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    The Lost Weekend

    Reviewed by
    pietroantoni@

    THE LOST WEEKEND was certainly way ahead of its time, but Billy Wilder was always way ahead of his time. I like the film enough for several reasons, but a few things about the film have unfortunately become somewhat dated. I thought Jane Wyman was perfect casting as the dependable, loving girl friend who literally has to go through hell and high water for her man. In 1945, the film obviously must have knocked socks off movie goers, but today it is just a bit shopworn and never really listed by anybody as a great film. Another problem I had was RAY MILLAND who was almost plucked out of obscurity for a career defining role. The subject matter of the film certainly added to his sure win at the Oscars Today his performance doesn't ring as true as it should. It is a very dated performance of a drunk and it creeks a good deal. I couldn't take him quite as seriously as I aught to have. I could see the acting... which never would pass mustard today.

    As a bit of a film historian and huge film fan, I rather think that THE LOST WEEKEND was certainly NOT the best film of 1945. In fact I list it fourth with ( in no particular order ) MILDRED PIERCE, THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S and SPELLBOUND far superior to LOST WEEKEND as pure film. It was the subject matter that had everyone in a frenzy. How often does one even here mention of THE LOST WEEKEND, let alone categorizing it as a truly great film. The Fifth Nominee of 1945 ( Anchors Aweigh) would be my last choice as best feature of 1945... Now we come to MILLAND himself who was never able to capitalize on his OSCAR and become an A List star. The role initially was offered to Jose Ferrerr who could not do the film because of scheduling. As stated MILLAND's performance brought him a good deal of attention due to the theme but also because 1945 had a VERY WEAK LIST OF ACTORS NOMINATED for Oscars: Bing Crosby for Bells, Gene Kelley for Anchors Aweigh. Cornell Wilde in A Song to Remember and GREGORY PECK giving the BEST performance in his debut film, THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM. It was literally impossible for Milland to lose. VERY SAD that as a 30 something year old in 1945, Lost Weekend would be the crowning achievement of his acting career. Of course, Paramount offered its bright star a magnificent new contract but no good pictures came of it. Only with 1954's DIAL M FOR MURDER did Milland get even close to another decent role. Then he went to television with 2 FAILED series until we saw him pop up as an older man in 1970's LOVE STORY. He hardly had a great career, mediocre, at best!

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    pietroantoni@  15.1.2015 age: 36-49 14,540 reviews

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