File:The_Lost_Weekend_(1945_film).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
OverviewAI-generated
The Lost Weekend is a 1945 American black-and-white drama and film noir directed by Billy Wilder. The film stars Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Howard da Silva, and Doris Dowling, with cinematography by John F. Seitz and music composed by Miklós Rózsa. Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder served as screenwriters and producers, adapting the work from Charles R. Jackson’s material. Produced by Paramount Pictures, the narrative is set in Manhattan, New York City, and focuses on the subject of alcoholism.
The movie has a runtime of 101 minutes and was released on November 29, 1945. It was filmed in New York City and Los Angeles. The production had a budget of $1,250,000 and generated $11,000,000 in revenue. The film received an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay. It also received nominations for Best Film Editing.
Synthesized by Vinony from 48 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, Internet Archive, IMDb, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.6Longtime alcoholic Don Birnam 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
Themes
- based on novel or book
- alcohol
- brother
- paranoia
- bartender
- addiction
- alcoholism
- flashback
- film noir
- suicidal
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Ratings
IMDb
7.9/10
41,583 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
97%
- Year
- 1945
- Runtime
- 101 min
- Genres
- Drama, Film-Noir
- Rated
- Approved
- Awards
- Won 4 Oscars. 18 wins & 3 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Billy Wilder
- Screenplay by
- Charles Brackett Billy Wilder
- Based on
- The Lost Weekend , by Charles R. Jackson
- Produced by
- Charles Brackett
- Starring
- Ray Milland Jane Wyman Phillip Terry Howard da Silva Doris Dowling Frank Faylen
- Cinematography
- John F. Seitz
- Edited by
- Doane Harrison
- Music by
- Miklós Rózsa
- Color process
- Black and white
- Production company
- Paramount Pictures
- Distributed by
- Paramount Pictures
- Release date
- November 29, 1945 ( 1945-11-29 )
- Running time
- 101 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $1.25 million
- Box office
- $11,000,000 plus $4.3 million (US rentals)
via Wikipedia infobox
Internet Archive
audioSan Francisco Jazz Festival 1991, "Cowboy Jazz" with Lost Weekend Western Swing Band, Cats & Jammers, Sons of the San Joaquin
Listen at Internet Archive →via archive.org
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Part of
- National Film Registry
- Genre
- film noir
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Main subject
- alcoholism
- Director
- Billy Wilder
- Screenwriter
- Billy Wilder
- Cast member
- Mary Young
- Composer
- Miklós Rózsa
- Producer
- Charles Brackett
- Production company
- Paramount Pictures
- Cinematographer
- John F. Seitz
- Narrative location
- New York City
- Filming location
- Los Angeles
- Duration
- 101
- FilmAffinity ID
- 325753
- Distribution format
- video on demand
- Image
- Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend with El in Background.jpg
Show 13 more facts
- publication date
- 1945-12-01
- film editor
- Doane Harrison
- title
- The Lost Weekend
- nominated for
- Academy Award for Best Original Score
- color
- black-and-white
- after a work by
- Charles R. Jackson
- distributed by
- Fandango at Home
- costume designer
- Edith Head
- Commons category
- The Lost Weekend (1945 film)
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- review score
- 97%
- aspect ratio (W:H)
- Academy ratio
- capital cost
- 1250000
Sources (15)
via Wikidata · CC0
~15 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Lost Weekend is a 1945 American drama film noir directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. It was based on Charles R. Jackson's 1944 novel about an alcoholic writer. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also shared the Grand Prix at the first Cannes Film Festival, making it one of only four films—the other three being Marty (1955), Parasite (2019) and Anora (2024)—to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the highest award at Cannes.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Director Billy Wilder's unflinchingly honest look at the effects of alcoholism may have had some of its impact blunted by time, but it remains a powerful and remarkably prescient film." In 2011, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Lost Weekend” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.