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Features: DVD, Full Picture Aspect Ratio, Aspect Ratio 1.33:1, Mono Audio
The Best Picture of 1945 has lost none of its bite or power in this uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Ironically, this brilliant Billy Wilder film was almost never released because of poor reaction by preview audiences unaccustomed to such stark realism from Hollywood, but the film has since gone on to be regarded as one of the all-time great dramas in movie history. Ray Milland's haunting portrayal of a would-be writer's dissatisfaction with his life leads him on a self-destructive three-day binge. Filled with riveting imagery, the multiple Academy Award winner offers an unforgettable view of life on the edge.
"..a landmark of adult filmmaking..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Heartrending Hollywood masterpiece..." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
Editor's Note
Ray Milland stars as alcoholic writer Don Birnam in Billy Wilder's first unabashedly dramatic film, and one of the first to deal in such painstaking detail with the disease of alcoholism. Don shares an apartment in New York City in the 1940s with his brother Wick (Phillip Terry) who has his hands full trying to deal with his brother's drinking problem. One night, Don encourages his brother to take his girlfriend Helen St. James (Jane Wyman) to hear some music only so that he can be out from under their watchful eyes. Taking the money left for the maid, he goes out to buy some liquor, stashing one bottle in the chandelier. When he goes to the bar the next day, Nat (Howard Da Silva), the owner berates him for treating his girlfriend badly and warns him that he's on a path toward death. Don returns to the apartment to try to work on his novel "The Bottle," but consumed by self-doubt, goes to another bar, and steals a woman's purse to buy a drink. As the weekend wears on, his spiral downward continues apace. Although dated in some respects, the film's unadorned portrait of the relentless torture that is alcoholism still packs a powerful punch thanks to Wilder's sharp script, the deep-focus camerawork of John Seitz, and a career performance by Ray Milland.
| Features | English Subtitles | | Talent Bios | | Scene Access | | Interactive Menus | | Spanish Subtitles | | French Subtitles | | Production Notes |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (MCA) |
| Release Date: 2/10/2004 |
| Running Time: 101 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1945 | | Catalog ID: 21153 | | UPC: 00025192115325 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: French, Spanish | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.33:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1946) |  | Ray Milland, Winner, Best Actor | | Billy Wilder, Winner, Best Director | | Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Winner, Best Screenplay | | | John F. Seitz, Nominee, Best Black-And-White Cinematography | | | Doane Harrison, Nominee, Best Film Editing | | | Miklos Rozsa, Nominee, Best Musical Score, Drama Or Comedy | |
Cannes Film Festival (1946) | | Ray Milland, Winner, Best Actor | |
Golden Globe (1946) | | Ray Milland, Winner, Best Motion Picture Actor | | Billy Wilder, Winner, Best Motion Picture Director |
| Memorable Quotes| "It shrinks my liver, doesn't it, Nat? It pickles my kidneys, yeah. But what does it do to my mind? It tosses the sandbags overboard so the balloon can soar. Suddenly I'm above the ordinary. I'm competent, supremely competent. I'm walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. I'm one of the great ones. I'm Michelangelo, molding the beard of Moses. I'm van Gogh, painting pure sunlight. I'm Horowitz, playing the Emperor Concerto. I'm John Barrymore before the movies got him by the throat. I'm Jesse James and his two brothers----all three of 'em. I'm W. Shakespeare. And out there it's not Third Avenue any longer----it's the Nile, Nat, the Nile----and down it moves the barge of Cleopatra."----Don Birnam (Ray Milland) | | "Good morning, Mary Sunshine!"----male nurse to his alcoholic patients |
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| | Professional Reviews | Premiere
"Every addiction film since has taken a page from LOST WEEKEND; if only they'd been as good." 12/01/2003 p.5The Motion Picture Guide 10 of 10
The script by Wilder and Brackett is merciless and unrelenting but literate and even poetic in spots. Wilder's direction is excruciatingly effective in its set shots and unusual framing. And Milland's virtuoso performance as the hopeless alcoholic is startling, shocking and utterly riveting.
At-A-Glance Film Reviews 10 of 10
Billy Wilder's tragic film on alcoholism won him an Oscar, earned its star Ray Milland one, and took Best Picture to boot. Milland's masterful performance is riveting as the lead character, a man who loves to drink and gradually descends into the depths of alcoholism... it's simply heartrending to see the bottle take out the blessings of his life, one by one. The film's haunting black and white cinematography (this is one that simply could not have been done right in color) punctuate its story.
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