Review of The Lost Weekend (1945) by John D — 15 Jan 2009

Revolutionary for 1945, hell, it's revolutionary for any era. A comfortable middle class life is falling to pieces. On the outside, everything is normal, Don likes a few drinks, sometimes two or three too many, so what.

Soon though, things are really crumbling to pieces, his relationships lie in ruins, his employers want to wash their hands of him, leaving Don to horrors of a dipso ward where the nightmare just begins.

Milland is sensational in a role that Frank Sinatra most certainly quoted 11 years later in The Man With The Golden Arm when the toxin on display was upped a step further to fully lock horns with Hollywood's conservative "sweep it under the carpet" attitudes.

Back on the subject of The Lost Weekend, the Oscar committee of the time decided to use some savvy as a delightful change, bringing some aesthetic justice to a rare breed, a mainstream excercise with a conscience.

Milland rarely did better after this, Billy Wilder showed his gifts could stretch far beyond (nonetheless magificent) comedy excursions, creating one of the most prized CVs in film history.