Bigger Than Life
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.
Special Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Audio commentary featuring critic Geoff Andrew (The Films of Nicholas Ray)
- Profile of Nicholas Ray (1977), a half-hour television interview with the director
- New video appreciation of Bigger Than Life with author Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City)
- New video interview with Susan Ray, widow of the director and editor of I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies
- Theatrical trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: A new essay by critic and video maker B. Kite
New cover by F. Ron Miller
Special Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Audio commentary featuring critic Geoff Andrew (The Films of Nicholas Ray)
- Profile of Nicholas Ray (1977), a half-hour television interview with the director
- New video appreciation of Bigger Than Life with author Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City)
- New video interview with Susan Ray, widow of the director and editor of I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies
- Theatrical trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: A new essay by critic and video maker B. Kite
New cover by F. Ron Miller
Cast
- James Mason
- Ed Avery
- Barbara Rush
- Lou Avery
- Walter Matthau
- Wally Gibbs
- Robert Simon
- Dr. Norton
- Christopher Olsen
- Richie Avery
- Roland Winters
- Dr. Ruric
Credits
- Director
- Nicholas Ray
- Producer
- James Mason
- Story and screenplay
- Cyril Hume
- Story and screenplay
- Richard Maibaum
- Based on an article in the New Yorker by
- Burton Roueché
- Cinematography
- Joe MacDonald, A.S.C.
- Music
- David Raksin
- Conducted by
- Lionel Newman
- Editing
- Louis Loeffler
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