The Lost Weekend (1945) | |
| Director(s) | Billy Wilder |
| Producer(s) | Charles Brackett |
| Top Genres | Drama, Film Adaptation |
| Top Topics | Alcohol, Book-Based |
Featured Cast:
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)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Actor | Ray Milland | Won |
| Best Cinematography | John F. Seitz | Nominated |
| Best Director | Billy Wilder | Won |
| Best Film Editing | Doane Harrison | Nominated |
| Best Music - Scoring | Miklos Rozsa | Nominated |
| Best Picture | Paramount | Won |
| Best Writing | Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder | Won |
BlogHub Articles:
Ray Milland and Jane Wyman star in Billy Wilder’s “The Lost Weekend”
By Stephen Reginald on May 13, 2025 From Classic Movie ManRay Milland and Jane Wyman star in Billy Wilder’s “The Lost Weekend” The Lost Weekend is a 1945 American drama directed by Billy Wilder and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. The screenplay was written by Wilder and Charles Brackett based on the novel by Charles R. Jackson. ... Read full article
The Lost Weekend (1945) and Alcohol The Femme Fatale
By 4 Star Film Fan on Feb 10, 2021 From 4 Star FilmsIt 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 GardenRay 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 Lost ... Read full article
The Lost Weekend (1945)
By Cameron on Apr 10, 2015 From The Blonde At The Filmvia: 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 a d... Read full article
The Lost Weekend (1945)
By Cameron on Apr 10, 2015 From The Blonde At The Filmvia: 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 a d... Read full article
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Quotes from
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: 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!
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Facts about
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on January 7, 1946 with Ray Milland, Jane Wyman and Frank Faylen reprising their film roles.
On March 10, 1946 -- three days after winning the Academy Award -- Ray Milland appeared as a guest on a radio broadcast of "The Jack Benny Show." In a spoof of _The Lost Weekend (1945)_ (QV), Ray and Jack Benny played alcoholic twin brothers. Phil Harris -- who normally played Jack Benny's hard-drinking bandleader on the show -- played the brother who tried to convince Ray and Jack to give up liquor. ("Ladies and gentlemen," said an announcer, "the opinions expressed by Mr. Harris are written in the script and are not necessarily his own.") In the alcoholic ward scene, smart-aleck Frank Nelson played the ward attendant who promised Ray and Jack that they would soon start seeing DT visions of strange animals. When the DT visions appeared (with Mel Blanc providing pig squeals, monkey chatters, and other animal sound effects), Ray chased them off. "Ray, they're gone!" Benny shouted. "What did you do?" Milland replied, "I threw my Oscar at them!"
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