Directed by Billy WilderStarring Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling, Frank Faylen, Mary Young, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Lillian Fontaine, Frank Orth, and Lewis L. Russell
A frightening look at alcoholism years ahead of its time, The Lost Weekend is another example of Billy Wilder's genius. Ray Milland stumbles around as a drunk, supposedly sober, who escapes from his loving girlfriend and brother to go on a weekend bender. The scenes where Milland hallucinates a bat in his room is truly terrifying, and surprisingly graphic for a movie coming out of the 1940s. The 40s, in terms of the Oscars, had been dominated by feel-good or patriotic movies, due to the war. The victory of this film showed a change, and that the Academy would honor films that attack issues, as they would in 1947 with Gentleman's Agreement (Anti-Semitism) and in 1949 with All the King's Men (political corruption).
Other nominees: Anchors Aweigh (George Sidney), The Bells of St. Mary's (Leo McCarey), Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz), and Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock)
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