It was as much undervalued and misunderstood as the films Douglas Sirk was making at the time.
Comment
10/23/07
Bigger Than Life (1956)
92 %
Reviews Counted: 13 Fresh: 12 Rotten:1 Average Rating: 8.2/10
Genre: Comedies
Starring: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau, Robert F. Simon, Christopher Olsen
Director: Nicholas Ray
Screenwriter: Cyril Hume, Gavin Lambert, Richard Maibaum, James Mason, Clifford Odets, Nicholas Ray
Screenwriter: Cyril Hume, Gavin Lambert, Richard Maibaum, James Mason, Clifford Odets, Nicholas Ray
Reviews
1 - 13 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Jean-Luc Godard ranked this among the finest US films ever made. Recommendation enough.
12/30/06
Top Critic Top Critic
A heady assault on the repression, complacency and frustration of 1950s America.
06/24/06
Top Critic
This is an outstanding movie, remarkable for its seriousness and daring.
06/24/06
Top Critic
A superbly shot critique of the suffocating conformity, repression and materialism at the heart of middle-class life.
06/24/06
Top Critic Top Critic
James Mason has picked a powerful subject for his first 20th-Fox production and delivers it with quite a bit of dramatic distinction in carrying out the supervisory duties and as the male lead.
10/23/07
Top Critic
It's hard to think of another Hollywood picture with more to say about the sheer awfulness of 'normal' American family life during the 50s.
10/23/07
Those who remember the creeping terror and eeriness of Mr. Roueché's real-life yarn will be sorry to learn that there is little terror or eeriness in the film.
06/24/06
Top Critic
The house perfectly reflects and strains against Mason's masterful performance as the good-natured man turned bad.
06/24/06
1 - 13 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
IGN RSS Feeds