H.G. Wells "The Invisible Man" amazingly loud suit nice stop-motion and strings. Used green screen like effect? why did he begin stealing AFTER he put on clothes and makeup?
While a bit primitive today, the special effects in "Le Voleur Invisible" are incredible. It begins with a man buying a copy of H.G. Wells' book "The Invisible Man". However, this must have been a special edition, as it gave the exact formula that the man in the book used to become invisible, so the guy tries it and soon disappears. Then, using a variety of film tricks, they made an amazingly convincing film. It's obvious they used stop-motion and strings for some of the effects (though they hid the strings very well) but the invisibility was a lot tougher and I assume they used some early version of blue or green screen to achieve this. Interestingly, for part of the time you can barely see a the invisible guy--like he's 95% invisible.
As far as the plot goes, it's very basic given that it's only about 7 minutes long. Using these new powers, this dishonest guy steals and then attacks the poor cops who try to arrest him. All in all, a completely incredible film for 1909 and proof that Segundo de Chomón was a very, very skilled filmmaker.