‘The Lost Weekend’: THR’s 1945 Review

THR Staff
·3 min read

On Nov. 29, 1945, Paramount Pictures and Billy Wilder brought their adaptation of The Lost Weekend to theaters in Los Angeles. The film would go on to be nominated for seven Oscars at the 18th Academy Awards, claiming four wins, including best picture. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review, headlined “Brackett, Wilder, Milland Do Great Jobs In ‘Weekend,'” is below:

This is undoubtedly the best horror picture of the year and it is without question one of the best pieces of picture-making, so far as writing, directing, acting and any other techniques are concerned, that Hollywood has turned out in many a long moon. The word-of-mouth advertising alone will prove to be as terrific as the picture is horrific.

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Effective is a mild word for the picturization of this novel, taken from the book of the same name. With the exception of the end, it has stuck most faithfully to the original, so that it puts you through an emotional wringer that leaves you limp. To this reviewer the end is weak because the hero is, realistically speaking, a villain. An alcoholic is a menace to himself and even worse menace to those around him. Statistics prove (and we regret having to fall back on them) that severe cases of alcoholism are seldom “saved.” However, for those who are alert, the “hero’s” last speech softens the blow of a miracle reform. It is clearly the crowning phantasy of a doomed man. He doesn’t write his novel, he verbalizes a dream of success. For this concession, we are grateful to producer-writer Brackett and writer-director Wilder. In fact, the writing and directing and producing are stunning and a great object lesson for picture-makers both for individual scenes that stand out and the production as a whole that flows smoothly as a movie.

That brings us up to Ray Milland, whose picture it is and who is the picture and whose acting conjures up phrases like “tour de force,” “Academy award,” and all the better-known cliches. To state it mildly, he’s terrific and so believable as to be unbearable, at times. Jane Wyman is excellent as his fiancee. Doris Dowling, as a lady of the evening, has a couple of scenes that would do a veteran credit, let alone a newcomer. Howard da Silva as a bartender gets the best break he’s had in years and makes the most of it. And then there’s Frank Faylen as the hospital attendant. That is not only a terrific sequence (the hospital, of course) but Faylen is evil incarnate in it. And Frank Orth has a wonderful comedy sequence at the beginning of the picture. Phillip Terry is a good actor and he’s fine as the brother of Milland. But here a better piece of casting could have been done. The brother should have been at least as attractive as the alcoholic and certainly should have garnered the major portion of sympathy. He doesn’t. And that constitutes a major weakness of the picture. Virtue and vice start with the same letter and they at least are entitled to sharing a reward, if reward there is for the latter.

On the technical side there is Miklos Rozsa’s score and the photography by Seitz, Edouart and Gordon Jennings; the editing by Doane Harrison and the art direction by Dreier and Hedrick all working together to make a completely absorbing motion picture. — Staff byline, originally published on August 14, 1945.

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