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

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

Dir. Roger Corman

What on paper probably seemed like it would be just another footnote on Roger Corman's CV was elevated to more memorable heights by the hiring of Ray Miland. Like a Hitchcockian lead he dominates the screen with a sense of obsessive and flawed nobility, pushing the narrative ever-deeper into the realm of avoidable consequence.

As Doctor James Xavier he discovers a serum that enables an individual to see through solid objects. The fun times had peering through ladies dresses and underwear are contrasted by a darker side to the ability that looms large on the horizon, one that ironically can't be seen until it's too late.

A genuine classic of the genre, X deserves its place in the sci-fi movie pantheon.

Roger Corman / Edgar Allan Poe (1960-65)

The Fall of the House of Usher (1960)
Dir. Roger Corman

The first of seven Roger Corman films that claim to be based on the works of American author Edgar Allan Poe relies heavily on the deep, rich textures of Vincent Price. The dialogue he's given only occasionally sounds like it came from Poe's own mind, but the hinge on madness — the deranged grip of nervous agitation that many of his protagonists find themselves inexorably in — is firmly in place, the crumbling house reflective of the Ushers' state of mind.

It invents a new character and does away with an original one, while the shift to third person robbed it of a potentially weighty V/O, but it's something that I've come to accept.

The paintings hanging in the halls are atypical of the era, but they’re amazing, nonetheless.