Director's Series: Billy Wilder's THE LOST WEEKEND

Director's Series: Billy Wilder's THE LOST WEEKEND

After experiencing an alcoholic writer when working with Raymond Chandler in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, Billy Wilder encountered the novel THELOST WEEKEND (about an alcoholic writer) on a train trip from New York City to Los Angeles and his next project was launched.

Handling a subject deemed taboo in the 1940’s in a  direct and forthright manner – with a pinch of 1940’s melodrama thrown in – Billy Wilder’s THE LOST WEEKEND was a huge gamble for both the Director and the studio that produced it, Paramount, andthe gamble paid off with 7 Oscar nominations and 4 Oscar wins.

Telling the tale of alcoholic writer Don Burnham (played by Ray Milland), THE LOST WEEKEND spins the story of a…ahem…lost weekend by Burnham who goes on a drinking binge in New York City. What looks now as a bit melodramatic and over-the-top, 1945 audiences were shocked and astounded by the depths an alcoholic would go through to get his next drink.

As played by Milland (in an Oscar winning turn), Burnham is haunted by demons that continue to tell him that he is not good enough so he mutes those voices with alcohol – over and over – lying to himself that “this one is going to be the last one” while frantically and desperately trying to figure out where the next drink (or the $$ for the next drink) will come from.  While many will chide his performance as melodramatic and over-the-top (assisted by surging music), the truth of what his character goes through shines from the performance of Milland and holds up to this day.

Milland would seem to be an odd choice for this role as he was known as a “matinee idol” up until that point, but that is EXACTLY the type of performer that Wilder wanted/needed for the lead role to drive home the point that this disease can affect ANYONE.

As is always the case in Wilder films, he fills the supporting roles with strong character actors from Jane Wyman’s supportive girlfriend, to Howard Da Silva’s bartender who looks down his nose at Burnham to “call girl” Gloria (played by Doris Dowling) who just wants to settle down to a “normal” life with Burnham.  Wilder ,as usual, is able to get nuance out of each supporting character to draw more realistic human beings into the film.

Wilder would go on to win BEST DIRECTOR and BEST ADAPTEDSCREENPLAY Oscars for this film – the first person to win both for the same film – and it is well deserved as he steers his script surely through the LOSTWEEKEND, keeping the audience on the edge of it’s seats until the very end.

Letter Grade: B+ (did I mention that it does get a bit1940’s melodramatic)

7 ½ stars (out of 10) and you can take that to theBank(ofMarquis)