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The Lost Weekend

weirdo_87 | Rancho Cucamonga, CA USA | 05/15/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Alcoholism has been seen on movies for a very long time. Many people just haven't realized it because it was never something to care much for. Drinking was often the stuff of comedy. This was because most of what we saw about it was the effects while someone was drunk and making fools of themselves. In 1945, director Billy Wilder made a film called "The Lost Weekend", that dealt with the subject in a different light. The movie was not expected to be a hit, having been a controversial project and being poorly received by preview audiences. But it turned out to be a surprise hit with critics and won academy awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor. Here are some reasons as to why this movie is great, along with some of its cons. "You know, the circle is the perfect geometric figure. No end, no beginning." The figure of a circle is used often in the movie, primarily in the plot. The story revolves around that of a failed writer (Ray Milland, who I discuss in detail later) and his trouble with alcohol. The usage of a circular plot structure suggests that the life of a drunk is followed by one binge after another, with no start and no finish. It is also used when Don is under alcohol's spell. An example is the usage of rings from the shot glasses to show passage of time. The lead performance: After years of acting, Milland hit it big as Don Birnam, the unsuccessful, alcoholic writer who goes on a drinking binge ("I'm not a drinker, I'm a drunk"). Milland's character is a tortured one, who claims that there are, figuratively, two of him: Don the writer and Don drunk. Milland can be melodramatic in his performance, but what do you expect from a film like this? One has to congratulate Milland for having the guts to take this role, for his character is a liar and thief who only cares about and will do anything for one more drink. It is amazing how he is able to be despicable and still allow us to sympathize with his character. Like many male leads in Wilder's films, Don Brinam is flawed in how he is weak and, though he tries not to, easily succumbs to the bottle ("The reason is me- what I am, or rather what I'm not). Though other great male performances were done in 1945, Milland was deserving of his Oscar. Supporting Cast: Jane Wyman, as Don's girl Helen, is not as involved, in my humble opinion, as Milland is, but is still able to turn out well. The problem is that her character doesn't get to do much, except try to talk to Don when he is hungover. The supporting cast does better, starting with Wick (Phillip Terry), Don's caring and dedicated brother, who is annoyed by his drinking yet allows him to stay at his apartment ("I went over the apartment with a fine-tooth comb - the places he can figure out"). A scene-stealer is Nat (Howard da Silva), a bartender who is friendly to Don but is also irritated by his unkindness to women and his alcoholism ("One's too many and a hundred's not enough!"). There is also Gloria (Doris Dowling), a slim, attractive woman who visits Nat's place to wait for other men. (She is most likely a female escort). She uses a lot of word abbreviations, such as "ridick" for ridiculous or "natch" for naturally. My favorite appearance was by an uncredited Frank Faylen as "Bim", a [seemingly] homosexual male nurse at an alcoholic ward called "Hangover Plaza". He sets the stage for Don by telling him "...you're just a freshman. Wait'll you're a sophomore. That's when you start seeing the little animals." Feel: The movie's black and white cinematography is shot in a way that it presents the feeling of a nightmare. This way is difficult to explain, except that this illusion is presented most effectively in black and white and would be lost in a color film. This is probably because B & W, I think, is more moody. It's also interesting how several scenes are shot through whiskey bottles or shot glasses. Music Score: It seems odd to talk about the music, but it is important. It was the first to use a theremin, an instrument that produces a strange wailing sound. Used in the nightmare scenes, it would later be familiar with fans of `50's sci-fi films. However, the non-thermin score is also one of the few downsides. Sometimes, especially during the opening credits, it feels too upbeat, too much like a film noir. "The Lost Weekend" is by no means a cheerful movie. It does have some great dialogue (A trademark of Wilder films), but overall it's as entertaining and upbeat as a brain tumor. In addition to being depressing, it's also melodramatic, but that's a minor problem. I rather have a movie that tries to go for realism and honesty in this subject. Also, being a nearly 60 year-old movie and a groundbreaker in this subject, it is bound to have dated in some respects. (Major plot spoilers ahead) But wait, am I a hypocrite? After all, it can be said that the ending feels too upbeat and optimistic. Many complain about this and it does indeed seem to be like this. But is it? A person who is a heavy drinker, I think, can't stop in the blink of an eye. However, this time he has a cause and an idea for writing and that will definitely help him. A mixed bag, no doubt. But there is more good than bad. This is one that grows with repeated viewing. Wilder was certainly a great director, one who could make you as easily affected as he could make you laugh. He will be missed very much."

"One's too many and a thousand's not enough"

M. J Leonard | Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States | 10/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Winner of four academy awards in 1945 including best picture and best actor for Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend is a searing look at alcoholism through the eyes of a painfully conflicted and tortured man. Remarkably, the film still holds up even today, even though some viewers may find that Milland has a tendency to overact in the more startlingly realistic scenes.

But even with the film's minor shortcomings, and placed in the context of the time, The Lost Weekend is still revolutionary, and ground-breaking - because it was the first time that Hollywood had seriously tackled the taboo subject and created social awareness of alcoholism as a modern illness.

Audiences viewed the film's subject matter as sensational, contentious, audacious, and starkly real. The drab, gritty black and white cinematography of the back lanes of Manhattan emphasizes the threatening, warping, and tormenting power of alcohol, as some of the booze-soaked scenes were shot through or in the presence of numerous whiskey bottles and shot glasses.

Don Birnam (Milland) is an alcoholic writer, who has been living on the edge. Relying on financial support from his kindly brother Wick (Phillip Terry), his façade of upper middle class success is as thin as his self-control. Both are about to go away for a weekend in the country, but Don has other things on his mind. A holiday is the last thing he's thinking about as he aches to sneak a drink from a whisky bottle that dangles from a rope outside of his bedroom window.

Arriving at the apartment is Don's girlfriend, Helen St. James (Jane Wyman), who has tickets to a Carnegie Hall concert that night. Don persuades Wick and Helen to go to the concert without him, hoping to find one of his well-hidden bottles of booze. But when Wick and Helen go to the concert, Don discovers that Wick has gotten rid of the liquor.

Don has no money, so he can't visit the neighborhood bar. When he finds the cleaning lady's money hidden in the sugar bowl, he grabs it and heads off to Nat's Bar, where Nat (Howard Da Silva), a bartender who has seen it all, starts giving him shots of whiskey even though he knows that Don as a serious drinking problem. Soon Don plunges into an alcoholic haze, where he remembers his past when he first met Helen and then ends up wondering the streets with his boozing landing him in a harrowing Bellevue Hospital, managed by a cynical attendant named Bim (Frank Faylen).

Don is lucky that he has Helen to support him, but even her rigorous loyalty can't keep Don off the "sauce." And indeed it is Jane Wyman who ironically gives the stronger performance, she never lets Don's drunken raging frighten and intimidate her and it is only through her unconditional love that Don is finally able to achieve some sort of sober redemption.

Milland is still riveting though, as a man who loves to drink and who feels as though alcohol gives him the power to conquer the world. He always means to quit, but never quite can, for reasons we understand and relate to, and it's simply heartrending to see the bottle take out the blessings of his life. He's sneaky, nasty, and will do anything to get that one next drink; he even resorts to stealing a woman's purse at a local bar just for a measly ten bucks.

The Lost Weekend remains a scary, grim, and grimy account of an alcoholic writer's "lost weekend." What makes the film so gripping is the brilliance with which Wilder uses John F Seitz's camerawork to range from an unvarnished portrait of New York brutally stripped of all glamour, and Milland's frantic trudge along Third Avenue on Yom Kippur in search of an open pawnshop to sell his type writer, is one of the best scenes in the film.

Even more significant is how well the film has aged over more than half a century. While treatment options for alcoholics have changed, and so much more is known about alcoholism as a disease, the movie remains right on the mark in its portrayal of alcoholism from the perspective of the tortured and tormented addict. Mike Leonard October 05.

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