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

The Transparent Trap

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes on DVD.

Roger Corman took a break from his Poe series and tackled another ambitious science fiction project, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963, MGM/UA, $14.95). For the lead role of the scientist who experiments on himself, Corman landed an actual Oscar-winner, Ray Milland, who had starred in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend almost 20 years earlier. Just like the title says, Milland develops a special X-ray serum that allows him to see inside the chest of a patient during an operation. But he's soon branded a freak and an outcast and accused of murder. He takes a job on the carnival circuit, "reading" things in people's pockets. Unlike the Poe pictures, Corman did not photograph X in widescreen and uses colors more sparingly, but he gained plenty of mileage through his cost-saving "X-Ray" special effects. Sadly, when Milland discovers he can see through women's clothes, the film only shows his victims from the knees down or the necks up. See also: The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) and Pit and the Pendulum (1961).

Starring: Ray Milland, Diana Van der Vlis, Harold J. Stone, John Hoyt, Don Rickles
Written by: Robert Dillon, Ray Russell
Directed by: Roger Corman
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 79 minutes
Date: July 13, 2001