"The story of the handful of hope that became a fistful of hell! "

ah, Film Forum. I love that they screen retrospectives. Recently it was Nicholas Ray, one of my favorite directors. Although I have to give credit to MOMA for introducing me to the great director,  I saw In a Lonely Place there when I was in art school and was immediately blown away. This time I went to see Bigger Than Life starring James Mason. Mason's Ed Avery is a hard working school teacher holding down two jobs to make ends meet. Suddenly he's hit with a heart affliction and given a pending death sentence by the doctors, unless, unless he takes this new controversial drug called Cortisone. It comes with severe side effects, and he's warned by his wary doctors to not abuse it. He dismisses them, anxious to get on with his life. At first things go swimmingly well and he's bursting with energy. manically so. Then he starts ranting. and raving. and becoming increasingly crazier. The (frustratingly) submissive wife stands by wringing her hands, desperate that no one find out how out of control her dear, perfect, 1950's husband really is. She hopes if she just closes her eyes and ignores it, it will all go away. Wrong! Instead his downward descent just spirals faster until he decides his child must be sacrificed because he is evil. He locks the wife in a closet while he ascends the stairs, knife in hand, to kill his only child. But! It all ends happily, because that's what the 50's were about. or were they? Nick Ray calls it like he sees it (which is why I admire his work so) exposing the false pretense that apparently so many people lived under at that time. Filmed in 1956, it has painfully outmoded social mores which at points are quite comical, and other times quite frustrating to watch. I think the main theme of the movie is denial. on various levels. 

While I enjoyed the film, it falls lower in my favorites of his movies. # 1 is In a Lonely Place hands down, #2 the fabulous Johnny Guitar starring Joan Crawford in a bizarre western reversal of roles where the women duel and the supposed good guys dress in black. Its also filmed in some super hyper techicolor for extra fun. #3 They Live By Night film noir about a bank robber on the lam with his girl pre-Bonnie and Clyde, #4 On Dangerous Ground about a grizzled, jaded cop who falls in love with a blind woman while working a case, #5 Rebel Without a Cause, and then, so far, Bigger Than Life. Nick Ray's work mainly focuses on the darker, unspoken edges of life, mainly societal behavior. I love it.