The parade of Eagle-Lion Film restorations contiues with the Film Detective Special Edition of 1948s THE AMAZING MR X. This remarkable little movie, originally called THE SPIRITUALIST (which is a more accurate title), is full of surprises to delight the eye and the mind. The eye part is due to the gorgeous cinematography by the legendary John Alton. This just may be the most beautiful black & white movie ever made. Shimmering day and night views of the Pacific Ocean are coupled with truly astonishing “ghostly” visuals of the title character plying his trade. Add to this numerous location shots of the Viila de Leon, a 1927 Pacific Palisades mansion and you have images that will stay with you long after the film has ended.
The mind part is in the different unfolding of an old storyline which has been done many times before. A fake spiritualist makes his living by bilking rich widows into believing that their dead husbands want to get in touch with them. Once they are hooked he then milks them by conducting seances that contain personal information gathered by a confederate who usually works as a temporary household servant. Unfortunately for the medium, his latest outing begins to unravel when the younger sister of the widow he’s duping falls in love with him and the widow’s fiance’ brings in a professional psychic debunker. While he is preparing for them, something totally unexpected happens which leads to a surprising but satisfying conclusion.
1940s B player Turhan Bey has his best role as the title character whose name is Alexis (there is no Mr X). He is suave, handsome and completely believable thanks to his demeanor and a bevy of tricks that are truly amazing. Lynn Bari is fine as the widow who truly believes her husband has come back to her while Martha O’Driscoll is annoying at times as the younger sister (the character is written that way) but she grows on you as the movie progresses. Really good is TV veteran and Jack Webb favorite Virginia Gregg as Alexis’ partner in crime while poor Richard Carlson is stuck with the thankless role of the fiance’. Last but not least is Alexis’s raven played by a trained bird named Jimmy who was Hollywood’s avian Lassie.
After a title change from THE SPIRITUALIST to THE AMAZING X (real life spiritualists objected), the movie had a successful run and then disappeared for a number of years. Like most Eagle-Lion films, it fell into the public domain and was available only in substandard 16mm copies which looked even worse when transferred to video. Some of these copies are still available for streaming. Finally in 2021 the Film Detective restoration team released a top quality home video edition in both DVD and Blu-Ray. This new edition allows the movie to be seen pretty much the way audiences first saw it back in 1948. As I mentioned earler, while the story may be old hat, all the other aspects of the movie are not.
The Capsule Critic 