films for Universal. Virginia Bruce was cast as the invisible woman and signed her contract on September 12, 1940. John Barrymore began to have trouble memorizing his dialogue. According to John Howard, Barrymore began cutting up the script and placing pieces on the set—behind vases, phones or other props—so he could read the lines. Howard says that "Barrymore was an ordinary fellow. He wasn't stuffy and he had no pretense whatsoever. Even in pictures that you felt weren't up to snuff, I don't think he showed any disdain. We knew perfectly well The Invisible Woman wasn't going to be an award-winning picture, but it was fun to do. No one took it seriously". Maria Montez is among the cast, in her first film role. Reception The film was nominated for the 14th Academy Awards for Special Effects. (At the time, the category embraced photographic and sound effects.) The photographic effects were by John Fulton and the sound effects by John Hall. I Wanted Wings won the Oscar for Special Effects. At the time of its release, this film was considered slightly risqué because much is made of the fact that the heroine, though invisible, is naked during much of the action. On its release, The Invisible Woman grossed a total of just under $660,000. Universal followed it with Invisible Agent on July 31, 1942. Theodore Strauss of The New York Times called the film "silly, banal and repetitious ... The script is as creaky as a two-wheeled cart and were it not for the fact that John Barrymore is taking a ride in it we hate to think what The Invisible Woman might have turned out to be". Variety called it "good entertainment for general audiences". Film Daily called it "laugh-packed", "brightly dialogued" and "a lot of fun". Harrison's Reports declared it "a pretty good comedy for the masses ... but it does not offer anything new to those who saw the other pictures in which the character became invisible". John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote: "The old stunt is still good, yet it's not used to much advantage here ... In fact, this is the feeblest example so far of that stunt which the camera can so easily make funny". Reboot In November 2019, a spin-off film centered around the female counterpart to Invisible Man was in development. Elizabeth Banks will star in, direct, and produce The Invisible