L'horrible cas du docteur X

This was the typically-hokey-but fun Roger Corman film but one that keeps your interest most the way and at least stars a famous classic-era actor: Ray Milland. One actually wonders what an actor of Milland's status would doing in a B Grade B-type sci-fi movie like this. For someone who had admired Milland's work for many years, it just seems odd for me to see him in a small-budget film. Maybe things got tough for him near the end of his career and he would take most any role. I don't know, and I'm not judging.....just curious why he took this role. I do know having him in the movie elevates it and the dialog isn't as cheesy as one would expect in a 1950-ish sci-fi horror story made in the '60s.

Comedian Don Rickles playing a greedy criminal guy was another odd cast selection, but, he, too, was fun to watch.

Corman was smart to keep this at a respectable 79 minutes. Had it gone on longer, it would have started to drag. It would be interesting to see this film done with today's special-effects.

This is one of my favorite Roger Corman flicks. Brisk pace and many surprises. Don Rickles as a ruthless carny exploiteer is one of them. Milland wears more and more ridiculous sunglasses as the movie progresses.

Seriously, this is one of Don Rickles' best performances -- it shows that he could have gone in a totally different direction than he followed for most of his career (as an "insult comedian") if he had wanted to. I imagine that his appearance in the film had something to do with his contract with AIP, but I still think it's a bit of VERY inspired casting (regardless of the financial reasons that may have been behind it).

Milland is also excellent in the type of role that suits him to a T... he gets to be kind of a Dr. Frankenstein here, convinced he's doing good for humanity but making himself into a monster in the process.

A memorable story with a meaning.

Dr Xavier (Ray Milland) thirst of knowledge experiments with a formula on his owns eyes which will allow to see through solid material. As he can read a closed book , making diagnosis ills , and seeing naked people. He can literally observe through things , watching beyond of visible lights and turning into a rarefied figure as mad doctor. Then the staff intends to cut off his funds for further research . But an accident takes place , dieing a medic (Harlod J Stone), as he flees and the newspapers publicize , as the Angeles Daily Sun : ¨Doctor falls to death¨, ¨Physician murdered¨ and the Angeles Chronicle : ¨Doctor killer flees¨. Later on , Xavier wearing dark glasses works at a sideshow (ruled by Don Rickles) as fortune teller and finally as psychic consultant. Such increased powers of perception and knowledge bring him neither happiness nor strengthening but transform him an outcast, unsettling person.

A stylish and first-rate film , confidently realized and plenty of eye-popping moments referred to the visions. The basic opposition between blindness and vision is a central key of this interesting work. Good performances from Ray Milland as doctor who gains power to see beyond, Harold J Stone as unfortunate medic who accidentally falls and Don Rickles as ambitious manager . Appears uncredited notorious secondary cast as Morris Ankrum, John Hoyt, and John Dierkes as preacher. Furthermore unbilled actors of the Corman factory as Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze. It packs not withstanding and weak special effects made by date means. Rare musical score by Lex Baxter and colorful cinematography by Floyd Crosby, booth of whom are habitual of Roger Corman.

After his period realizing poverty-budget horror movies as ¨Swamp woman, The beast with a million of eyes, Attack of the crab monsters , Undead¨, then came the cycle of tales of terror based on Poe as ¨ House of Usher, Pit and pendulum, The raven , Tales of terror, The masque of the red death ¨ , and Corman made this undisputed masterpiece , X , that won the Golden Asteroid in the Trieste Festival of Science Fiction Films in 1963. Rating : Above average, definitively wholesome watching , Corman's achievement to have bent the Sci-Fi genre with splendid results.

A very thoughtful, engrossing, flawed film from superhuman director/producer Roger Corman. Yep, it has some problems, most primarily dealing with a limited budget. But what it lacks in dollars it has in heart and its ability to make you think about what we are missing out seeing with our vision. I am not sure that much, or even any, scientific creedence can be given to the idea behind the experiments of Dr. Xavier James and his search to see beyond what normal vision allows. Ray Milland gives a fine performance as the obsessed man out to continue his experiments even if they involve using himself as the human guinea pig. Some of the scenes and dialogue are a bit hokey by today's standards but most fit the film very nicely. The scene with Milland at a party is a real hoot and great comedic relief. I also loved the end to the film but thought it could have been plucked out a little longer. The effects are very sparse and the only ones I really thought were any good were the ones used to highlight Milland's eyes through the film. The film boasts a fine cast of stalwart sci-fi/Corman people such as Morris Ankrum, Dick Miller, Jonathan Haze, and Barboura Morris, as well as a young(and obviously talented) Don Rickles. Definitely try to see your way to seeing this film.

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.