The Lost Weekend (film)

The Lost Weekend
original movie poster
Directed by	Billy Wilder
Produced by	Charles Brackett
Written by	Charles R. Jackson (novel) Charles Brackett Billy Wilder
Starring	Ray Milland Jane Wyman
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography	John F. Seitz
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	November 16, 1945 (U.S. release)
Running time	101 min
Language	English
Budget	$1,250,000 (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Lost Weekend is an Academy Award-winning 1945 motion picture directed by Billy Wilder for Paramount Pictures, starring Ray Milland, Jane Wyman and Phillip Terry. The film was based on a novel of the same title by Charles R. Jackson about a writer who drinks heavily out of frustration over the accusation that he had an affair with one of his buddies while in college. The reference to the gay affair is removed in the film, and the main character's descent into an alcoholic binge is blamed on writer's block. It was one of the first film scores to use the theremin, a musical instrument, which was used to create the pathos of the disease of alcoholism. This movie also made famous the "character walking toward the camera as neon signs pass by" camera effect.

Milland drinks at a bar

It tells the story of an alcoholic, Milland, on a weekend bender. While on his bender he stops in at his favorite watering stop - Nat's Bar on Third Avenue, based on the legendary P. J. Clarke's. There he seeks companionship in his drinking with congenial bartender Nat (Howard da Silva). As the weekend continues, Milland drifts deeper and deeper into his living nightmare, committing crimes and even spending time in a mental ward.

Awards

Academy Awards

At the 18th Academy Awards, The Lost Weekend received seven nominations, from which it won four awards.

• Awards:
  • Best Picture - Paramount Pictures (Charles Brackett, producer)
  • Best Director - Billy Wilder
  • Best Actor - Ray Milland
  • Best Writing - Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder
• Nominations:
  • Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - John F. Seitz
  • Best Original Music Score - Miklós Rózsa
  • Best Film Editing - Doane Harrison

Cannes Film Festival

This film also shared the 1945 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival. To date, The Lost Weekend and Marty (1955) are the only films ever to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Palme d'Or.

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Actor Howard da Silva went on to play MGM movie mogul Louis B. Mayer in the cult film Mommie Dearest (1981) opposite actress Faye Dunaway (playing Joan Crawford). The film Mildred Pierce, also released in 1945, won Crawford a Best Actress Oscar.
• The 1962 film Days of Wine and Roses, starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, was partly based on The Lost Weekend. The latter film, however, is about an alcoholic married couple.

References in popular culture

• In the Bugs Bunny cartoon Slick Hare, Ray Milland is shown sitting at a bar and paying for his drink with a typewriter - getting small typewriters as his 'change'.
• Tribute was paid to the film in the Simpsons episode "A Star Is Burns": Barney Gumble's short film "Puke-a-Hontas" recreates several of the iconic images such as the main character lying on his bed surrounded by the detritus of his habit.
• In the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, Gilda is being screened when Andy asks Red for the Rita Hayworth poster; however, in the original Stephen King story, The Lost Weekend is screened.
• The film is mentioned in the Christmas Crackers episode of Are You Being Served? when the staff are given a less than impressively sized bottle of brandy for their Christmas pudding.

External links

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The Lost Weekend (film)

• The Lost Weekend at the Internet Movie Database

•  • e American films of the 1940s
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