Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Odelecol
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
bkoganbing
Although horribly miscast James Mason turns in a good performance as a man who overindulges in prescriptive cortisone. A happy well adjusted man turns into a psychotic monster bit by bit frightening everyone around him including his wife and son. The best performance in the film is that of Barbara Rush as Mason's wife and mother of their son Christopher Olsen. Mason after a few collapses and fainting spells is diagnosed with a rare malady that is causing the collapse of his arteries. Cortisone was an experimental treatment at the time, the most famous person taking it was Senator John F. Kennedy who was being treated secretly for Addison's Disease. All of which we learned after President Kennedy was assassinated. I myself was treated years ago for conjunctivitis with an eye drop in both eyes. Later on a shot to clear up skin problems. I can say that I never had the issues Mason did.As Mason's doctors Robert F. Simon and Roland Winters cautiously tell their patient cortisone will be a permanent part of your life now and it cannot be abused because we've detected bad side effects in people we've treated. But abuse it he does.Although James Mason has played American roles before I could not quite accept him as American here. For him it would have been better had the story taken place in an English setting. Part of this role called for him to be an old college jock, a football player and I could not buy that for a New York minute. Rush gave one of her best performances in a subtle and controlled way as Mason's frightened and concerned wife. Walter Matthau has a supporting role as a concerned neighbor and fellow teacher. Watching Bigger Than Life I could not help feeling if Matthau were in the lead the film would be better.Still Bigger Than Life is a fine drama about the evils of prescriptive drug abuse.
evanston_dad
How is it that I'd never heard of this movie before? "Bigger Than Life" is a dream come true for those movie fans (I count myself among them) who love the decade of the 1950s for its total cinematic schizophrenia. I can't think of another decade that created whole omnibuses of films more strongly opposed to one another. It seems that half of the filmmakers of the 50s were churning out earnest Technicolor pap that tried to sell the American public a version of the 50s that simply didn't exist yet which everyone so desperately wanted to believe did, while the other half were making movies about everything that was wrong with the very version of America the other half was clinging to. If you're a fan of subtext in films, and especially interested in seeing how filmmakers could work within the conventions of a genre while turning those conventions against themselves, the 50s are your decade. And for the ultimate master of subtext, look no further than Nicholas Ray.There isn't a Ray film I've seen that isn't dripping in subtext, socio-political, sexual, gender-based, you name it. "Bigger Than Life" stars a towering James Mason as a family man who's turned into a literal monster when he becomes addicted to a drug that helps keep a life-threatening medical problem at bay. The film goes to some jaw-dropping places, especially toward the end, as Mason's character evolves from protector to worst nightmare and the picture-perfect family life depicted in the earlier parts of the film dissolve before our very eyes. However, Ray's point all along is that that picture-perfect family never really existed in the first place, and the drug on which Mason gets hooked brings out the "id" in him and the family dynamic that's been lurking there all along.Ray was the rare director who could make the saturated Technicolor and massive Cinemascope aspect ratios of 1950s filmmaking work to his advantage and serve his artistic purposes, rather than simply be used to photograph pretty gowns and landscapes. In fact, despite its Cinemascope grandeur, "Bigger Than Life" is all about cramped interiors -- offices, bedrooms, one's own feverish mind -- and the skeletons in the closets, real and imagined, that are hiding there.Grade: A
marymorrissey
this is a very fun movie, especially to see with a responsive crowd. well meaning but overheated with casting that adds to the silliness resulting in a campy drama. (and for this I compare it to Mildred P, the films aren't terribly similar in any detail. this story is far simpler)there is also a very nice score by David Raksin* who seems to have been breathing the same "Atmostpheres" as Györgi Ligeti in a tech-y EKG sequence.* whose name I always thought was "Raskin" and it seems to me that William Winant, who knew or studied with DR pronounced it "Raskin" as well, but then on NPR I kept hearing "Raksin" and then came here to check, as the NPR guide also listed the composer's name as "Raksin"(I only mention this because I didn't have enough lines to publish the review.)
Sean Cussen
Bigger Than Life was supposed to be just another 20th Century Fox back-lot film, a 'problem' picture stemming from a magazine article. It is a credit to the ingenuity and vision of Nicholas Ray that he managed to deliver a devastating critique of suburban American life in the 50s, all-the-while working within the studio system and not ruffling any feathers.As with all Ray's best films, it is hinged around an erratic and unstable protagonist whom the audience cares for. James Mason gives a fantastically frightening performance, his transatlantic accent only heightening the fact that his character doesn't fit in to this cosy picture of domesticity. The use of colour and decor is pitch perfect, and once again Ray's sense of space and geography shines through. Overall, it's a thoroughly enthralling yet disconcerting experience which (intentionally or not) is about much more than first meets the eye.9/10
