Review of Bigger Than Life (1956) by Jason R — 04 Mar 2009

As I understand it, this film was dismissed upon its initial release and subsequently became difficult to see. And when you add the legend of Nicholas Ray to a troubled exhibition history like that, you're liable to get a celebrated film weighed down with expectation.

At least that's how I felt, because after hearing how great this film was for years, I was decidedly disappointed. And watching it as the second film in a double bill with "Rebel Without a Cause" didn't do it any favors, either.

Whereas the elegant staging and existential angst of "Rebel" confirm the validity of Ray's towering reputation, "Bigger" features uninspired mise en scene and a plot ripped from the headlines and typically inserted into a Lifetime film.

The fact that Mason was given a solo producing credit on the film makes me feel like his authorship reigns over Ray's, and the film kind of bares that out. This is clearly a vanity piece, and Mason's scenery chewing character often appears in the frame all by himself (and usually smack in the middle--was the film framed with television in mind?).

If you were so inclined, though, I think you could wring an interesting interpretation out of the film on these lines: Mason's downward spiral into drug addiction comes with platitudes about striving and accomplishment that were, and still are, a familiar ideology in American mainstream culture.

By putting them in the mouth of a chemically-dependent madman, Ray offers a stinging critique of the dominant ideology, but the film around it suffers from melodrama and bland aesthetics. Stay for the money shot line reading by Mason, though: "God was wrong!".