Synopsis for
Bigger Than Life (1956) More at IMDbPro »

Though ignored at the time of its release, Nicholas Rays Bigger Than Life is now recognized as one of the great American films of the 1950s. When a friendly, successful suburban teacher and father (James Mason, in one of his most indelible roles) is prescribed cortisone for a painful, possibly fatal affliction, he grows dangerously addicted to the experimental drug, resulting in his transformation into a psychotic and ultimately violent household despot. This Eisenhower-era throat-grabber, shot in expressive CinemaScope, is an excoriating take on the nuclear family. That it came in the day of Father Knows Best makes it all the more shockingand wildly entertaining. [http://www.criterion.com/films/1929-bigger-than-life]