#507: RAY, Nicholas: Bigger Than Life (1956)

RAY, Nicholas (United States)

Bigger Than Life [1956]

Spine #507
Blu-ray

Though ignored at the time of its release, Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life is now recognized as one of the great American films of the 1950s. When a friendly, successful suburban teacher and father (James Mason, in one of his most indelible roles) is prescribed cortisone for a painful, possibly fatal affliction, he grows dangerously addicted to the experimental drug, resulting in his transformation into a psychotic and ultimately violent household despot. This Eisenhower-era throat-grabber, shot in expressive CinemaScope, is an excoriating take on the nuclear family. That it came in the day of Father Knows Best makes it all the more shocking — and wildly entertaining.

95 minutes
Color

Monaural

2:55:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2010

Director/Writers

Based on an article in the New Yorker by Berton Roueché.

Story and screenplay by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibum.

Nicholas Ray was 45 when he directed Bigger Than Life.

Other Nicholas Ray films in the Collection:

#880: They Live By Night (1948)
#810: In A Lonely Place (1950)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-six page booklet featuring an essay by critic and video maker B. Kite.

Commentary

Featuring critic Geoff Andrew (The Films of Nicholas Ray).

Profile of Nicholas Ray

From 1977; a half-hour television interview with the director.

Video appreciation

Of Bigger Than Life with author Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City).

Video interview

With Susan Ray, widow of the director and editor of I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies.

Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

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