Review of The Lost Weekend (1945) by Brian R — 05 Jul 2009

"It shrinks my liver, doesn't it, Nat? It pickles my kidneys, yeah. But what it does to the mind? It tosses the sandbags overboard so the balloon can soar. Suddenly I'm above the ordinary. I'm competent. I'm walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. I'm one of the great ones. I'm Michaelangelo, molding the beard of Moses. I'm Van Gogh painting pure sunlight. I'm Horowitz, playing the Emperor Concerto. I'm John Barrymore before movies got him by the throat. I'm Jesse James and his two brothers, all three of them. I'm W. Shakespeare. And out there it's not Third Avenue any longer, it's the Nile. Nat, it's the Nile and down it moves the barge of Cleopatra.".

This film has a perfect script, accompanied by perfect acting, photography and music (by Miklos Rozsa). The key to it is Ray Milland's Oscar-winning performance as Don Birnam - he undercuts this dramatic tale of an alcoholic's final bender with incredible humour and pathos. In this day and age the ending would be seen as a bit of a cop-out, but Milland makes his character so vulnerable and likeable that it feels almost triumphantly satisfying. This is a film that is best watched with a large gin and tonic (natch) or several!