BIGGER THAN LIFE

Special Features: 70th Anniversary

Suburban schoolteacher Ed Avery (James Mason) moonlights as a cab dispatcher to make ends meet, a fact he hides from his wife, Lou (Barbara Rush), and son, Richie (Christopher Olsen). But his secret comes out after he collapses and is diagnosed with a rare, potentially fatal disease. Treated with the new “miracle” drug cortisone, Ed recovers — but also develops a manic personality and delusions of grandeur, becoming increasingly unhinged as he doubles and triples his dosages. Part medical melodrama, part psychological thriller, this film packs multilayered allegorical implications about American life in the 1950s. DIR Nicholas Ray; SCR Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum, from the article “Ten Feet Tall” by Berton Roueché; PROD James Mason. U.S., 1956, color, 95 min. NOT RATED

Run Time: 95 Minutes

Opening Date: Friday, August 14, 2026

Genre: Drama

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