Bigger Than Life
Directed by: Nicholas Ray
Written by: Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum
Starring: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau, Robert Simon

Nicholas Ray’s ‘Bigger Than Life’ is a sort-of Cortisone version of Reefer Madness (Cortisone Madness?) with one discernible difference: Reefer Madness is shitty and boring whereas Bigger Than Life is most definitely not. Thanks to Criterion, Ray’s vibrant visuals get the treatment they deserve with this blu ray special edition release.

After suffering from potentially deadly inflamed arteries, teacher and family man Ed Avery (James Mason) is prescribed a new experimental drug, Cortisone. While the doctors warn of some potential side effects, they insist that Ed could be faced with death if he doesn’t continue medicating himself for the rest of his life. The Avery family agrees to go through with the drug plan and are met with quick and positive results. Ed is back to normal and feels even better than he did before. As long as he’s consistent with his Cortisone doses, things should be just swell. Unfortunately, Ed seems to lack the ability to follow instructions and ends up going off track with his meds, resulting in some severe mood swings that end up jeopardizing the lives of his family.

Ray’s portrayal of the 1950’s nuclear family is unusually unstable for the time, and in some ways, seems to be criticizing the modern (at the time) American way of life. Ed’s health issues could potentially be a result of the stress of secretly working two jobs — the second as a taxi cab dispatcher, unbeknownst to his wife — in order to maintain the expected role of husband/breadwinner. Everyone suppresses their issues, resulting in suspicions of infidelity and the slow deterioration of healthy relationships within the family. The resulting Cortisone experiment is likely as critical of the initial family lifestyle as it is of medicating your problems away. Bigger Than Life ended reminding me of lighter grounded-in-reality version of The Shining. The strong visual style — bold colours, expressionistic shadows — are secondary only to the great performances by James Mason as Ed Avery and Walter Matthau as his friend and fellow teacher, Wally Gibbs.

For a film that’s 54 years old, Bigger Than Life looks absolutely brilliant on blu ray. The ultra wide 2.55:1 aspect ratio, usually reserved for the epic period pieces of the time, is an inspired choice for a character based drama, but that’s not to say the film isn’t visually interesting. There’s some great expressionistic use of colour and light/shadow throughout, giving the otherwise standard 1950’s family setting a creepy life of its own. The disc features some great supplemental material starting with a commentary track by critic Geoff Andrew. There’s also a few video extras including a half-hour 1977 television interview with Nicholas Ray, a new video appreciation of Bigger Than Life with author Jonathan Lethem, and a new video interview with Susan Ray, widow of the director and editor of I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies.

Once again, Criterion puts together a solid package for a great film that certainly benefits from its high definition presentation.