Bigger Than Life - DaaVeeDee

Bigger Than Life (DVD) (*)

~~$25.99~~ $19.97

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Venice Film Festival

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( Subtitles )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Spain ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
92 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Special Features:
Filmographies
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1956 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Nicholas Ray

Written By:
Nicholas Ray
Burton Roueche
Cyril Hume

Actors:
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
William Schallert ..... Pharmacist (scenes deleted)

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.

Schoolteacher and family man Ed Avery, who's been suffering bouts of severe pain and even blackouts, is hospitalized with what's diagnosed as a rare inflammation of the arteries. Told by doctors that he probably has only months to live, Ed agrees to an experimental treatment: doses of the hormone cortisone. Ed makes a remarkable recovery, and returns home to his wife, Lou, and their son, Richie. He must keep taking cortisone tablets regularly to prevent a recurrence of his illness. But the "miracle" cure turns into its own nightmare as Ed starts to abuse the tablets, causing him to experience increasingly wild mood swings.

A seriously ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a "miracle" drug that begins to affect his sanity.

This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 25 November, 2006.

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