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The Lost Weekend Overview:

The Lost Weekend (1945) was a Drama - Film Adaptation Film directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Charles Brackett.

The film was based on the novel of the same name written by Charles R. Jackson published in 1944.

SYNOPSIS

This portrait of alcohol's deadly grip is perhaps the greatest of the social-problem films, and a rewarding, harrowing movie experience. Milland gives the performance of a lifetime as a writer who encounters the depths of his soul on a weekend alone in New York. When his brother (Terry) goes on vacation, leaving Milland alone to write, the bottles come out before the typewriter. Before the weekend is over, Milland will have lost his money, his freedom, and his grip on reality as he descends into the alcoholic abyss. Justly praised upon its first, limited release, the movie was almost scrapped when the alcoholic beverage industry is offered millions for the negative, and studio executives questioned its commercial potential. Milland explored the darkest corners of society researching the role, spending the night in New York's Bellevue Hospital (the setting for some of the most disturbing sequences) on the alcoholic ward. Based on Charles Jackson's 1944 novel.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

The Lost Weekend was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2011.

Academy Awards 1945 --- Ceremony Number 18 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorRay MillandWon
Best CinematographyJohn F. SeitzNominated
Best DirectorBilly WilderWon
Best Film EditingDoane HarrisonNominated
Best Music - ScoringMiklos RozsaNominated
Best PictureParamountWon
Best WritingCharles Brackett, Billy WilderWon
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The Lost Weekend BlogHub Articles:

The Lost Weekend (1945) and Alcohol The Femme Fatale

By 4 Star Film Fan on Feb 10, 2021 From 4 Star Films

It might be a futile exercise but at least for a brief moment, I will attempt to get back into the headspace from when I first came upon Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend. I was younger then. Bright-eyed and a budding cinephile. It is the film that defined Ray Milland’s entire filmography ... Read full article

Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)

By Carol Martinheira on Mar 1, 2018 From The Old Hollywood Garden

Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945) On March 1, 2018March 1, 2018 By CarolIn Uncategorized Because it’s Oscar season, I wanted to talk about one of my all-time favorite performances in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category, the wonderful Ray Milland in The Los... Read full article

The Lost Weekend (1945)

By Cameron on Apr 10, 2015 From The Blonde At The Film

via: http://screeninsight.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-lost-weekend-billy-wilder-1945.html  Unless otherwise noted, all images are my own. In 1945, The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther called The Lost Weekend a “shatteringly realistic and morbidly fascinating film…an illustration of ... Read full article

The Lost Weekend (1945)

By Cameron on Apr 10, 2015 From The Blonde At The Film

via: http://screeninsight.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-lost-weekend-billy-wilder-1945.html  Unless otherwise noted, all images are my own. In 1945, The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther called The Lost Weekend a “shatteringly realistic and morbidly fascinating film…an illustration of ... Read full article

The Lost Weekend

By Michael on Jan 20, 2014 From Le Mot du Cinephiliaque

The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945) The film recounts the life of an alcoholic New York writer, Don Birnam (Ray Milland), over the last half of a six-year period, and in particular on a weekend alcoholic binge. Preparing for a weekend away, Don and his brother Wick (Philip Terry), Don can&#82... Read full article

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The Lost Weekend Quotes:

Don Birnam: Are you in the phone book?
Helen St. James: Yes, but I'm not home very much.
Don Birnam: Well, I'll call you at your office.
Helen St. James: Editorial Research. If Henry Luce answers, hang up.
Don Birnam: Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. I can't take quiet desperation!
Wick Birnem: If it happens, it happens and I hope it does. I've had six years of this. I've had my bellyfull... Who are we fooling? We've tried everything, haven't we? We've reasoned with him. We've baited him. We've watched him like a hawk. We've tried trusting him. How often have you cried? How often have I beaten him up? Scrape him out of a gutter and pump some kind of self-respect into him and back he falls, back in every time.
Helen St. James: He's a sick person. It's as though there was something wrong with his heart or his lungs. You wouldn't walk out on him if he had an attack. He needs our help.
Wick Birnem: He won't accept our help. Not Don, he hates us. He wants to be alone with that bottle of his. It's all he gives a hang about. Why kid ourselves? He's a hopeless alcoholic.
Don Birnam: I'm not a drinker;I'm a drunk.
[Nat moves to wipe away the circle of whisky from Don Birnam's glass]
Don Birnam: Don't wipe it away, Nat. Let me have my little vicious circle. You know, the circle is the perfect geometric figure. No end, no beginning.
See More Quotes from The Lost Weekend
The Lost Weekend Facts
When Don Birnam searches for a pawn shop to hock his typewriter, the Third Ave Elevated is in the background. The last train on the "el" ran May 12,1955 and the structure was torn down later that year.
The only film to win both an Academy Award for Best Picture and the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix du Festival International Film. (NOTE: Marty won both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Cannes Film Festival Palme D'Or (Golden Palm). In 1955, the Palme D'Or replaced the Grand Prix du Festival International Film as the highest award given to films at Cannes.)
Paramount were very nervous about releasing a film with such an adult theme and very nearly buried it when it didn't do too well with preview audiences. Ultimately, of course, it went on to become a major hit and Academy Award winner.
Upon completion, Billy Wilder confidently predicted that Ray Milland would win an Oscar for his performance. He was right.
This was the first time that any film crews had been given permission to film in Bellevue Hospital.
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