Bigger Than Life

Bigger Than Life is an American film made in 1956 directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Mason, who also co-wrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone.[2] The film co-stars Barbara Rush as his wife and Walter Matthau as his closest friend, a fellow teacher. Though it was a box-office flop upon its initial release,[3] many modern critics hail it as a masterpiece and brilliant indictment of contemporary attitudes towards mental illness and addiction.[4] In 1963, Jean-Luc Godard named it one of the ten best American sound films ever made.[5]

Bigger Than Life
Directed byNicholas Ray
Produced byJames Mason
Screenplay byCyril Hume
Richard Maibaum
Based onTen Feet Tall
1955 story in The New Yorker
by Berton Roueché
StarringJames Mason
Barbara Rush
Walter Matthau
Music byDavid Raksin
CinematographyJoseph MacDonald
Edited byLouis R. Loeffler
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • August 2, 1956 (1956-08-02)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1 million[1]

Bigger Than Life was based on a 1955 article by medical writer Berton Roueché in The New Yorker, titled "Ten Feet Tall".[6]

Plot

Schoolteacher and family man Ed Avery (James Mason), who has been suffering bouts of severe pain and even blackouts, is hospitalized with what is diagnosed as polyarteritis nodosa, a rare inflammation of the arteries. Told by doctors that he probably has only months to live, Ed agrees to an experimental treatment: doses of the hormone cortisone.

Ed makes a remarkable recovery. He returns home to his wife, Lou (Barbara Rush), and their son, Richie (Christopher Olsen). He must keep taking cortisone tablets regularly to prevent a recurrence of his illness. But the "miracle" cure turns into a nightmare when Ed begins to misuse the tablets, causing him to experience wild mood swings and, ultimately, a psychotic episode which threatens the safety of his family.

Cast

Reception

Bigger Than Life was not a financial success. Mason, who produced the film as well as starring in it, blamed its failure on its use of the relatively new widescreen CinemaScope format.[3] American critics panned the film, considering it melodramatic and heavyhanded.[7] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it tedious, "dismal", and "more pitiful than terrifying to watch".[8]

However, the film was well received by the influential magazine Cahiers du cinéma. Jean-Luc Godard called it one of the ten best American sound films.[5] Likewise, François Truffaut praised the film, noting the "intelligent, subtle" script, the "extraordinary precision" of Mason's performance, and the beauty of the film's CinemaScope photography.[9]

Modern critics have praised Nicholas Ray's use of widescreen cinematography to depict the interior spaces of a family drama, rather than the open vistas typically associated with the format, as well as his use of extreme close-ups in portraying the main character's psychosis and megalomania.[10] The film is recognized for its multi-layered examination of the American nuclear family in the Eisenhower era. While the film can be read as a straightforward exposé on medical malpractice and the overuse of prescription drugs in modern American society,[11] it has also been seen as a critique of consumerism, the male-dominated traditional family structure, and the claustrophobic conformism of suburban life.[4][12][13] Truffaut saw Ed's drug-influenced speech to the parents of the parent-teacher association as having fascist overtones.[14] The film has also been interpreted as an examination of masculinity and a leftist critique of the low salaries of public school teachers in the United States.[15]

In 1998, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100.[16]

See also

References
  1. Solomon 1989, p. 250.
  2. DVD of the Week: Bigger Than Life|The New Yorker
  3. Cossar 2011, p. 273.
  4. Halliwell 2013, pp. 159-162.
  5. Marshall, Colin (December 2, 2013). "A Young Jean-Luc Godard Picks the 10 Best American Films Ever Made (1963)". Open Culture.
  6. Roueché, Berton (September 10, 1955). "Ten Feet Tall". The New Yorker: 47–77.
  7. Schiebel 2014, p. 183.
  8. Crowther, Bosley (August 3, 1956). "Screen: Tax of Tedium; 'Bigger Than Life' Has Debut at Victoria". The New York Times.
  9. Truffaut 2009, pp. 143-147.
  10. Cossar 2011, pp. 120-123.
  11. Truffaut 2009, pp. 145–146. Truffaut noted Nicholas Ray's low opinion of the medical profession, and of so-called "miracle drugs". His discussion of Bigger Than Life points out the visual similarity between the doctors in the film and "gangsters in crime films".
  12. Basinger 2013, pp. 231-234.
  13. Rosenbaum 1997, pp. 131-133.
  14. Truffaut & pp-145-146.
  15. Schiebel 2014, p. 182.
  16. Rosenbaum, Jonathan (June 25, 1998). "List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020.

Sources
  • Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Scarecrow Press.
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