About this episode
As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads , Instagram and Bluesky . If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm Roger Corman produced hundreds of films in his lifetime and directed dozens. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes is a colourful, psychedelic, 1960s extravaganza with aspirations of transcendence. If you wanted to join in, you can watch the film X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes from 1963 first. DVDs of the film are available, but it is also available to rent and watch online on Apple TV and many other platforms. You can check the Just Watch website to see where it is available in your region. Oscar winner Ray Milland (we heard a bit about him in the Panic in Year Zero! episode) stars as a mad scientist who creates a serum that will help him understand the secret of life itself. A serum that unlocks the 90% of the visible spectrum that is beyond our realm of vision. The film is fun and pacey and the tone is once again firmly in the 1960s. I have two excellent guests to help us unravel the minds and life's mysteries around what could be Corman's magnus opus. Barry Keith Grant is professor Emeritus of Film Studies at Brock University Canada. He has written/edited numerous books, articles and essays about science fiction cinema. John Wills is a Professor of American Media and Culture at the University of Kent. He has written lots about popular culture including 1950s American and Nuclear film. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:57 Barry's experience of watching the film on release 03:48 Eyeballs and vision 08:58 The body in sci-fi 10:57 Mad science and closing in on the Gods 12:20 Science in the 60s 15:56 LSD 17:18 A film of two halves 19:18 Diane's romantic arc 21:57 Hays Code & the Nudie Cuties 25:35 Roger Corman's 2001: A Space Odyssey comparison 31:17 Special Effects 32:41 Gurus incoming 34:48 Blunt honesty of Xavier 37:36 The music of Les Baxter 39:59 Stephen King and the ending 44:23 Legacy 51:21 Recommendations CORRECTION: We refer to the female scientist as Diana but her name is Diane. NEXT EPISODE! Next episode we are heading back to the Eastern Bloc with the Czech 1963 scifi Ikarie XB-1. In terms of watching it, the American version is titled Voyage to the End of the Universe and is a different edit. Although Just Watch advertises the English language title it seems to not differentiate which edit is available. The original is available on The Criterion channel and also cultpix.com.