Bigger Than Life

The Criterion Collection resurrects another lost gem, but I’ve never quite gotten Nicholas Ray, in the way that I eventually got Douglas Sirk and became a fan. I find it hard to see past the evident flaws of the melodrama to the genuine passions within. Still, there’s a lot that makes it worth watching. The topical story is taken from a New Yorker article on the dangerous side effects of then-new wonder drug Cortisone. James Mason plays the small-town schoolteacher who is prescribed the drug against an otherwise fatal heart disease; soon his personality is being distorted by the steroid, which makes him feel “ten feet tall.” His megalomania becomes a commentary on the constraints of mid-century middle-class life, but his newfound bravado lurches ominously into psychosis, when he begins to see himself as Abraham called by God to sacrifice Isaac. When his wife points out that God stopped Abraham, Mason chillingly replies, “God was wrong.” Mason is good in the role, but inherently too posh in his diction and demeanor to be a convincing middle American. Barbara Rush as the wife is pretty much a cipher, but then that’s her role; the damagingly inadequate role is the young son, who is not believable for a minute. It’s surprising, but effective, for such a claustrophobic film to be shot in widescreen color. In the context of Mad Men, it’s interesting to see the domestic era of the Fifties depicted in great detail while it was still the present, like Father Knows Best through a broken mirror. The ending seems forced and perfunctory, especially after the tension has been ratcheted up so well, and thus I am left with something less than a full-throated recommendation. (1956, dvd.) *7-*