Review of The Lost Weekend (1945) by Don S — 01 Jun 2017

This is a good movie that deals fairly accurately with the problems of alcoholism! Ray Milland does a fine job, I loved Doris Dowling as Gloria, and I thought the coat check guy, played by Frank Orth, was terrific! But the topic was the big draw for me, as I am a recovering alcoholic, also named Don! Lots of super detailed things that really rang true for me.

Like when Don said, " Don't wipe it away, Nat. Let me have my little vicious circle." and the camera pulls in on the wet rings on the bar... wow! Also, the idea of waking up and not knowing if it is dawn or dusk based on the sunlight coming into your room - totally been there and done that.

And Birnam being the "MacGyver" of bottle hiding - dead right on! My only misgiving about the handling of alcoholism was Don's hyper awareness of exactly what his problems were. I guess that could be, but it definitely wasn't for me, not till I got some help.

But I also didn't have those kind of DT's, so who knows? Good movie no matter!