And the hits just keep on coming from Kino Lorber Studio Classics! Kino has just announced that in May they will release Roger Corman’s X: THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES on both Blu-ray and DVD.
Starring Ray Milland, Diana Van Der Vlis, Harold J. Stone, John Hoyt, Dick Miller and Don Rickles.
The transfer will be taken from a brand new HD master and the film will be presented in 1080p in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Extras will be announced at a later date.
But then, the idea that thematic elements here are purely Lovecraftian is simplistic. X delves into another tradition of American horror. It’s set in Tod Browning’s universe of carnivals and con men. It’s a portrait of the high and the low. It features the dark descent of film noir, in which the hero rises to the peak of his world only to stumble and fall. It’s a steep drop. It has more in common with films like Nightmare Alley and The Unknown than it does with Corman’s own Lovecraft films. A more apt comparison is Flannery O’Connor’s novel Wise Blood, which features the same shady con men and faith healers. There are several identical plot points, in which James Xavier and O’Connor’s Hazel Motes find themselves in the same metaphorical spot, including the ghastly climax of both O’Connor’s book and Corman’s film. Certainly, Don Rickles’ con man, Crane, is the sort of grotesque who wandered through O’Connor’s south, as is Xavier, for that matter. The movie even grants Xavier his moment of grace, his vindication, before shoving him down into the freak show. Xavier and Hazel Motes are also alike in their metaphorical blindness, even though both of them can “see” better than most. It’s almost too similar to be an accident. Co-screenwriter Ray Russell was the fiction editor for Playboy—it’s conceivable that he knew O’Connor’s book and that the similarity is intentional.
