Lost Weekend, The (1945)
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman
Honors:
The maddening, controlling addiction to alcohol is the
subject matter to the 1945 critically renowned Billy Wilder picture The Lost Weekend. Winner of nearly all
notable “best picture” awards for that particular year, the film delved into
subject matter commonly shied away from as a serious matter in Hollywood during
the years of the Production Code. The film was perhaps a small, almost
unnoticed step in a new direction for Hollywood dramas as it discusses serious
issues that quietly plague many people.
The Lost Weekend is
a drama about a writer’s despairing affliction to alcoholism and how it nearly
destroys everything that he is. Don Birnam (Ray Milland) is an alcoholicwriter
in New York who manipulates his brother, Wick (Philip Terry) and girlfriend
Helen (Jane Wyman) in order to get out of a weekend excursion which was
intended to better him by keeping him from his vice. Don’s addiction to his
liquid prison makes him desperate to lie, cheat, and even steal just to find
the next few ounces or drops of the elixir that will temporary ease his pain.
Wick becomes so frustrated with his brothers continual lying that he quits on
his brother, but Helen, who relationship began with his insincerity about his
condition, is undeterred to making Don well.
Don’s addiction is so gripping that he attempts to pawn all
the prized possessions he owns, including his typewriter which represents his
very livelihood and self-worth. Having
lost everything, Don pawns Helen’s fur coat, the item that brought the two
together, but this time for a gun to end his affliction. Helen attempts to stop
Don from shooting himself when Nat (Howard Da Silva), Don’s bartender, returns
Don’s lost typewriter, and Helen convinces Don to turn his experiences into a
novel. Don appears to take that first step in the right direction and spoils his
last remaining drink, with hope this will lead to a better, sober Don.
The film is a dark look into the mind of dangerous addictions
and the destructive places it takes a person. The story has no hero or villain.
In fact, much of the picture is rather frustrating to watch and we observe this
person spiral down a hole of disparaging chaos as his only relief is the very
thing that is tearing his world apart, slowly killing him. It is a dark tale
with a resolution that actually lacks fulfillment as we never truly see the
problem through, but are left with only a glimmer of a first step in a positive
direction for a terribly flawed man. It is dark, depressing, and maddening, yet
the picture makes the story very tangible and relatable. These are the aspects
that make the film so good, literally pulling you into the world and mind of
this very man that is lost in his own compulsion.
Based on the 1944 novel of the same name, the film is a
product of writer/producer Charles Brackett and writer/director Billy Wilder. The
picture’s originally intention was to be a very straight forward manner drama,
without polishing it under the lenses of Hollywood movies. This idea would make
the product appear very unenticing to studios as there was no intended musical
score in the original plans. Also, the leading man was to be portrayed as a
very undesirable role with all its ugliness and in full view. The question was
whether if produced would anyone take the film seriously?
When Ray Milland was approached for the role of Don, he was
unsure how he could portray the alcoholic writer. Milland was far from an
alcoholic, or even much a social drinker. He was frightened by the idea that
much of the picture revolved around the singular performance of Don, which frightened
Milland to think his possible performance would only be seen as overacting. To
research the role Milland attempted inebriation on many occasions, but usually
ended with himself sick. He also checked himself into an asylum for alcoholism to
observe patients behaviors, but found the environment so disturbing that he snuck
himself out in the middle of the night, ending with himself being humorously
detained by authorities who thought he was an escaping patient.
Jane Wyman had the difficult task of being the unwavering
love interest to the frustrating character that was Don. The 28-year-old
actress found her first major critical success as Helen, making you believe
that she would do anything to help that man that would pawn even her for a drop
of booze. This performance proved to be the role that would line he up for many
award nominated roles for the years to come.
After production when the film began test screenings, it was
apparent that The Lost Weekend needed
a score, as test audiences tended to laugh at the overactions of Milland,
proving Milland’s fears. The result was the hiring of composer Miklós Rózsa,
who was just beginning to test the use of the theremin as an instrument within
his music. Like his subtle use in Hitchcock’s Spellbound, Rózsa used the electric instrument to deliver the sense
of one growing mad, with the instrument’s whining tones delivering an unworldly
sound that both works well with the orchestra, yet stands out as well. Rózsa
would be nominated for his score, which he won, but rather for Spellbound instead of The Lost Weekend.
The commercial success of The Lost Weekend would only be surpassed by its monumental critical
achievements. Billy Wilder’s picture would win nearly every major “Best
Picture” awards there were. The lone exception was the National Board of
Review, who gave Best Picture to the World War II documentary The True Glory, which fed off the heels
of Allied victory. Wilder himself took home two Oscars for his directing and
his writing. Ray Milland was nervous about taking on the role of Don, but it
proved to be the immense peak of his career. He would be given Best Actor at
the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the New York Film Critics Circle, and National
Board of Review. He was the top of the acting word critically speaking for 1945
which turned Milland into the top paid man in Hollywood after new contract negotiations.
The film brought the actor to heights he never dreamt as he humbly accepted his
Oscar without even being able to drum together even an acceptance speech in his
shocked skyrocketing in the acting world.
The Lost Weekend
would be a quite transformation for Hollywood as the once taboo concept of
addiction and alcoholism was being talked about in a very serious manner. Billy
Wilder had turned himself from being one of Hollywood’s leading writers, to respectable
writer/director, to THE leading writer/director. And Ray Milland was now the
talk of Hollywood with his award-winning performance, so much so that he had to
disprove alcoholism rumors, as if a real life affliction was the reason his
performance was so strong.
The picture would be one of American cinema’s finer works,
honored in 2011 by being named to the National Film Registry. Billy Wilder’s
filmography would be among one of the most successful and admired, and with The Lost Weekend being a massive
milestone in his journey through fimmaking.
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