REC: Bigger than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956)
I had high expectations since it's Ray, but wow! This one really knocked my socks off! James Mason (who I can generally take or leave) is *perfection* as a nice, dull, suburban elementary schoolteacher who begins taking cortisone for a serious illness and becomes psychotic. It's quite ahead of it's time in *how* this plays out, with Mason's Ed Avery going from nice 50s dad to iron-fisted despot, with the movie going to a much darker place than you'd expect from the era. It ends up being (like Rebel) quite a scathing critique of suburban conformity and its edict to "maintain the surface appearance of normality at any cost."
Barbara Rush turns in a fine performance as the harried wife, the kid actor is not annoying, and finally Walter Matthau adds some needed lightness as the trusty family friend.
I often do other things while watching a film but this one had me glued to the screen.
Check it out.