I had hopes for a decent outing with this film, but I must confess it was pretty disappointing. The basic idea of the film is that a surgeon has somehow concocted an eye drop formula that enables your eyes to see through things -- ya' know, like x-rays (how a regular doc was engaged in such successful scientific experimentation is a complete mystery).
That's pretty much it for plot. Oh yeah, there's some campy stuff where good ol' doc realizes he sees everyone naked, etc. etc... pretty routine sixties stuff there. The film really flounders because of the stupidity of the writing. Our good doc (Ray Milland) stubbornly refuses to test his concoction on anyone but himself because, evidently, Joe Blow wouldn't be able to describe X-ray vision to him (I guess the ol' "Hey -- everybody's naked!!" wouldn't be of much use)??? The doc is evidently pretty stupid, or else these eye drops act like a narcotic, because he keeps on and keeps on taking the stuff even after he says he'd just like to be able to open his eyes again and he's going nuts because everything is so bright, weird, etc. And then there's the odd transition from the point where he has to take drops because "it's wearing off" (even though he kept saying the effect was "cumulative"), and then next thing you know he's seeing to the middle of the universe or something.
The ending also was pretty weird, completely unrealistic and done for cheap shock value. Even with all that, this low-budget might have worked as a morality play or something of the like, but that avenue isn't even on the map, much less explored. The whole thing was marginally watchable once, but I definitely wouldn't want to suffer through it again. I'd like to give it a little higher rating, but there's really not a reason I can think to do so.
That's pretty much it for plot. Oh yeah, there's some campy stuff where good ol' doc realizes he sees everyone naked, etc. etc... pretty routine sixties stuff there. The film really flounders because of the stupidity of the writing. Our good doc (Ray Milland) stubbornly refuses to test his concoction on anyone but himself because, evidently, Joe Blow wouldn't be able to describe X-ray vision to him (I guess the ol' "Hey -- everybody's naked!!" wouldn't be of much use)??? The doc is evidently pretty stupid, or else these eye drops act like a narcotic, because he keeps on and keeps on taking the stuff even after he says he'd just like to be able to open his eyes again and he's going nuts because everything is so bright, weird, etc. And then there's the odd transition from the point where he has to take drops because "it's wearing off" (even though he kept saying the effect was "cumulative"), and then next thing you know he's seeing to the middle of the universe or something.
The ending also was pretty weird, completely unrealistic and done for cheap shock value. Even with all that, this low-budget might have worked as a morality play or something of the like, but that avenue isn't even on the map, much less explored. The whole thing was marginally watchable once, but I definitely wouldn't want to suffer through it again. I'd like to give it a little higher rating, but there's really not a reason I can think to do so.