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

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Robert Dillon (screenplay) and
Ray Russell (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

18 September 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Suddenly he could see through clothes, flesh... and walls!

Plot:

A doctor uses special eye drops to give himself x-ray vision, but the new power has disastrous consequences.

Plot Keywords:

Eye | Doctor | Eye Drops | X Ray Vision | Funding

Cast

Ray Milland	...	Dr. James Xavier
Diana Van der Vlis	...	Dr. Diane Fairfax (as Diana van der Vlis)
Harold J. Stone	...	Dr. Sam Brant
John Hoyt	...	Dr. Willard Benson
Don Rickles	...	Crane
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Morris Ankrum	...	Mr. Bowhead (uncredited)
George DeNormand	...	Medical Board Member (uncredited)
John Dierkes	...	Preacher (uncredited)
Kathryn Hart	...	Mrs. Mart (uncredited)
Jonathan Haze	...	Heckler (uncredited)
Vicki Lee	...	Young Girl Patient (uncredited)
Mathew McCue	...	Patient (uncredited)
Cathie Merchant	...	Carnival Dancer (uncredited)
Dick Miller	...	Heckler (uncredited)
Barboura Morris	...	Nurse with Young Patient (uncredited)
Cosmo Sardo	...	Medical Board Member (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	Assistant Croupier (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Casino Patron (uncredited)
Lorrie Summers	...	Party Dancer (uncredited)

Directed by
Roger Corman

Writing credits
Robert Dillon		(screenplay) and
Ray Russell		(screenplay)
Ray Russell		(story)

Produced by
Samuel Z. Arkoff	....	executive producer
Bartlett A. Carre	....	associate producer (as Bartlett A. Carré)
Roger Corman	....	producer
James H. Nicholson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Les Baxter

Cinematography by
Floyd Crosby		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Anthony Carras

Production Design by
Daniel Haller

Art Direction by
Daniel Haller

Set Decoration by
Harry Reif

Costume Design by
Marjorie Corso

Makeup Department
Ted Coodley	....	makeup artist
Betty Pedretti	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Robert Agnew	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Bohrer	....	assistant director

Art Department
Karl Brainard	....	properties
Ross Hahn	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Alfred R. Bird	....	sound editor (as Al Bird)
John L. Bury	....	sound (as John Bury)

Visual Effects by
John Howard	....	consultant: Spectarama

Music Department
Eve Newman	....	music editor
Al Simms	....	music coordinator

Other crew
Jack W. Cash	....	production assistant (as Jack Cash)

Production Companies

• Alta Vista Productions

Distributors

• American International Pictures (AIP) (1963) (USA) (theatrical)
• ClassicLine (Brazil) (DVD)
• Orion Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• World Beyond Video

Special Effects

• Butler-Glouner

Also Known As:

"X" - USA (original title)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #20529) | Norway:16

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company:

Alta Vista Productions

Trivia:

This film originally had a five minute prologue about the human senses. This prologue was removed from all post-theatrical prints of the film, and may have been removed from some of the theatrical release prints. This reduced the running time to 79 minutes. The footage still exists.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the hospital, Dr. Xavier sees through bandages, but sees his friends dressed.

Quotes:

Preacher:Are you a sinner? Do you wish to be saved?
Dr. James Xavier:Saved? No. I've come to tell you what I see. There are great darknesses. Farther than time itself. And beyond the darkness... a light that glows, changes... and in the center of the universe... the eye that sees us all.
[Looks up at the sky]
Dr. James Xavier:No!
Preacher:You see sin and the devil! But the lord has told us what to do about it. Said Matthew in Chapter Five, "If thine eye offends thee... pluck it out!"

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Donnie Darko (2001)

The Eye Of God

The sad thing about the film X is that it was 40 years ahead of its time. Roger Corman should have done this or even redone this film in the age of computer graphics. Maybe at a major studio perhaps.

But a major studio would never have taken a chance on a film like this. A science fiction movie without any horrific monsters or buckets of blood and gore, the moguls would reason who would want to see that? X could only be done at American-International Pictures and be done only with someone of the imagination of Roger Corman.

Ray Milland as Dr. James Xavier is a research scientist doing work in the field of vision. Dr. Frankenstein only wanted to bring life back from the dead. Milland wants to improve vision so that we see with the eye of God.

He develops a serum based on hormones and enzymes and you apply to the eyes. Milland sees things more clearly, but as was said in a film some thirty years after X, he can't handle the truth.

After accidentally killing a colleague friend in Harold J. Stone, Milland goes underground still continuing his experiments and working first at a carnival and then at a diagnostic/healer under the tutelage of Don Rickles. All the while colleague Diana Van Der Vlis is looking for him because guilty or not of the homicide of their friend Stone, Van Der Vlis believes in Milland and his work.

The climax of this film which takes place in a tent revival meeting is a sudden death one and unforgettable. Let's just say there are no good choices or fates left for Milland. And he's been given a clarity far beyond what any of these people in that tent can comprehend.

Don Rickles will surprise many with his performance as this bottom feeding carnival hustler at how good he is. Actually he's not wrong in what he sees as a practical solution for all concerned, hiding Milland from the authorities, making money, and allowing him to continue his research. But no proper doctor wants a partner like Rickles. It's like Colin Clive teaming up with Dwight Frye. Also in a small role at the end of the film is John Dierkes as the small time evangelist with the tent show. He's also quite good.

X does ask some interesting questions, much like the original Frankenstein movie. This film really deserves a remake.