Bigger Than Life (1956)
Directed by Nicholas Ray

Film Review

Of the many great films that Nicholas Ray made none is more dramatically intense, nor viscerally shocking, than Bigger Than Life.  A gripping thriller dressed up as a Sirkian melodrama, but with Gothic horror undertones, it serves both as a timely warning of the shortcomings of modern medicine - in particular the use of untested drugs - and as the darkest commentary on the American way of life.  The film was inspired by a real-life case reported by Berton Roueché (Ten Feet Tall) in a 1955 edition of The New Yorker and became James Mason's pet project, with Mason co-writing and producing the film as well as taking the lead role, possibly the most daring of his career.  Because of its highly contentious subject matter Bigger Than Life proved to be a box office flop, but it was enthusiastically received in some quarters (Jean-Luc Godard cited it as one of the ten best films ever made) and today it is widely recognised as one of Ray's finest films, This is a film noir bleaker than any that Nicholas Ray had previously made - bleaker even than his noir masterpiece In a Lonely Place (1950).

Even though the film begins as a conventional 1950s Hollywood melodrama, with its cosy portrayal of a modern American family enjoying the comforts of the consumer society, the dark undercurrents can easily be discerned, the first signs of a cancerous growth that threatens something truly nasty.  The main protagonist (James Mason at his absolute best) has a subtle ambiguity about him, first revealed by the ease with which he deceives his wife about his second job, and his marriage soon turns out to be far less secure than we might hope, with suspicion of marital infidelity dangerously near the surface.  These are the small seeds of doubt that will mushroom into an escalating crisis as the drama slowly unravels and Mason's character surrenders himself to the nastiest of Jekyll and Hyde transformations.

James Mason is well-known for playing sadistic villains and mal-adjusted fiends in such films as The Man in Grey (1943) and The Upturned Glass (1947), but here is particularly frightening. Watching him morph from a good-natured, intensely likeable family man into a potentially homicidal maniac is one of the most terrifying of movie experiences.  Joseph MacDonald's inspired cinematography renders the transformation particularly frightening with its bold expressionistic touches - extremely low camera angles and monstrous shadows projected onto walls, so that Mason dominates the screen and everyone around him like the most nightmaring-inducing of fairytale ogres.  Even when Mason has become totally overtaken by his psychopathic impulses he retains something of his erstwhile everyman charm, and this is what makes his portrayal so utterly disturbing.  There is a reality to the film's depiction of a drug-induced psychosis that is harrowing beyond belief.  The climactic sequence in which a now totally unhinged Mason turns on his wife and son with sly murderous intent is probably the most horrific to grace a Hollywood film of this era, and deserves to be considered the one that set the whole psycho-thriller bandwagon rolling.  Bigger Than Life is a true shocker, the stuff of nightmares.

Film Synopsis

Ed Avery is a happily married schoolteacher who takes on casual work with a taxi firm so that he can keep on top of the monthly bills.  Suddenly he begins experiencing intense bouts of pain and is diagnosed as suffering from a potentially life-threatening inflammation of the arteries.  The only treatment available to him is a constant dose of the experimental hormonal drug cortisone.  By taking the drug, Ed experiences a miraculous recovery but it is not long before the side-effects begin to hit him.  At first he experiences manic highs which cause him to behave irrationally.  He goes on wild spending sprees and causes offence with his old-fashioned views about education and family life.  To prolong these bouts of elation Ed exceeds the dose and his mood swings become even more violent.  One minute he is in the grips of a terrible depression, the next he is the most tyrannical of husbands and fathers.  When his wife and young son defy him Ed becomes psychotically deranged and both their lives are in peril as the nightmare surges towards its inevitable climax...