The Lost Weekend

Don Birnam, a long-time alcoholic, has been sober for ten days and appears to be over the worst... but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother and girlfriend, he begins a four-day bender that just might be his last - one way or another.

Cast

Ray Milland

as Don Birnam

Jane Wyman

as Helen St. James

Phillip Terry

as Wick Birnam

Howard Da Silva

as Nat the Bartender

Doris Dowling

as Gloria

Frank Faylen

as 'Bim' Nolan

Mary Young

as Mrs. Deveridge

Anita Sharp-Bolster

as Mrs. Foley

Lilian Fontaine

as Mrs. Charles St. James

Frank Orth

as Opera Cloak Room Attendant

Reviews

John Chard

Delirium is a disease that only comes at night. Don Birnham is not a drinker, he is in fact a drunk, he is left alone for the weekend by those who love him under the proviso that he gets stuck into his writing, thus the hope is that he stays away from the booze that is killing his life and the lo...

Nutshell

One of Billy Wilder's best films, and certainly Ray Milland's best performance as he's cast against type playing a failed alcoholic author. Milland perfectly captures the despondent, manipulative and even criminal behavior of the lead character. More than 70 years after its release this film still p...

JPV852

This Best Picture winner (also won for director, actor and screenplay) was decently acted, albeit a bit too theatrical (stage type) for my taste but still well made movie with what I assume is a realistic take on alcoholism (never drank myself) from director Billy Wilder. It is a bit optimistic in t...

CinemaSerf

A truly evocative tour de force from Ray Milland in this semi-autobiographical tale of four days in the life of writer Charles R. Jackson - characterised here as "Don Birnam" - whose life as a writer is frequently wrecked by his chronic alcoholism. Just when he might be on the wagon, however, his ad...

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