My goodness. Remember that I mentioned that I was gonna have some new movies from the Libe, and that they might provide a change of pace after the several Durango Kid flicks we watched this week? Boy, I wasn't kidding! Cue Monty Python : "And now for something completely different".....
I had found some new Criterion releases in my library search. One of them was called "Bigger Than Life" (1956), directed by Nicholas Ray of "Rebel Without A Cause" fame. This is what I watched tonight, and man was it ever a nerve-wracker. :)
The movie stars James Mason, and before we go any further I must request that you pronounce his first name as "Chames", as in "Chames Mason", because with his perfect yet slightly stilted English accent, that is how he himself would pronounce it, were he ever to say his own name.
I thank you for your cooperation in this and in all pronunciation matters.
Back to the movie, Mason is a schoolteacher, a little strict but reasonable. Very early in, we see that he is suffering from occasional attacks of what looks to be sharp pain in his back, or his side. He is doubled over near the drinking fountain or the coatroom. He tries to hide this affliction from his students and fellow teachers because he is stoic, but some of them notice.
His wife notices something else, that Mason seems to be busy with school meetings three or four nights a week. This seems unusual, so she questions him about it. He chalks it up to school politics, but she silently believes he is having an affair. This notion is dispensed with quickly, because he is not seeing anyone. He is a loving husband, but he does have a secret; he has been working a second job, as a taxi dispatcher in the evenings, to help make ends meet. His teachers' salary doesn't cut it, as all teachers are aware. Now his wife (Barbara Rush) knows the truth, and she loves him even more for it. Her fears were unwarranted, and they have an emotional 1950s-style melodramatic reconciliation that is actually very genuine. At first, this is like a movie directed by Douglas Sirk, if Nicholas Ray took over midway through to "up" the emotionalism to the breaking point.
Barbara Rush notices her husband's physical spasms, too. He tries to hide his pain, but finally he collapses in the kitchen and she convinces him to see a doctor.
The verdict : a rare inflammation of the arteries, fatal within a year, in the few cases the doctors have seen.
But! There is a new Miracle Drug which holds promise. Will Mason consent to try it?
Of course he will, or we would have a movie that was only thirty minutes long.
The new drug is Cortisone. The doctors call it a hormone; nowdays it is called a steroid. You know it mostly from the shots athletes get in an elbow or knee, to keep 'em in a game. Here in the movie, the drug is brand new, and it is being used to save Mason's life.
But there are side effects to the prolonged use of Cortisone, and this is what the movie is about.
Holy Smokes, I thought I was gonna have to go meditate in the Himalayas when this one was over.
Talk about 'Roid Rage. The day after he is released from the hospital after being given his first dosage of Cortisone, Chames Mason is feeling on top of the world. His pain is gone and he is playing football with his ten year old son (Mason throws a pretty tight spiral, not bad for a middle aged Englishman). Football is a side theme, as he was once a high school hero, another aspect of his disciplined, driven personality, which he tries to impart to both his students and his family. Wife Barbara Rush is the Perfect Acquiescent Spouse of the era. "Yes Dear", is her motto. But she grows increasingly alarmed as Mason's behavior grows more and more erratic. He becomes pumped up with confidence, and - as if drunk - his inner views come out and are exaggerated in public. At a PTA meeting, he declares his students, and all children by nature, to be imbeciles in need of strict guidance. The kids' parents aren't thrilled with his speech, but.....
after he pops a few more Cortisone pills, he is Absolutely Enthused to take his wife on a shopping spree to buy her some very expensive new dresses that they cannot afford. He insists on it, making a show of being cheerful.
Barbara Rush and their son can see something is very wrong, and I must say that - if you have ever seen any manic behavior by a parent due to drugs or alcohol - then you will recognise it too.
Mason becomes so unhinged due to his dependence on Cortisone, that he resorts to impersonating a doctor in order to forge prescriptions. He dominates his wife and son in bizarre ways that seem to reflect a desire to ride them all down the tubes.
Mason's portrayal of drug-induced manic depression is so eerily nuanced, so right on the money, that if you have ever witnessed it in your own life, it will give you the willies.
He tries to hold himself together, but he just keeps getting worse as he swallows double the amount of pills he has been prescribed.
Now, he and the family are at church, and he is loathing the preacher's sermon. He is sure he can do better, and so he goes home to study the bible. People are know-nothings, even the preacher.
What happens after this is so over the top that I might have needed a Martini when the movie was over, if I drank Martinis.
The ending has to do with the Biblical Abraham and his son, and is a full on psychodrama.
"Bigger Than Life" is one Gut Wrenching Movie, pretty weird and very dysfunctional. The acting is perfect all around (Mason going above and beyond), and you also get the sharp and varied pastel Color By Deluxe that set the standard for color motion pictures beginning in the late 1950s through the mid-60s. Deluxe took over where Technicolor left off, and defined the rest of the palette in between the rich primaries. /////
Two Thumbs Up for "Bigger Than Life", but you will be put through the wringer if you watch it.
Maybe we should bring back The Durango Kid?
We will, but not just yet, because we have a couple more movies from the libe to watch first.
See you in the morning, with much love to hold you until then. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment