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Last Saturday, as part of Film Forum’s biweekly series of “Stories from The New Yorker,” celebrating the magazine’s centennial, I presented a screening of Nicholas Ray’s 1956 melodrama Larger Than Life, based on Burton Rusche’s Annals of Medicine article “Ten Feet Tall,” published September 10, 1955. The film has long fascinated me and I’ve written about it before, but before preparing my introduction, I researched its origins, and this new approach opened my eyes—not only to the film itself, but to the history of cinema and Ray’s unique role in it. Larger Than Life’s backstory is steeped in the spirit of its cinematic era, and it still resonates today.
Rusche's article is about a Queens school teacher who becomes seriously ill with an illness that his doctors cannot diagnose. While in the hospital, he is diagnosed with a rare vascular inflammation that is invariably fatal. However, he is given a new drug, cortisone (and a related substance, ACTH), and he recovers, returns to his wife and young son, and starts working again. But there is a side effect: drug psychosis. The teacher develops delusions of grandeur and begins to behave tyrannically toward his family. He gives in to uncontrollable impulses and experiences wild mood swings. His behavior puts a strain on his marriage. Eventually, doctors adjust his medication so that he can remain both healthy and sane. The film is set in an unnamed suburb, and James Mason, who also produced, plays Ed Avery, a teacher. Barbara Rush plays Ed's wife, Lou; Christopher Olsen plays their son; and Walter Matthau plays Ed's colleague, the gym teacher.
The project was initiated while Ray was in Europe in late 1955 to promote Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean. Mason discovered the story and pitched it to Twentieth Century Fox, where he was under contract. After viewing Rebel, he chose Ray, who was also under contract to Fox, to direct, and Ray, reading the story in Paris, was inspired. By the time Ray returned to Hollywood in January 1956, the script had already been written by Richard Maibaum, who would later become famous for writing thirteen James Bond films, and a former novelist named Cyril Hume. (The making of the film is detailed in a 1990 biography of Ray by French critic Bernard Eisenschitz and another by Patrick McGilligan in 2011.)
Director Nicholas Ray and actor James Dean on the set of Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Photo from Sunset Boulevard/Getty
Ray did not like the script; although Mason was willing to work with Ray on rewriting it, Ray wanted to bring in playwright Clifford Odets (who was also working in Hollywood) to do some revisions. Mason refused the request. However, Ray—along with Gavin Lambert, a British writer who was romantically involved with Ray and was officially hired as a dialogue director but also served as an unofficial artistic consultant—did consult with Odets. Ray had a serious problem with the ending, and forced Odets to revise it on the set using a portable typewriter. According to Mason, three studio executives, noticing Odets' presence, stormed the set to stop Ray from filming anything that had not been “approved.” Mason
Sourse: newyorker.com
