Overrated and overhyped

How sad is this?

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is quite a bit better than it is given credit for. Roger Corman relies on Ray Milland, one of the best actors of his era, to be the title character. It's one of those movies where a scientist decides, through impatience, to test his substance on himself. The results are interesting at first and soon move toward things which begin to destroy his life. Soon he can't turn back; he's stuck with this "gift," and there seems to be no hope. Finally, he becomes responsible for a death and he goes on the lam, joining a circus. His love interest desperately looks for him. But what can he do. There are implications that are dealt with in "The Amazing Shrinking Man," another well crafted science fiction/horror movie. There seems to be some controversy over the last lines of the film. See previous reviewers for this information.

I am a giant fan of Roger Corman's directorial work and have seen most of his output. This movie really stands out from the rest of his 60s material as an unusual and, ultimately, excellent part of his filmography. Corman is best known as the king of the quick b-movie, a director capable of pumping out movie after movie, with small budgets and mostly unknowns casts. What has always separated him from nameless hordes of similar directors is the quality of the work. He started off with throw away fluff. Some of those, like BUCKET OF BLOOD, are worthy examples of the beginning of his creative genius, but there are just as many like THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH that failed as well. He made his mark in horror history with the Gothic revival cycle that featured Vincent Price, a series of movies based on the work of Poe that included classics like MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. In the middle of these movies, though, during a decade where Corman was releasing movie after movie that was absolutely drenched in Gothic atmosphere, Corman releases this sci-horror gem, a movie that seems ripped from OUTER LIMITS or TWILIGHT ZONE, and stands out, truly, as one of Corman's best.The plot involves a scientist who develops a serum that allows him x-ray vision. As he pushes his exploration further and further, Dr Xavier (did Stan Lee rip this off?), goes far beyond the medical implications, or silly stuff like viewing nubile, young naked ladies, eventually descending into madness as he views what may be the center of life itself, but only after taking our plot to a carnival sideshow and a natural use of his powers at Vegas. What is so great, to me, about this movie is the way that it takes a deeper path into exploring this "super power". This could have been a movie about a man who uses a power for heroic purposes, or a silly movie that scratches the mere surface of what it would mean to have x-ray vision, but Corman takes this far beyond that, to a dark heart and a real exploration of what a power like this could do to damage the psyche of a man.Ray Milland really excels here. The effects are often minimal and, by today's standards, not that great. There is not much action to drive the plot, so the weight of the movie comes down on two things mainly -- the quality of the script in its' exploration of this power and performance of the man at the center of it. Milland (who horror fans may know from THE UNINVITED), really carries this movie. He begins as a likable doctor with a sincere wish to develop something that will benefit mankind. Through a courtship that unfolds with a fellow doctor, we get to know the doctor as a man beyond the doctor, but as the movie progresses, the doctor digresses further and further into his condition and as it impacts his grip on sanity, Milland really does a great job in the final acts.It took me awhile to track this movie down. Being such a fan of Corman, I had always looked forward to it, but wasn't sure what to expect, being so different from the Poe/ Price movies, but I was certainly not let down. This is an excellent early example of the mingling of science fiction and horror that can create such disturbing results and Corman handles it deftly.

Ray Milland plays Dr. James Xavier, who is an eyesight specialist who has developed an experimental eye-drop he believes will revolutionize the eye care field, benefiting mankind. Unfortunately, his funding is cut off, so he experiments on himself, with disastrous consequences. Though it gives him X-Ray vision at first, which he puts to amusing use, it later overwhelms his senses. After he accidentally kills a colleague, he is forced to flee, and takes refuge in a carnival run by a shady man(Don Rickles, well cast) who first exploits the good doctor, then later turns him in to the police. With help from another colleague, he escapes, but his condition worsens until he enters a revivalist church where...Wont reveal more, except that it provides a memorable, and chilling end to this occasionally wobbly film, which doesn't quite have the budget or ambition to make full use of its premise, instead of becoming another version of "The Fugitive" TV series! Regardless, Milland is good, and film still overall effective, especially with that ending...

In 1963, Roger Corman directed four, that's right, four movies: "The Raven", "The Terror" (both featuring a young Jack Nicholson), "The Haunted Palace" and "X". The last one, often called "The Man with the X-Ray Eyes", casts Ray Milland as a scientist who develops a substance that gives him X-ray vision...with disastrous consequences.The movie is mostly what one would expect in a Roger Corman flick. A particularly neat scene is when he's at the party and can see through everyone's clothes! The ending is actually a little grimmer than what I'm used to in Corman's movies, but it's probably the only thing that Dr. Xavier could given his experiences.No, it's not my favorite Corman movie (that's either "The Pit and the Pendulum" or "The Raven"), but still pretty entertaining. Also starring Diana Van der Vlis, Harold J. Stone, John Hoyt, Don Rickles (in a rare non-comedic role) and Corman regular Dick Miller (who now appears in Joe Dante's movies).