X:THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES(1963) Directed by Roger Corman Starring Ray Milland,Diana Van Del Vlis, Harold J. Stone, Don Rickles, Barboura Morris, Dick Miller, John Hoyt 85 minutes Unrated Released by MGM Home Video
One of my all time favorite Roger Corman films is the 1963 science fiction parable,X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES starring Ray Milland(THE LOST WEEKEND) as medical researcher Dr. James Xavier(the "X" in the title) who discovers a serum that applied to his eyes gives him the power of extreme X-Ray vision being able to see thru any surface, being or surface.But instead of being a blessing, this new power immediately becomes a curse to Dr. Xavier that makes him a pariah, a mutant and a loner because of his new abilities and it even makes him a murderer, con-man and law breaker. Of course in science fiction pictures such as this, Dr. Xavier makes the classic mistake of experimenting with himself using this untested X-ray vision formula simply because of his ego instead of using common sense of testing this formula on experimental live subjects such as animals.This has been a constant topic in such science fiction classics such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, H.G. Well's The Invisible Man and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
Although in my sincere opinion, Milland is rather too old to play the lead, but he is still quite effective in his performance of the obssessed but tragic Dr. Xavier as well as stand up comedian Don Rickles in a rare dramatic performance as a sinister carnival sideshow barker who blackmails Dr. Xavier in using his powers to con elderly ill people.The special visual effects that appear in this film to represent the effects of Dr. Xavier's X-Ray vision made in the so-called visual effects of "Spectravision" look today quite cheesy and old fashioned in it's optical work, but at the time of this film's release,the X-Ray vision effects were sufficiently realistic for movie audiences then despite the film's obvious low budget.The film has a great haunting jazz score by film composer Les Baxter(Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY, Roger Corman's THE PIT & THE PENDELUM) The DVD has the film's original trailer as well as a five minute pre-titles prologue about the five human senses:sound, hearing, touch, taste and of course, sight. There is also an interesting and entertaining audio commentary on this Region 1 DVD release by the film's director Roger Corman who by the way, also comments that this film's tragic ending had an additional coda that was mentioned by famed horror author Stephen King in his 1980 book Danse Macabre which Corman did film but later decided to edit it out of the film before it's theatrical release because he considered too much of a downer as well as maybe too gruesome for 1960's audiences. Although I normally an not a film of movie remakes, I do concur with director Roger Corman that THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES is a really good subject for a film remake, especially with today's CGI technology and with possibly Liam Neeson & Ralph Fiennes in the Dr.Xavier role and possibly Guillermo Del Toro,David Fincher or David Cronenberg as directors of a remake/update of this film
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