Directed by Billy Wilder
In 1944 Billy Wilder took a train ride from New York to Los Angeles. When the train stopped in Chicago he decided to pick up some reading material for the rest of his trip. Among the selections: Charles Jackson's semi-autobiographical account of a struggling writer's five-day rye fueled bender, "The Lost Weekend." As the legend goes, by the time Wilder's train arrived in Los Angeles he had decided that The Lost Weekend would be his next film, that it would win the Oscar for Best Picture, and that whoever played the drunk would win the Best Actor Oscar. Wilder would be correct on all counts.
Both the novel and Wilder's film were considered shocking at the time for their supposedly uncompromising portrayals of alcohol addiction. Certainly alcoholism had never been explored in-depth by a major Hollywood motion picture, but Wilder felt that as Jackson's novel had become a best-seller that the time was right for Hollywood to address the subject. He was able to talk Paramount Pictures into making the picture, and after being rejected by every actor that read the script, matinee idol Ray Milland eventually decided to accept the role despite warnings that it would ruin his career.
The film begins with a shot of the back window of the apartment of Don Birnam (Milland). There is a string there tied to the windowsill with a whiskey bottle hanging out of it. Inside the apartment, Don is reluctantly packing for a trip to the countryside with his brother, Wick (Phillip Terry). Don has apparently been sober for all of ten days and it's Wick's job to keep him that way with the help of Don's girlfriend, Helen St. James (Jane Wyman--the first Mrs. Ronald Reagan). Don is desperate to avoid going on the trip so that he can resume his drinking and he eventually convinces Helen to take Wick to a concert before they leave later that night. Wick discovers the whiskey bottle hanging out the window, and having dumped it into the sink is convinced that Don can't get himself into any trouble, and so he agrees to go. After they leave Don is able to scrounge up some money Wick has left for the maid and he heads off to the bar to begin his epic bender.
The Lost Weekend is at its best when it decides to stop preaching about the dangers of alcoholism and just shows the depths to which Don sinks during the weekend. As Don consumes more and more bottles and shots of rye he becomes increasingly desperate and delirious. He steals, he tries to pawn his possessions, he breaks engagements, avoids Helen's attempts to contact him, winds up in a hospital's drunk tank, and eventually begins to suffer from hallucinations. Don is the embodiment of every stereotype of the handsome charmer by day and drunken lout by night, except that he doesn't swear as this was filmed in 1945 after all.
Wilder was always one of the best at depicting the dark underbelly of American society in his films, and Don's descent over the course of the weekend is gripping to watch. The cinematography and Milland's portrayal are terrific and the film truly is uncompromising when Don is at his worst during the weekend. The problems arise whenever a supporting character shows up with the most preachy dialogue imaginable to inform Don that he has a drinking problem, and that he really needs to get help. Wick serves as the scold except for a certain flashback, while Helen is unfailingly optimistic that Don will eventually get himself right and neither are able to overcome their disadvantages in the script to establish realistic characters. The special prize in acting atrocity however goes to Doris Dowling as the call girl, Gloria, who frequents Don's favorite bar. Dowling is unfortunately saddled with by far the worst line in the script, and even more unfortunately it's her character's catchphrase: "Don't be ridic'!" Add in some cringe-inducing mannerisms to accompany that catchphrase and Dowling very nearly steals the movie for all the wrong reasons.
In the end the shame of The Lost Weekend is that it is unable to stick with Don and his drinking. In committing to being a message movie about the dangers of alcoholism the film gets sidetracked by its supporting characters and ruins its reputation as the most uncompromising depiction of alcoholism in film history by copping out with an unrealistic, optimistic ending that was not in Jackson's original novel. This is a surprise coming from Wilder, who was responsible for some of the darkest endings of all time in films such as Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, and the film he did right before The Lost Weekend, Double Indemnity.
However, despite appearing to be something of a lost chance to this modern viewer, The Lost Weekend was considered a resounding success at the time. It won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival and overcame attempts by the alcoholic beverage industry to stop the release to become a critical and commercial success. This run culminated at the Academy Awards where it was nominated for seven Oscars and won four: Best Picture, Best Director--Billy Wilder, Best Actor--Ray Milland, and Best Screenplay--Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.
Clearly The Lost Weekend is a landmark and groundbreaking film that deserves a place in film history, but it unfortunately does not stand the test of time as a great film. 2 and a half out of 4 stars.
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