Bigger Than Life (1956)

Post Reply
User avatar
moira finnie
Administrator
Posts: 8024
Joined: April 9th, 2007, 6:34 pm
Location: Earth
Contact:

Bigger Than Life (1956)

Post by moira finnie »

Bigger Than Life (1956), one of the most powerful, yet subtle films of director Nicholas Ray's roller coaster career, is on FMC today, (9/2 at 2pm and repeats on 9/12 at 12pm on the Fox Movie Channel).
Image
The unjustly neglected actor, James Mason, who was also the movie's producer, gives a truly protean performance in this subversive, yet compassionate look at the "liberating" quality of addiction, the family unit and good old American complacency. Unlike the adolescent-centered Rebel Without a Cause (1956), however, I think that this movie is much more powerful, complex and ultimately humane critique of life, and is often one that transcends its subject matter, showing a degree of empathy for each character, however limited.

For a taste of this movie's power, please click here for a clip that features Mason giving a bravura performance while making his family rue the day they were born. The off-kilter point of view of this film is also greatly enhanced by the excellent, often deliberately distorted cinematography of Joseph MacDonald in this movie and the art direction of Jack Martin Smith & Lyle R. Wheeler. As in Rebel Without a Cause, color becomes almost another character here, especially as the nightmarish existence develops.
Image
Of course, the well known problems of the gifted Nicholas Ray's own addiction issues may have given his direction of this film an added fillip as well. The script, based on a real life case reported in The New Yorker by Berton Roueché, is said to have been written by Ray, Mason, Gavin Lambert and Clifford Odets, though it is credited officially to Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum. Given the fluidity and rich literacy of the language, as heard in the above referenced clip, it is easy to believe that Odets had a large hand in the writing. In any case, life, as "seen through a glass darkly" may be experienced on several levels by the viewer. Hope that you'll post your own assessment, pro or con, if you catch this film.
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

The Skeins
TCM Movie Morlocks
User avatar
Ann Harding
Posts: 1246
Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
Location: Paris
Contact:

Post by Ann Harding »

I saw Bigger than Life a few years ago. Being a fan of James Mason, I was thrilled (as usual) by his performance. Nicholas Ray shows the other-side of the perfect suburbian American family with a lot of sharpness. I still remember one sentence uttered by Mason (while under the effect of his medication):"Childhood is disease than needs to be cured by education." or something to that effect!
The work on color and cinematography is tremendous as with all the Ray pictures. 8)

Not to be missed!!! :)
User avatar
myrnaloyisdope
Posts: 349
Joined: May 15th, 2008, 3:53 am
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Contact:

Post by myrnaloyisdope »

I love this film, I think it's Ray's very best, and James Mason is incredible in it. The film looks absolutely wonderful, with that 1950's Technicolor shine, but I think that's part of the film's subversive quality. Everything is so brightly lit, and everything looks so idyllic, yet the film is more about undermining the American dream than upholding it. I'm amazed about how much Ray was able to get away with, from attacks on religion, education, and even family, to exposing the darkness that lurks underneath a consumer society. I think having Mason's character essentially be crazy allowed for all those themes to be in the picture. When he says "God was wrong", I am sure viewers and censors dismissed it as the ramblings of a junky, same with his attacks on the education system, but that's part of the genius of the film. By making Mason's character crazy, Ray is able to push the envelope much further than if he was just regular old sane person.

Anyway it's a great film.
"Do you think it's dangerous to have Busby Berkeley dreams?" - The Magnetic Fields
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

myrnaloyisdope wrote:I love this film, I think it's Ray's very best, and James Mason is incredible in it. The film looks absolutely wonderful, with that 1950's Technicolor shine, but I think that's part of the film's subversive quality. Everything is so brightly lit, and everything looks so idyllic, yet the film is more about undermining the American dream than upholding it. I'm amazed about how much Ray was able to get away with, from attacks on religion, education, and even family, to exposing the darkness that lurks underneath a consumer society. I think having Mason's character essentially be crazy allowed for all those themes to be in the picture. When he says "God was wrong", I am sure viewers and censors dismissed it as the ramblings of a junky, same with his attacks on the education system, but that's part of the genius of the film. By making Mason's character crazy, Ray is able to push the envelope much further than if he was just regular old sane person.

Anyway it's a great film.
It is a wonderful film, but I felt just the opposite of you about the color. To me, most backgrounds in the movie were so gray, the walls, and the men's clothing especially were so dull -- I found gray the predominate color, and I thought it emphasized the monochromatic nature of everyday life. I assumed that that's the reason the film was titled Bigger Than Life - as Mason was overwhelmed by circumstance.

I also always comment, when watching this movie, about a scene where Walter Mattau, the gym teacher, is eating yogurt out of a jar. That's how yogurt used to be packaged in the US, at a time when it was considered something only health nuts and weirdos ate. You had to go to a specialty store to find it. Remember Patrick's "progressive" school in Auntie Mame where they had "yogurt time?"
User avatar
ChiO
Posts: 3899
Joined: January 2nd, 2008, 1:26 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by ChiO »

Today was my first viewing...and I want to watch it again soon. Moiriafinnie mentioned the theme that I want to watch more closely now that I have the gist: in many ways, it seemed to be the mirror-image of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. The alienated father, rather than the teenager, is the focus for familial dysfunction. In REBEL, the stereotypical maternal & paternal roles of the idealized family were reversed, and I need to re-watch to see in detail how that reversal gets inverted here (yes, I'm slow...that's why I have to watch interesting movies more than once).

Thanks for starting this thread. I would have missed the movie without your prompt.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
User avatar
moira finnie
Administrator
Posts: 8024
Joined: April 9th, 2007, 6:34 pm
Location: Earth
Contact:

Post by moira finnie »

FYI:
Bigger Than Life is on FMC again today (9/12) at 12pm EDT. This film is not readily available on Region 1 dvd or vhs, so you might want to record it.
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

The Skeins
TCM Movie Morlocks
Post Reply