The Lost Weekend (1945)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Charles R. Jackson (novel)
Charles Brackett (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

3 September 1946 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

How daring can the screen dare to be? No adult man or woman can risk missing the startling frankness of The Lost Weekend!

Plot:

The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four day drinking bout.

Plot Keywords:

Alcoholic | Weekend | Drinking | Writer | Drink

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Ray Milland	...	Don Birnam
Jane Wyman	...	Helen St. James
Phillip Terry	...	Wick Birnam
Howard Da Silva	...	Nat
Doris Dowling	...	Gloria
Frank Faylen	...	'Bim' Nolan
Mary Young	...	Mrs. Deveridge
Anita Sharp-Bolster	...	Mrs. Foley (as Anita Bolster)
Lillian Fontaine	...	Mrs. Charles St. James (as Lilian Fontaine)
Frank Orth	...	Opera Cloak Room Attendant
Lewis L. Russell	...	Charles St. James
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gene Ashley	...	Male nurse (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin	...	Man from Albany (uncredited)
Harry Barris	...	Piano Player at Harry & Joe's (uncredited)
Ian Begg	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Jess Lee Brooks	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
David Clyde	...	Dave (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Man in Nightclub Washroom (uncredited)
Willa Pearl Curtis	...	Mrs. Wertheim's assistant (uncredited)
Helen Dickson	...	Mrs. Frink (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Concert Attendee (uncredited)
Byron Foulger	...	Shopkeeper (uncredited)
John Garris	...	Opera singer (uncredited)
Jayne Hazard	...	M.M. (uncredited)
Ted Hecht	...	Man with bandaged ear (uncredited)
Ernest Hilliard	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Earle Hyman	...	Smoking Man (uncredited)
Jerry James	...	Male nurse (uncredited)
Karl 'Karchy' Kosiczky	...	Baby (uncredited)
Eddie Laughton	...	Mr. Brophy (uncredited)
Perc Launders	...	Doorman (uncredited)
Audrey Long	...	Cloak room attendant (uncredited)
Theodora Lynch	...	Opera singer (uncredited)
William Meader	...	Hardware man (uncredited)
James Millican	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Frank Mills	...	Drunk in Alcoholic Ward (uncredited)
Pat Moriarity	...	Irishman (uncredited)
William Newell	...	Liquor store proprietor (uncredited)
William O'Leary	...	Irishman (uncredited)
Peter Potter	...	Shaky and Sweaty (uncredited)
Mark Power	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Stanley Price	...	Fruit clerk (uncredited)
Craig Reynolds	...	George (uncredited)
Lester Sharpe	...	Jewish man (uncredited)
Lee Shumway	...	Guard (uncredited)
Sophie	...	Mrs. Deveridge's dog (uncredited)
Douglas Spencer	...	Beetle (uncredited)
Al Stewart	...	Mattress man (uncredited)
Bunny Sunshine	...	Little girl (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Drunk in Alcoholic Ward (uncredited)
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Washroom Attendant at Harry & Joe's Bar (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	Mike (uncredited)
Milton Wallace	...	Pawnbroker with Helen's Coat (uncredited)
Bertram Warburgh	...	Jewish man (uncredited)
Gisela Werbisek	...	Mrs. Wertheim (uncredited)
Crane Whitley	...	Waiter at Harry & Joe's Bar (uncredited)
Ernest Whitman	...	Black man talking to self (uncredited)
Harry Wilson	...	Drunk Tank Voices (uncredited)
Isabel Withers	...	Woman in Front of Pawn Shop (uncredited)

Directed by
Billy Wilder

Writing credits
Charles R. Jackson		(novel)
Charles Brackett		(screenplay) and
Billy Wilder		(screenplay)

Produced by
Charles Brackett	....	producer

Original Music by
Miklós Rózsa		(as Miklos Rozsa)

Cinematography by
John F. Seitz

Art Direction by
Hans Dreier
A. Earl Hedrick		(as Earl Hedrick)

Set Decoration by
Bertram C. Granger		(as Bertram Granger)

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles C. Coleman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Gene Lauritzen	....	construction coordinator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Stanley Cooley	....	sound recordist
Joel Moss	....	sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Farciot Edouart	....	process photography
Gordon Jennings	....	special photographic effects
Loyal Griggs	....	process photography assistant (uncredited)
Paul K. Lerpae	....	special photographic effects assistant (uncredited)
Harry Perry	....	process photography assistant (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Doane Harrison	....	editorial supervisor

Music Department
Sidney Cutner	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Samuel Hoffman	....	musician: theremin (uncredited)
George Parrish	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leo Shuken	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Victor Young	....	musical director (uncredited)
Eugene Zador	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Dr. George Thompson	....	medical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1945) (USA) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• ClassicLine (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Germany:12 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG | South Korea:15 (2003) | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Bellevue Hospital - 550 First Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Don quotes twice from William Shakespeare when he is in Nat's bar. The first quote "Purple the sails, and so perfumed ... " is from Antony and Cleopatra: Act II, Scene 2. The second "Yea, all which it shall inherit ..." is from The Tempest, Act IV, Scene 1.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Helen pours whiskey for Don near the end then divides it into two glasses, it is nowhere near a quarter of the way up the glass. When Don chooses not to drink it moments later, and drops his cigarette in the glass, it is more than half-way full.

Quotes:

Gloria: Don't be ridic'.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007)

Soundtrack:

LOUISE

This is on my list of 50 best of all time....

The script and score are superb and the acting flawless. Ray Milland is riveting in the role of a man who is as consumed by alcohol as it is consuming him. He lives and breathes for it and all around him become secondary including his long suffering girlfriend.

There is always a girl like this in the life of a good looking useless purposeless alcoholic kept afloat by either a wife or other family member, in this case a brother who pays the bills and tries to sober him up and dry him out periodically.

The score is relentless and highly avant Gard for its time, featuring music normally backing sci-fi flicks. Some of the scenes are profoundly frightening, his stay in the drunk tank with a sadistic feminine male nurse outlining all the horrors that await him and his DTs which feature a bat biting the head off a bird.

Very well done. I felt the ending was a little too pat, that would be my only fault with this.

9 out of 10. Excellent.