As the movie begins, we follow a character type I miss in movies, the older scientist who is calm and cool, mature and sophisticated. Ray Milland as the main doctor James Xavier brings a distinct no-nonsense calculating scientist to the table, but a man who is still human, with a sense of scientific interest which only takes one line of dialogue to explain it. I'd write it here, but IMDb doesn't have it. Something about how he lives to discover and to do more.
Anyways, he's a character type we don't get anymore, and pretty soon his ambition leads him to test a eye enhancer on himself. The enhancer supposedly will let him see more of the light spectrum. It works, and lets him see through things soon enough. He begins to try and use the vision in his work as a doctor, and soon enough runs into trouble as he keeps upping his dosage and as people catch on there's something different about him.
I really liked this movie, and I have to say it may take the crown of best Corman movie I've seen, aside from the great Attack of the Crab Monsters. Although that's a classically bad monster flick, and this movie is the great mix of thriller and drama which was prolific in the 50's and 60's. It's a classic in every way, and I deeply liked it. The situations are relate-able, the characters make sense, and the movie makes sense. There's only a few plot points which are "dumb" or don't make sense. They had to eventually give Dr. Xavier a reason to be on the run, so they randomly and without explanation have him accidentally kill his friend and co-doctor. Weak, yes, but just go with it.
I wasn't sure how it'd end, and the last 10 minutes are solid. We know he can't go back, and we know everything has to come to a conclusion, and I liked what they did with it. I will give this one...man I'm considering 5 stars. Huh. I may just do that. I drank pilsner as I watched it. Which was nice. Yes. 5 stars.
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