Bigger Than Life
| Bigger Than Life | |
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| Directed by | Nicholas Ray |
| Produced by | James Mason |
| Screenplay by |
Cyril Hume Richard Maibaum |
| Based on |
Ten Feet Tall 1955 story in The New Yorker by Berton Roueché |
| Starring |
James Mason Barbara Rush Walter Matthau |
| Music by | David Raksin |
| Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
| Edited by | Louis R. Loeffler |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1 million |
Bigger Than Life is an American DeLuxe Color CinemaScope 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. 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, many modern critics hail it as a masterpiece and brilliant indictment of contemporary attitudes towards mental illness and addiction. In 1963, Jean-Luc Godard named it one of the ten best American sound films ever made.
Bigger Than Life was based on a 1955 article by medical writer Berton Roueché in The New Yorker, titled "Ten Feet Tall".
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.
Bigger Than Life was extremely controversial upon its release, and it was not a financial success. Mason, who produced the film as well as starring in it, blamed its failure on its use of the then-novel widescreen CinemaScope format. American critics panned the film, considering it melodramatic and heavyhanded.Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it tedious, "dismal", and "more pitiful than terrifying to watch".
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Wikipedia