This cinemascope, colorbydeluxe major studio production appears, at first glance, to be cut from the glossy cloth of douglas sirks contemporary melodramas for universal. Bigger than life s more immediate problem at the time lay in its broader plot with a story that brought drug addiction and factbased psychological unhingement into a suburban american setting, it was a daring subject for its time, for which audiences were unprepared in 1956. Bigger than life is far more than a tale of a man turned insane by drugs. James mason plays ed avery, a genial smalltown schoolteacher.
Bigger than life trailer 1956 the criterion collection. Mildmannered schoolteacher masons personality is transformed when the drug he is routinely prescribed turns him into an addicted megalomaniac. Bigger than life 1956 nicholas ray, james mason, barbara. Bigger than life 1956 nicholas ray, james mason, barbara rush, walter matthau, drama may, 2016 schoolteacher and family man ed avery, whos been suffering bouts of severe pain and even blackouts, is hospitalized with whats diagnosed as a rare inflammation of the arteries. Bigger than life bluray criterion 507 1956 color 2. The following is an overview of 1956 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. See it and i guarantee that youll never be able to look at a frosty glass of milk the same way again.
Rather, bigger than life is an amazing, often times disturbing critique of social class, conformity, and traditional roles. Its one of the first films to deal with the problems of prescription drugs. Ray smuggles an absurdist nightmare into an issue movie about drug abuse. Bigger than life may have been marketed as a social problem picture in 1956, but in 2008 it looks like nothing less than an outandout horror film. Bigger than life dvd hillsborough county public library. When it appeared in 1956, most critics and audiences took the fact. In a towering performance, james mason plays a mildmannered schoolteacher running himself ragged to provide for his familys selfdescribed dull suburban lifestyle. I hope amazon runs more special pricings on the criterion movie transfers. James mason is amongst a few actors to have reached the top spot in both the united kingdom and the united states. Bigger than life original trailer turner classic movies. February 5 first showing of documentary films by the free cinema movement, at the national film theatre, london february 16 carousel is the first film released that was shot in cinemascope 55.
Ed avery is a mildmannered but overworked teacher who is prescribed a new wonder drug to help manage a medical condition and finds that it all but cures him. Nicholas rays blazing domestic horror show is a terrifying vision of the allamerican family under siege from within. A seriously ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a miracle drug that begins to. While rebel without a cause explored the impact of a weak and ineffectual father on a teenager struggling to assert his maturity and. Bigger than life is one of the greatest american films of the 1950s, a high point in the careers of lead actor james mason and nicholas ray mason gives a towering performance as ed avery, a happily married schoolteacher who agrees to take a new miracle drug when diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease. Bigger than life 1956 drama james mason, barbara rush.
A seriously ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a miracle drug that begins to affect his sanity. Jun 14, 2017 bigger than life is an american deluxe color cinemascope film made in 1956 directed by nicholas ray and starring james mason, who also cowrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone. Released in 1956 it seems that bigger than lifes subject matter of mental illness and drug addiction was considered to be too controversial for its time and as a result of that this eyeopening film was initially a boxoffice failure. The film costars barbara rush as his wife and walter matthau as. A seriously ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a miracle drug that begins to affect. Released in 1956 it seems that bigger than life s subject matter of mental illness and drug addiction was considered to be too controversial for its time and as a result of that this eyeopening film was initially a boxoffice failure. Bigger than life is a film filled with such contradictions, such paradoxes and confusions of emotion and reason. Towards the end of the 1950s, film like bigger than life, north by northest and journey to the center of the earth saw him play a varied variety of roles. The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell bigger than life is an american film made in 1956 directed by nicholas ray and starring james mason, who also cowrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone. Bigger than life is one of the greatest american films of the 1950s, a high point in the careers of lead actor james mason and nicholas ray. Bigger than life 1956 after schoolteacher ed avery james mason faints and is hospitalized, doctors diagnose him with a fatal arterial illness and tell him he has a few months to live. This article needs additional citations for verification. In a sense, one could say the same here for nicholas raya good director who by and large made pretty good films and managed to make one great film.
Nicholas rays bigger than life is a great american film long esteemed. With bigger than life, rays artistry has arguably reached its highest potential. Nicholas rays bigger than life is now recognized as one of the great american films of the 1950s. Interestingly, artistically skilled as he was, mason played them all with perfection. While on the surface bigger than life is a warning about the use of untested and possibly dangerous drugs averys psychosis is brought on by dangerously high dosages of cortisone, still in the experimental stages at the time, whats most memorable about the film is masons superbly modulated performance one of the best of his career, in. Ray was fired from the film before production was finished, and several scenes were completed by screenwriter budd schulberg, who also supervised the editing.
Bigger than life is a wonderful, haunting, multilayered little movie, rich and rewarding. James mason becomes bigger than life in this 1956 nicholas ray film that also stars barbara rush and walter matthau. Director ray concentrates on the trappings of suburbia that stand around his central character and also contribute to the breakdown. The film is based on an article for the new yorker called ten feet tall, by the famous medical writer berton roueche note.
James mason biography childhood, life achievements. What gave him the edge was the ease with which he played characters of both good and evil intent. Bigger than life full full movie, bigger than life full full movie streaming bigger than life full movie engsub watch bigger than life full english full movie online bigger than life full film online. He is suffering from severe spasms that are getting worse. Chris fujiwara wrote on turner classic movies that the film is an acid test for auteurists, one of those special films. Watch bigger than life full movie in hd visit movie 26036 a seriously ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a \ bigger than life. Its premise a mildmannered professor james mason gets wildly addicted to cortisone, to the point that he thinks hes abraham and that its his godgiven mandate to slay his son is totally ludicrous, its performances teeter on the edge of high camp, its script. Bigger than life isnt a cautionary lesson in the perils of miracle drugs, even if its genesis was a new yorker article about a real life case of cortisone abuse. Bigger than life 1956 cast and crew after schoolteacher ed avery james mason faints and is hospitalized, doctors diagnose him with a fatal arterial illness and tell him he has a few months to. Chris fujiwara wrote on turner classic movies that the film is an acid test for auteurists, one of those special films that, while ignored or despised for the most part. Bigger than life 1956 nicholas ray s bigger than life is a significant mid1950s american movie that stretches the boundaries of what we accept as film noir.
Bigger than life is an american deluxe color cinemascope drama film made in 1956 directed by nicholas ray and starring james mason, who also cowrote. The films focus on the classic battle between man and society is quintessential ray and, perhaps more so than any other film of the era, it was and continues to be hollywoods most damaging indictment of. Bigger than life isnt a cautionary lesson in the perils of miracle drugs, even if its genesis was a new yorker article about a reallife case of cortisone abuse. He learns that he has a terminal illness that perhaps can be cured with a steroid, cortisone. Starring james mason who also produced in a uncharacteristic yet riveting role, the film was virtually ignored by audiences when it opened, but.
Released in the summer of 1956, director nicholas rays bigger than life represents one polar extreme on a truly schizophrenic slate of hollywood fare. James mason starred as an ambitious teacher and parttime taxicab dispatcher who. Bigger than life is a 1956 melodrama film directed by nicholas ray, starring james mason, barbara rush, christopher olsen and walter matthau in a supporting role. Bigger than lifes more immediate problem at the time lay in its broader plot with a story that brought drug addiction and factbased psychological unhingement into a suburban american setting, it was a daring subject for its time, for which audiences were unprepared in 1956. The film costars barbara rush as his wife and walter matthau as his closest friend, a fellow teacher. A subversive suburban surprise directed by nicholas ray, the 1956 film bigger than life stars james mason as a schoolteacher who experiences wild mood swings and psychotic. The films focus on the classic battle between man and society is quintessential ray and, perhaps more so than any other film of the era, it was and continues to be hollywoods most damaging indictment of the socalled american dream. A subversive suburban surprise directed by nicholas ray, the 1956 film bigger than life stars james mason as a schoolteacher.
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. Other articles where bigger than life is discussed. James mason starred as an ambitious teacher and parttime taxicab dispatcher who becomes addicted to. A maverick of the 1950s hollywood system, with johnny guitar and rebel without a cause already under his belt earlier in the decade, nicholas rays melodrama bigger than life was perhaps his most structured work when it came out in 1956.
Wind across the everglades is a 1958 film directed by nicholas ray. Nothing about nicholas rays schizoaddiction film bigger than life should work. Mason gives a towering performance as ed avery, a happily married schoolteacher who agrees to take a new miracle drug when diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease. Bigger than life 1956 james mason in bigger than life 1956 christopher olsen in bigger than life. Original release trailer for the film bigger than life 1956, directed by nicholas ray. Instead, consider the film as an adult, flipside variant of rays rebel without a cause made the year before. Bigger than life is an american deluxe color cinemascope drama film made in 1956 directed by nicholas ray and starring james mason, who also cowrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone. A superbly shot critique of the suffocating conformity, repression and materialism at the heart of middleclass life, bigger than life is the american beauty of 50s cinema it may not be as well.
Bigger than life 1956 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Nicholas rays bigger than life never achieved the critical or popular success of his rebel without a cause, released the previous year, but it holds up as an equally powerful look at the dark and troubling underside of life in a normal american family. Bigger than life 1956 to a savvy contemporary audience. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Bigger than life philip french sunday 30 november 2003 the observer. Bigger than life is an american deluxe color cinemascope film made in 1956 directed by nicholas ray and starring james mason, who also cowrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone the film costars barbara rush as his wife and walter matthau as his closest friend, a fellow teacher. The complete criterion collection josh 1,226 films. Though ignored at the time of its release, nicholas rays 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. With james mason, barbara rush, walter matthau, robert f. To all appearances, james mason has the perfect life. Mason plays ed avery, a schoolteacher who also is a parttime cab dispatcher. James mason, a wily, charismatic character actor trapped in the body of a leading man, is amazing in the lead role, subtly taking the movie from the safe territory of suburban melodrama to the dangerous waters of the psychological horror film. Any claims beyond that, however, are bigger than life. Bigger than life 1956 full movie download full hd youtube. A dynamic actor and performer, mason had a very successful career in the film industry. Bigger than life is no exception, based as it is upon a controversial medical article by berton roueche entitled ten feet tall published in the new yorker in late 1955 the script was subsequently worked on by numerous uncredited writers including clifford odets, ray, star james mason, and novelist and film critic, gavin lambert.
914 1361 908 553 870 154 814 1345 1169 930 282 938 293 423 1486 20 1037 46 1328 1163 1522 268 370 374 593 1260 147 663 238