The Lost Weekend (1945)

An alcoholic writer (Ray Milland) is due to visit the country with his brother (Phillip Terry) but instead he goes on a drunken binge that eventually lands him in the drunk ward of a hospital. In 1945, this was hair raising stuff, potent enough to win the best film, best director (Billy Wilder) and best actor (Milland) at the Academy Awards. While there are still a few powerful scenes depicting the harrowing effects of alcoholism, much of the film feels simplistic especially in its near laughable neat little ending. We've come a long way since 1945 in understanding alcoholism and one has merely to compare Milland's work here with Nicolas Cage's performance in LEAVING LAS VEGAS to see the difference. While Milland is effective in his sober scenes, even as he's ready to jump out of his skin for a drink, his drunk scenes don't ring true. His Oscar notwithstanding, he's simply not a good enough actor to make for a convincing drunk. Two of the scenes still stand out: the bat and mouse hallucination and the drunk tank sequence with Frank Faylen's nasty male nurse. Miklos Rozsa's theremin wailing score seems more appropriate for a horror film, it sounds too "one step beyond". With Jane Wyman as Milland's faithful girlfriend, Howard Da Silva and Doris Dowling.