The Lost Weekend
Added 9/3/2009
I remember this movie from long ago...it still has a strong impact. I'm using it with my substance abuse clients.
Product was in great condition.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Should be required viewing...
Added 8/16/2009
Before I begin my review, the readers should know that The Lost Weekend is my number 1 all-time favorite film. So if this review sounds biased, it is---positively so.
To re-hash the plot would be redundant as so many reviewers have already done so. I will concentrate my review on the protagonist: writer Don Birnam. The movie opens (and closes) with an aerial shot of a NYC apartment window and a bottle suspended outside. Don and his brother Wick are packing for a long weekend in the country and Don is trying to figure out how he is going to smuggle his bottle along. Priceless is the disdain with which Don responds to Wick touting the countryside, with its fresh air and clean, crisp well water! The very thought of having to drink water sets Don off into a nasty and biting rejoinder. Needless to say, Don doesn't go and the result, told partially in flashbacks, is one man's descent into the deepest, horrific depths of alcoholic hell.
Every time I think about this film I get that crazy background sound in my ear---that eerie, high-pitched howling that Don Birnam (aka Ray Milland in his Best Actor, Oscar-winning performance) must have piercing his alcohol-saturated brain after downing two quarts plus of cheap rye. He becomes Don Birnam. Absolutely believable! Surrounded by a fine supporting cast and expertly directed by Billy Wilder, his is a performance for the ages. I can't say enough about it. Never would Ray Milland achieve such notoriety again. Sad. He was an amazing actor and it just goes to prove that talent, combined with brilliant directing is a sure-fire combination for success. Every aspiring actor should watch this film.
I have on more than one occasion contacted the people at the Criterion Collection requesting that they restore this classic. It deserves their treatment. I give it my highest recommendation.
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great movie - poor DVD
Added 7/23/2009
This is a good movie, in the hands of a fine director and cast. Unfortunately it is a cognac in a cheap rye DVD transfer.
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Hollywood Horror Story About The World's Most Available Drug.
Added 6/18/2009
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.
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Lost Weekend DVD
Added 5/22/2009
I was extremely satisfied with my purchase and the ordering process from Amazon. The price was commensurate with the product, it was easy to buy on-line and the product arrived quickly and in perfect condition.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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The Lost Weekend
Added 9/3/2009
I remember this movie from long ago...it still has a strong impact. I'm using it with my substance abuse clients.
Product was in great condition.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Should be required viewing...
Added 8/16/2009
Before I begin my review, the readers should know that The Lost Weekend is my number 1 all-time favorite film. So if this review sounds biased, it is---positively so.
To re-hash the plot would be redundant as so many reviewers have already done so. I will concentrate my review on the protagonist: writer Don Birnam. The movie opens (and closes) with an aerial shot of a NYC apartment window and a bottle suspended outside. Don and his brother Wick are packing for a long weekend in the country and Don is trying to figure out how he is going to smuggle his bottle along. Priceless is the disdain with which Don responds to Wick touting the countryside, with its fresh air and clean, crisp well water! The very thought of having to drink water sets Don off into a nasty and biting rejoinder. Needless to say, Don doesn't go and the result, told partially in flashbacks, is one man's descent into the deepest, horrific depths of alcoholic hell.
Every time I think about this film I get that crazy background sound in my ear---that eerie, high-pitched howling that Don Birnam (aka Ray Milland in his Best Actor, Oscar-winning performance) must have piercing his alcohol-saturated brain after downing two quarts plus of cheap rye. He becomes Don Birnam. Absolutely believable! Surrounded by a fine supporting cast and expertly directed by Billy Wilder, his is a performance for the ages. I can't say enough about it. Never would Ray Milland achieve such notoriety again. Sad. He was an amazing actor and it just goes to prove that talent, combined with brilliant directing is a sure-fire combination for success. Every aspiring actor should watch this film.
I have on more than one occasion contacted the people at the Criterion Collection requesting that they restore this classic. It deserves their treatment. I give it my highest recommendation.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
great movie - poor DVD
Added 7/23/2009
This is a good movie, in the hands of a fine director and cast. Unfortunately it is a cognac in a cheap rye DVD transfer.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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