| Bigger Than Life | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Nicholas Ray |
| Written by | Cyril Hume Richard Maibaum |
| Based on | "Ten Feet Tall" 1955 story in The New Yorker by Berton Roueché |
| Produced by | James Mason |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
| Edited by | Louis R. Loeffler |
| Music by | David Raksin |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1 million[1] |
Bigger Than Life is a 1956 American drama film directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Mason, Barbara Rush and Walter Matthau. Its plot follows an ailing schoolteacher and family man whose life spins out of control when he misuses cortisone.[2] It is based on a 1955 article by medical writer Berton Roueché in The New Yorker, titled "Ten Feet Tall".[3] In addition to starring in the film, Mason produced it.
Although it was a box-office flop on its initial release,[4] many modern critics hail it as a masterpiece and a brilliant indictment of contemporary attitudes toward mental illness.[5] In 1963, Jean-Luc Godard named it one of the ten-best American sound films ever made.[6]
- ^ Solomon 1989, p. 250.
- ^ DVD of the Week: Bigger Than Life|The New Yorker
- ^ Roueché, Berton (September 10, 1955). "Ten Feet Tall". The New Yorker. pp. 47–77.
- ^ Cossar 2011, p. 273.
- ^ Halliwell 2013, pp. 159–162.
- ^ Marshall, Colin (December 2, 2013). "A Young Jean-Luc Godard Picks the 10 Best American Films Ever Made (1963)". Open Culture.