The Lost Weekend
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.47 You Save: $7.51 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.99 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Lost Weekend
Movie Review: Hollywood Horror Story About The World's Most Available Drug.
Summary: 5 Stars
Terrifying Best Picture winner of 1945 is this classic movie that may feature Ray Milland's all time greatest performance.
Milland stars as a chronic alcoholic who is controlled and tormented by the spectre of the brew. He originally is supposed to take a weekend with his brother until his addiction catches up to him and he fails to meer up with his brother, ending up stranded in his apartment with no one but his desire for alcohol.
His weekend becomes a nightmare as he recounts his past and what led him to this point and the extremes that he'll go to further his addiction. At one point he ends up in an asylum and escapes, only to steal from a liquor store and lose his mind when he holds up in his apartment, suffering from creepy hallucinations.
His devoted girlfriend, beautiful Jane Wyman, is the only thing that holds him together and ultimately gets him through his personal hell.
A truly first rate film that melded the scenery and feel of the rising art of Film Noir with a true human drama, this was a landmark in mature cinema. While far from a "good time" film, this is a brave little picture that attacks a deep and troubling issue and presents it with sensitvity and intelligence and emerges as one of the absolutely best films of the 1940s.
Any true film buff owes him/herself a glance at this film classic.
Movie Review: A Very Powerful Film by the Great Billy Wilder and Performed Masterfully by Oscar Winner Ray Milland
Summary: 5 Stars
The first time I saw "The Lost Weekend" was about a year ago on TCM and in my own opinion, it was a excellent film. Billy Wilder, who had just done "Double Indemnity", does not miss a step. Ray Milland's performance as Don Birnam, who was chosen as the star, after several of Hollywood's box office draws had turned it down, was perfect for the part and most deservedly won the Oscar. Jane Wyman was perfect as Don's girlfriend, Helen St. James, who stuck by Don no matter what the outcome. There was also the support of Philip Terry, Howard DaSilva and Doris Downing, who helped to add to the film as well.
While the ending may seem a bit rosy in some regards, any other way in which the film would have ended, possibly with Don committing suicide would have violated the Production Code, which still was prevalent during the 1940's. Also, to take into consideration of World War II coming to an end when the film was made, a rosy ending would probably help to bring a little bit of optimism after years of fighting and bloodshed. That's just what I have surmised from this.
Anyways, excellent film and performances. This film is highly recommended and should not be missed!!
Movie Review: Milland's Shining Moment
Summary: 5 Stars
The Lost Weekend brought Billy Wilder the first two of his many Academy Awards. The film is a brilliant look at the life of a man who is not a drinker, but a full blown drunk. Ray Milland stars as Don Birnam who is trying to stay dry. His girlfriend, played by Jane Wyman, has enlisted the help of Don's brother and for a while, Don deals with his situation. But slowly and surely, his demons get the best of him and he heads down to his local watering hole and goes on a bender. The decent of Don into his alcoholic hell is probably the most terrifying and griping portrayals of alcoholism ever committed to the screen. Mr. Milland is absolutely brilliant and he avoids overplaying the role. He could have easily hammed it up by over emoting, but he goes to just the right level without ever going over the line. Mr. Milland took home the 1945 Best Actor Oscar in addition to Mr. Wilder's Best Director and Writing Awards and the film won for Best Picture. The film shows the master that Mr. Wilder is, as he was able to coax the brilliant performance out of Mr. Milland who was nothing more than a B-list actor up until The Lost Weekend and never really capitalized on the role after.Movie Review: "ODAP Highly Recommends This Movie"
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, ODAP recommends this. Who is ODAP? ODAP is the name of that little monkey on my back. Odap IS--Our Devilish Alcoholic Personalities. There are many kinds of alcoholics and in this movie Ray Milland plays the binge drinker, on a bender. He does this with great skill. As an alcoholic myself, and one who has seen alcoholic friends in this exact mental thunderstorm, it is difficult to see how anyone could "act this" unless his blood/alcohol content was almost at a lethal level. A great job on the acting and a great job on the message. Alcoholism is a fatal disease unless arrested. We feel for this man and his predicament. We feel for the people he injures emotionally and otherwise. And we are GLAD. Glad that people who have never witnessed the complete horrors of alcoholism can get an education, to understand the physiology of the DTs, and to hope they have a plan of action if ever stricken with alcoholism or if residing withing the concentric circles surrounding an alcoholic. "Lost Weekend" gives a window through which to glimpse the hell.Movie Review: Fine movie, but don't look for 12 Steps
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a good movie that most likely was far ahead of its time in the 1940s. When I first saw it nine years ago, I was disappointed that Ray Milland's character didn't find sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous. However, AA was still a very young entity (only 10 years old) at the time this movie was made, so it may not have been enough of a force for the filmmakers to have considered for inclusion in the story. (About 17 years later, things were different: by the early 1960's, AA had a proven track record of success, and credibility, as the impetus for positive change in Jack Lemmon's character in The Days of Wine and Roses.) But even the founders of AA pointed out that there are many ways to sobriety; they never claimed that AA was the one and only option. If Ray Milland's character had to go through delirium tremens and its associated, terrifying hallucinations to be scared sober, that's ok, too. Could have been an effective warning to viewers struggling with alcoholism, themselves.