The man with the X-ray eyes
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The man with the X-ray eyes |
| Original title | X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1963 |
| length | 80 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Roger Corman |
| script |
Robert Dillon , Ray Russell |
| production | Roger Corman |
| music | Les Baxter |
| camera | Floyd Crosby |
| cut | Anthony Carras |
| occupation | |
| |
The man with the X-Ray Eyes is an American science fiction film from the year 1963 . The first broadcast on German television was on March 31, 1979 on ARD . Roger Corman's film is about a scientist whose eyesight - after a self-experiment - is getting bigger.
action
The scientist Dr. Xavier is working on a drug that is supposed to increase the eyesight of the human eye. Initially financed by a foundation, he soon had to continue working without support. Xavier develops a serum he calls X. Under the supervision of his friend Dr. Brant he makes a self-experiment. The serum has an immediate effect. The enthusiastic Xavier then repeatedly dripped the liquid into his eyes and soon afterwards was even able to see through objects. Brant, who is now convinced of the dangerousness of the serum, advises Xavier to stop trying. However, Xavier does not listen to him. An argument breaks out, and during the scuffle, Xavier accidentally pushes his friend through a window. Xavier flees because the police are looking for him for murder.
Finally he ends up at Crane, who owns a fairground booth. Xavier works as a fortune teller under the name of Dr. Mentality. When Crane finds out that Xavier's tricks aren't really, he persuades him to act as a faith healer. The doctor Dr. Diane Fairfax, who worked for the foundation, finds Xavier's whereabouts and asks him to start a new life with her.
Crane blackmailed Xavier after finding out that Xavier was wanted for murder. Xavier flees with Diane to Las Vegas, where he “looks through” slot machines and playing cards in a casino with his X-ray vision and wins money for the further escape. When Xavier loses the dark glasses he has to wear in a scuffle, the bystanders see that his eyes are terribly changed. Xavier, who can only perceive his surroundings alienated without his glasses, now flees alone in a stolen car. Followed by a helicopter, he loses control of the vehicle that overturns. Xavier staggers desperately through the area. Eventually he arrives at a tented mission whose preacher asks him about his problems. Xavier tells that he is suffering under his eyes, whereupon the preacher gives him the advice from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5, 29) to "tear them out". After all, that's what Xavier does.
In an unreleased extended ending to the film, Xavier shouts that he can still see without eyes.
criticism
The film received consistently good reviews, with particular recognition for Ray Milland's acting performance.
The story of the film is consistently carried out to the surprising end, whereby the plot, sometimes humorous, sometimes cynical, does not lack a socially critical undertone.
The man with the X-ray eyes is a parable about a scientist who ultimately breaks in his own humanity after having previously dealt with the unknown. An original idea is implemented in a believable atmosphere.
The film is considered Roger Corman's best science fiction production (after the New York Times and Future Tense , John Brosnan).
“Science fiction film with a few humorous scenes, which draws its intensity primarily from the ghostly color dramaturgy that was achieved using a new technical Spectarama process. Impressive, occasionally speculative and cynical, today a classic of its genre. "
Awards
- 1963: Best film at the Trieste SF Film Festival
Others
The film was shot with a technique called Spectarama , which creates an alienation of the image through a special arrangement of prisms .
Web links
- The Man with X-ray eyes in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Man with X-ray eyes at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The man with the X-ray eyes. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
literature
- Robert Zion: Roger Corman. The rebellion of the immediate . 320 pp., Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-7481-0101-7 . Pp. 174-181.