Often, the name of Segundo de Chomón (1871-1929) is associated with that of Georges Méliès (1861-1938). If he is less known than his illustrious rival, the Spanish filmmaker has nonetheless little to envy in him in terms of creativity and inventiveness when it comes to special effects. It is in 1905 that Segundo de Chomón is hired by Pathé Frères, and put in charge of special-effects films to compete with Méliès. During the years 1908 and 1909, which are particularly prolific, Segundo de Chomón makes his best special-effects films, among the some 150 which he made for Pathé between 1905 and 1909.

In Le Voleur invisible, Chomón uses two major techniques for his special effects: superimposition, and frame-by-frame shooting. Superimposition consists of the use of an image in the film two times in a row in the same frame or section. This enables one to superimpose several images, and thus make the body of the character disappear when the latter removes his clothing. The filmmaker shoots separately, but on the same fragment of film, the image of the lit set, and that of the character removing his very lightly coloured suit. Only the lit elements are actually printed on the film. The actor just has to wear black clothing under his suit so that only the image of the latter is added in front of the décor.

The frame-by-frame shooting process lies at the origin of the impression of autonomous movement of objects. It's thanks to a camera of his own invention, including a crank with various positions, that Chomón could film frame by frame, either forwards or backwards. Le Rêve des marmitons (Scullions' Dream) is another work by the same director which eminently illustrates this process.

The novel by British author Herbert George Wells (1866-1946), which inspired Chomón's phantasmagoria, appeared in 1897. Without any doubt The invisible Man was completely in vogue in 1909. Chomón's film was very probably the very first occurrence on screen of a story promised, quite like the other novels by Wells, to a long film career. Among the other screen adaptations of the novel, we might cite The Invisible Man by James Whale in 1933, Memoirs of an Invisible Man by John Carpenter in 1992, and Hollow Man by Paul Verhoeven in 2000, not to forget, of course, the famous TV series!

The original music for this film was composed in 2011 by Boris Freulon in the context of the partnership with the CNSMDP (Paris Conservatory of Dance and Music).