Ray Milland stars as alcoholic writer Don Birnam in Billy Wilder's first unabashedly dramatic film, and one of the first to deal in such painstaking detail with the disease of alcoholism. Don shares an apartment in New York City in the 1940s with his brother Wick (Phillip Terry) who has his hands full trying to deal with his brother's drinking problem. One night, Don encourages his brother to take his girlfriend Helen St. James (Jane Wyman) to hear some music only so that he can be out from under their watchful eyes. Taking the money left for the maid, he goes out to buy some liquor, stashing one bottle in the chandelier. When he goes to the bar the next day, Nat (Howard Da Silva), the owner berates him for treating his girlfriend badly and warns him that he's on a path toward death. Don returns to the apartment to try to work on his novel "The Bottle," but consumed by self-doubt, goes to another bar, and steals a woman's purse to buy a drink. As the weekend wears on, his spiral downward continues apace. Although dated in some respects, the film's unadorned portrait of the relentless torture that is alcoholism still packs a powerful punch thanks to Wilder's sharp script, the deep-focus camerawork of John Seitz, and a career performance by Ray Milland.
Filmed on location in New York City.
The National Board of Review named THE LOST WEEKEND one of the Best 10 English-language films of 1945. The New York Film Critics Circle named it the Best Film of 1945.
Ray Milland was named Best Actor by the National Board and by the New York Critics.
Billy Wilder was named Best Director by the New York Critics.
The film screened at 1946 Cannes Film Festival.
Excerpt: "It shrinks my liver, doesn't it, Nat? It pickles my kidneys, yeah. But what does it do to my mind? It tosses the sandbags overboard so the balloon can soar. Suddenly I'm above the ordinary. I'm competent, supremely competent. I'm walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. I'm one of the great ones. I'm Michelangelo, molding the beard of Moses. I'm van Gogh, painting pure sunlight. I'm Horowitz, playing the Emperor Concerto. I'm John Barrymore before the movies got him by the throat. I'm Jesse James and his two brothers--all three of 'em. I'm W. Shakespeare. And out there it's not Third Avenue any longer--it's the Nile, Nat, the Nile--and down it moves the barge of Cleopatra."--Don Birnam (Ray Milland)
"Good morning, Mary Sunshine!"--male nurse to his alcoholic patients
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Single Side - Single Layer
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono - English
Additional Release Material:
Film Highlights
Trailers
Parental Lock
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes
Biographies: Cast & Crew
Production Designer
Hans Dreier: Production Designer
Special Effects
Gordon Jennings: Special Effects/Cameraman
Cinematographer
John Seitz: Supporting Actor
Review 1:
"Every addiction film since has taken a page from LOST WEEKEND; if only they'd been as good."
Source: Premiere
p.5 12/01/2003
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