Watching Billy Wilder’s second renowned work of the 1940’s was an even more enjoyable experience than watching his first. A couple weeks ago I took a look at Double Indemnity, the ultra-cool film noir from 1944 that marked one of the best of its genre. It was also the first hit film penned and directed by Billy Wilder. Just one… year… later… he followed it up with a film that I found to be even better, 1945’s The Lost Weekend. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, this chilling and hypnotic look at the dangers of alcoholism is way ahead of its time and still works just as well today over sixty years later. Wilder is a talented director and even better writer, and here he does a dynamic job with both.

An exceptional Ray Milland plays the main character Don Birnam, who likes to act like he doesn’t have an alcohol problem when in reality he is almost too far away from getting help. There are strong figures in his life who try to do all they can to keep him healthy, especially his girlfriend Helen, beautifully played by Jane Wyman, but he keeps struggling with the ugly truth in his life that is drinking. After a riveting opening twenty minutes or so when we come to learn just how far Don will go to keep his hands on some liquor, even when he’s supposed to have stopped drinking for a number of weeks, we’re given a flashback to how he came to fall in love with Helen, and how he came to fall in love with the bottle.

Billy Wilder can do wrong. With every new film of his I see, I just become more and more of a fan. Double Indemnity. Sunset Boulevard. Some Like it Hot. The Apartment. One, Two Three. I know there are probably ten more films he’s made that I’ll fall for as well. The Lost Weekend is a much more serious film than his later work I’ve seen, but I found it more entertaining and faster paced than his previous effort Double Indemnity. I guess I just responded more to the material in The Lost Weekend. I could relate to it more. And the style doesn’t get in the way at all. He really allows the characters to grow and the dialogue to flow.

Another element that Wilder is particularly good, and mostly ingenious, at is casting. Who could imagine Sunset Boulevard with anyone other than Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond? Likewise, how could Some Like it Hot possibily work without Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in the lead roles? He doesn’t always go with the obvious choice, but usually he goes with ultimately the perfect choice, and here, Ray Milland has the perfect blend of charisma and melancholy. He seems like more of an average guy that your typical 1940’s film noir superstar might have been. If someone like Humphrey Bogart had played the role, the viewer wouldn’t be able to identify with the character on the screen. Jane Wyman is also really great as the girlfriend who just wants the best for the man she loves. I’m not that familiar with Wyman, but now I want to see more of her work.

I really enjoyed watching The Lost Weekend, mostly because the direction is so strong and the writing is so flawless. Wilder’s writing crackles along so vividly that visually all the movie has to really do is support the words on the page. The acting is terrific as well, and the editing is particularly modern for such an older classic film. Alcoholism must’ve been a really difficult subject matter for Wilder to get by the censors, much less to tackle all its own. Wilder had a gift for storytelling, and it’s on display here in fine form. The Lost Weekend is a great piece of work, well deserving of all its awards, and the praises it continues to receive decades later.