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IMDb > Bigger Than Life (1956)

Bigger Than Life (1956)

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User Rating: 7.2/10 (573 votes)
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Overview

Director:
Nicholas Ray
Writers:
Cyril Hume (story) and
Richard Maibaum (story) ...
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Release Date:
2 August 1956 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell!
Plot:
A seriously ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a "miracle" drug that begins to affect his sanity. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Illness | Psychotic | Family | Abuse | Drug more
Awards:
1 nomination more
User Comments:
a great film until the ending more

Cast

 (Complete credited cast)
James Mason ... Ed Avery
Barbara Rush ... Lou Avery

Walter Matthau ... Wally Gibbs
Robert F. Simon ... Dr. Norton (as Robert Simon)
Christopher Olsen ... Richie Avery
Roland Winters ... Dr. Ruric
Rusty Lane ... Bob LaPorte
Rachel Stephens ... Nurse
Kipp Hamilton ... Pat Wade
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
One in a Million (USA) (working title)
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Runtime:
95 min | 91 min (FMC Library Print)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (DeLuxe)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Mono (optical prints) (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
UK:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16
MOVIEmeter: ?
V 4% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Playwright Clifford Odets was invited on the set by the director Nicholas Ray, where he worked on re-writing the final scene of the film. Ed Avery (Jamese Mason), still delirious out of his coma, starting to talk about Abraham Lincoln was Odet's contribution. more
Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: 37 minutes into the movie, Ed is at the bathroom sink and has just replaced the pill bottle in the medicine cabinet. As he closes the cabinet door, the director and the camera are reflected in the mirror. more
Quotes:
Ed Avery: Childhood is a congenital disease - and the purpose of education is to cure it. We're breeding a race of moral midgets. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Edge of Outside (2006) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful:-
a great film until the ending, 13 April 2002
Author: (michaelcommins@hotmail.com) from thurles, Ireland

an intriguing comment on american 1950's lifestyle.All the elements are there-beautiful home,old football from school days,large fridge, young son, sexy wife.But underlying it all is strain and insecurity. This has to be paid for, health may collapse, the world is insecure-hydrogen bombs etc. All this, through the deus ex machina of cortisone addiction-drives James Mason to a madness of excess, of a kind of lust for pure quality, beautiful clothes for his wife ,zeal for learning, for sporting excellence,finally to an old testament manic purging of evil.The film survives its banal and turgid ending,but domestic bliss,domestic dementia and restrained domestic sex have seldom been better portrayed.

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