Tomei Ningen

is a Japanese action / horror film, originally released in 1954. Produced by legendary studio Toho, the film is a loose adaption of the science fiction novella entitled "The Invisible Man", written by British author H.G. Wells in 1897. The film was directed by Motoyoshi Oda, and written by Hiroshi Beppu & Shigeaki Hidaka.

The two stories do not share many plot details, aside from the general premise of a man who can turn himself invisible, but it was produced with the intent of adapting Wells' work. The film follows a circus clown and a gang, both of whom can become invisible due to ingesting a formula developed by the government during World War II. The gang of criminals has been using their powers to wreak havoc and cause chaos throughout Japan, and the clown (portrayed by Seizaburô Kawazu) is the only one with the courage to stand up to them. Ultimately, he defeats them, but in doing so is forced to sacrifice his own life.

The film was moderately successful, but was overshadowed by the huge crossover success of "Godzilla", earlier in 1954. It was never released outside of Japan, nor has it appeared on any home video format.

References

* [http://www.historyvortex.org/OtherSideToho.html "The Other Side of Toho"] , an article originally appearing in "G-Fan", issue 23.
* [http://tohokingdom.com/movies/invisible_man.htm "Invisible Man"] at Toho Kingdom.