Product Description

Spain released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Adapted from a New Yorker article, Bigger Than Life stars James Mason as schoolteacher Ed Avery. Upon learning that he is suffering from a potentially fatal illness, Avery is more than willing to take the new, untested drug cortisone. At first, the drug proves beneficial, with Avery making an apparently complete recovery. Before long, however, the drug's side-effects transform the mild-mannered teacher into a psychotic and a potential killer. Walter Matthau costars as the family friend who averts tragedy by saving Avery from himself. In later years, director Nicholas Ray expressed the wish that he hadn't mentioned cortisone by name, because the drug was still in its experimental stages and its positive and negative qualities had yet to be completely determined. Ray needn't have worried: because of its downbeat subject matter, Bigger Than Life was a box-office failure. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Venice Film Festival,

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #125149 in DVD
• Formats: Import, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Features

• THIS DVD WILL NOT WORK ON STANDARD US DVD PLAYER

Customer Reviews

NICHOLAS RAY, OPUS 13
***** 1956. Directed by Nicholas Ray. A teacher, suffering from a rare and painful disease, accepts to take cortisone, a new drug in the 50's, under medical surveillance. Unfortunately, the patient modifies his prescriptions and becomes little by little psychotic. This undisputable masterpiece presents in 95 minutes all the major Nicholas Ray themes: an idealistic hero who can't accept his average destiny, the bitter study of the American way of life and a smart use of the new Technicolor technology, with its new space offered to the directors, to name a few. Some scenes, like the scenes with the mirrors, are already part of Movie History. You can now buy a zone 2 DVD of BIGGER THAN LIFE at Amazon.fr with a perfect copy of the film and very interesting featurettes about the themes handled by Nicholas Ray in this film. A DVD zone your library.

James Mason in chilling domestic drama
In BIGGER THAN LIFE, director Nicholas Ray and producer/star James Mason explored the dark side of suburban life. James Mason delivers one of his most accomplished and subversive performances in this sadly-neglected 1956 movie gem, the story of a man pushed to the brink of madness thanks to his abuse of a 'miracle drug'.

Mild-mannered schoolteacher Ed Avery (James Mason) works hard to provide for his wife Lou (Barbara Rush) and young son Richie (Christopher Olsen), secretly working after-hours as a taxi switchboard operator. When Ed is struck down by a debilitating and potentially fatal illness, doctors prescribe wonder drug Cortisone, and it seems to do the trick. Ed feels more confident than he has in years, and loves to spoil the family with expensive trips to the department store. But Ed's dependence takes a darker turn when he begins taking the pills in larger quantities. Lou and Richie can only stand by helplessly as Ed angrily lashes out, hurling abuse and insults at his wife and son. The mood swings only get worse as the weeks wear on, to the moment when Ed finally cracks completely...

I won't try to spoil any major plot points. BIGGER THAN LIFE will surprise and shock you with it's hard-hitting subject matter, and the frank way it's depicted was I'm sure the main reason why the movie flopped in 1956. It's well and truly the flipside of "Father Knows Best". Today the movie still rings true because so many families are dealing with similar issues on a daily basis. James Mason and Barbara Rush are completely mesmerising to watch here. Child actors from the 1950's are normally very mannered and "trained" on screen, but young Christopher Olsen is heartbreaking as the tortured Richie; his performance absolutely rings true. Walter Matthau, Kipp Hamilton and Roland Winters are also very fine.

I hope that Fox realises what a fantastic movie this actually was, and releases a full Special Edition sometime in the future. In the meantime, the only way you can get this masterpiece on DVD is to order it from the UK or Australia.