X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The first must-see film of the year.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

'X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes' - one can expect everything from a movie with such title, a superhero tale, a man turned some vicious monsters, an alien visiting earth etc. Especially when the film is directed by no other than Roger Corman. But no, this is not another cheesy exploitation flick. 'X' is much more visceral and lurid, sometimes even disturbing science-fiction horror than usual Corman's productions.Ray Milland gives powerful and balanced performance as Dr. James Xavier, a scientist obsessed near insanity for developing eye drops that can give X-ray vision. When he finally decides to try the new invention on himself, soon things start to get awry. Luckilly the film doesn't turn into mad scientist grounds, but stays till the end as a story of a man who does it for good, not for self beneficial purposes. 'X' manages to stay true to its serious tone established in first quarter of the film. Not cheese, but chills. Visual effects are quite effective even by today's standard and nice touch was to see things (and people) through Xavier's eyes. All this is fantastically tied together with powerful finale where Xavier gives speech before pastor about seeing things at the edges of the universe.First-rate Corman production and deservedly fortified its place in cult classics arena.

X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)*** (out of 4) Dr. James Xavier (Ray Milland) is upset that we can only use 10% of our possible eyesight so he sets out to create a chemical, which will allow people to see everything possible. He uses himself as a guinea pig and sure enough he gets the greatest vision anyone could imagine but it doesn't take long for the drug to start effecting his mind.Roger Corman's X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES is without question one of the director's better films and I'd argue that it's also one of his smartest. If you're expecting some sort of low-budget non-sense then you'll be coming to the wrong picture because this here is certainly much more than that. Corman's direction is among the best of his career and its story is given a lot of credit by the fact it features a former Oscar-winning actor turning in an excellent performance.I've always thought this film never got the credit it deserved and it's probably because it's not as campy as some of Corman's pictures and it's not a full blown horror movie. This here is basically a science-fiction movie with touches of religion, morals and some psychedelic drugs thrown in as well. The film briefly hints at some comedy when the doctor is at a party and sees the people dancing naked but outside of this the screenplay treats the subject in a serious manor.I thought the serious nature of the film worked and was believable because you've got someone like Milland. He certainly plays the role extremely straight and he makes you believe this character and the various horrors that are going to start happening to him. Milland is certainly terrific here and we get some nice support from Diana Van der Vlis as the love interest and Don Rickles as the circus junkie who begins to take advantage of the doctor.There's some very good cinematography to be had here and we're also given an impressive music score. X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES is a clever little film that has a lot going for it and it's certainly worth watching.

I love it when the Doc's (Milland) x-ray eyes peel through the fancy clothes at the party. Of course, the camera doesn't show more than bare backs and legs, but my imagination ran wild with the rest. Right away, I was wishing I had the see-through power, that is, until I thought about sleep. In fact, closing your eyes wouldn't help— you'd still be seeing what's above. Nothing it seems would work; you'd still literally see through it all. So, would sleep ever come. Anyway, I decided not to try any eye experiments, nude parties or no.Despite my half-facetious remarks, this is a serious sci-fi, several cuts above Corman's usual drive-in fare. Oscar-winner Milland delivers an ace performance that almost makes things believable. However, the psychedelic light shows almost gave me a headache. That along with the cheezy music didn't help. Still, the text amounts to a good little morality play. After all, consider the possibilities that open up to this heightened perception. That's the doc's dilemma. At first he wants to use it to help diagnose medical problems. That's understandable since he was a respected medical research doctor until funding ceased. But then slickster Crane (Rickles) talks him into charging fees for his x-ray diagnoses, most of which the promoter gets. Now on something of a confused moral slide, the Doc goes to Vegas where he stands to clean up, even though his x-ray vision is becoming unpredictable. In short, his former blessing is becoming a curse. That may account for the final part, which otherwise seems an odd and abrupt intrusion. Still, it was good seeing the craggy Old Testament figure, John Dierkes doing his thing, in blazing Technicolor.All in all, the movie's a fairly imaginative slice of sci-fi, with a fine central performance, and a comely Diana Van Der Vlis as the Doc's confidant.

Roger Corman has opened more doors for more filmmakers than I can recall; here, he opens the doors of perception (metaphorically speaking). "I'm closing in on the gods," Xavier boasts early on in the movie. When a monkey given the "X" eyedrops dies (apparently of fright), X decides it's time to experiment on himself (of course). "It's like a splitting of the world," he marvels: "More light than I've ever seen..." There's a neat POV shot in which his eyes are BANDAGED while he looks at and talks to someone else. "I like the way you look," a young woman tells him... just before the party they're at becomes, for him, a peep show. When his x-ray vision becomes too acute to control, he says of one woman: "She appears a perfect, breathing dissection." It's a gruesome observation, but the fx of the time didn't really allow for a viewer's peek at same. The "X effect" throughout is relatively simple, visually (it looks like a 3D image does without the glasses), but the gold and, finally, black contact lenses ARE effective. Milland's performance here is as tight as in THE LOST WEEKEND. Kudos to Corman.