THE LOST WEEKEND

Exceedingly effective handling of a ticklish subject, in an anatomy of alcoholism, a dogged, shattering study of the periodic drinker destroying himself knowingly, wilfully. Over a period of five days, this is the hyperbola of the drunken tear, from the first day of indulgence in illusions, in power, in grandeur, to the shame of the next morning, and the desperate need for the hair-of-the-dog, on to submersion, sodden dreams, and eventually delirium. Bumming money for more and more drink hiding from all who love him—Wick, his brother, and Helen, who cares for him but refuses to marry him until he is cured; a stopoff in the ward at Bellevue, a night with Helen, escape home to wind off the bender in bed. There's an awareness of psychological motivation, but indifference to cause and effect, in the relentless drive of self-annihilation.