The Lost Weekend
Directed by Billy Wilder. US. 1945. NR. 101 min. Universal. 35mm.
- Sun, Sep 9, 2:00 pm
Another film that made most effective use of flashbacks is The Lost Weekend, which won Academy Awards for Best Film, Director (Billy Wilder), Screenplay (Wilder and Charles Brackett), and Best Actor (Ray Milland). The story, of a struggling writer who becomes increasingly addicted to alcohol, is told through vivid imagery and excellent, atmospheric photography, and the scenes depicting Milland going through the DTs are truly frightening. As film critic Leonard Maltin has so concisely put it, this is truly “a landmark of adult film-making in Hollywood.” Watch, especially, for the excellent performances by such fine character actors as Howard Da Silva (as a sympathetic bartender) and Frank Faylen (as a male nurse with a very nasty attitude.) This is one film that takes a very serious approach to the issue of problem drinking, while providing a fascinating and spell-binding scenario. (Bill Roth)