So yeah, turned out a lot of folks in Alabama and Georgia and the Carolinas saw it, and some in New Jersey, but not a lot else. But we didn't care, it wasn't a big picture." [4]

Cast

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References

  1. ↑ "Invisible Enemy (1938) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  2. ↑ "Movie Review - - THE SCREEN; ' Invisible Enemy,' Featuring Alan Marshall, Is Seen at Criterion-Three Foreign Films Open Here At the Teatro Hispano At the 86th Street Casino At the Modern Playhouse". NYTimes.com. 1938-04-30. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  3. ↑ "Invisible Enemy". Afi.com. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  4. ↑ Film Bulletin, Volume 23, Issues 1-13m ax Publications, 1955 pg. 22-24


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