Nicholas Ray's 1956 Bigger Than Life features a scenery chewing turn from James Mason as a mid-century patriarch who becomes a monster to his wife and son after taking too much cortisone, prescribed in a last ditch effort to keep the otherwise terminal patient alive. Ray had a knack for unflinching portrayals of toxic masculinity, as in his earlier film In a Lonely Place, a film Bogart could not stomach watching himself in the starring role because he was such a nasty thug to Gloria Grahame.
Check out Mason in the clip above when his shadow eclipses the doorframe until he indeed becomes Bigger Than Life.
You can watch the whole film on YouTube.
Ray concocts a clever hat trick depicting the evils of patriarchy by blaming the whole thing on a cortisone dosage error. We all know no man ever terrorised his family unless a white tablet was involved.
The director needs the bottle of pills to act as safety valve to keep from blowing the lid off culture.
Fantastic.
