DAYS OF HEAVEN and YOJIMBO/SANJURO details after the break.
BIGGER THAN LIFE – Though ignored at the time of its release, Nicholas Ray’s Bigger Than Life is now recognized as one of the great American films of the 1950s. When a friendly, successful suburban teacher and father (James Mason, in one of his most indelible roles) is prescribed cortisone for a painful, possibly fatal affliction, he grows dangerously addicted to the experimental drug, resulting in his transformation into a psychotic and ultimately violent household despot. This Eisenhower-era throat-grabber, shot in expressive CinemaScope, is an excoriating take on the nuclear family; that it came in the day of Father Knows Best makes it all the more shocking—and wildly entertaining. Available March 23, 2010.
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring critic Geoff Andrew (The Films of Nicholas Ray)
• Profile of Nicholas Ray (1977), a half-hour television interview with the director
• New video appreciation of Bigger Than Life with author Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City)
• New video interview with Susan Ray, the director’s widow and editor of the book I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: An essay by film writer B. Kite
DAYS OF HEAVEN and YOJIMBO/SANJURO details after the break.
