Daily News from Los Angeles, California • 25

ft LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA r- Ung 79 ptIDAT, NOVEMBER JO, 1941 jl A VLADIMIR VLADISLAVSKY and Pater Sukhanov in a scene from "Girl No. 217," Russian film opening today at Grand and Esquire AUniCE CHEVALIER la Mm (My, fratky ic.Jy WITH A SMILE "else BLANCA BATISTA end the Lecuona Cuban Boys appear this week in "A Night In Ha-vana," Latin musical revue at Wibhire EbeH under auspices of Pan-American Concerts. I. BURLESQUES HUT Mill LEVS scuuir ry DKW Jr 1MOMU AND Alton or OTMta NW Skew Starts Monday, SEEN. "A MOVIE -WOK MaffiW IT LOOKS net hed: RAY MILLAND tries to pawn his typewriter for enough to buy himself another drink in "The Lost Weekend," at two Paramounts.

Film review 'The Lost Weekend9 By VIRGINIA WRIGHT The Loat Weekend la a film of exceptional merit While neither aa clinically revealing nor aa penetrating aa the Charlea Jackson novel, the motion picture at the two Paramounta la 'a mature, honeat and engroaalng atudy of a five day cycle In the life of an alcoholic. By aimpllfying the psychology leal confusions of the drunkards mind, producer Charles Brackett and director Billy Wilder have, sacrificed the' books probing analysis but gained dramatic form. They tell their story straight with only two flashbacks from the present Their emphasis la not on WHY Don Blmam drinks that la explained simply as an escape from his frustrations as a writer, and from any experience he doesnt feel up to fairing but on the binge itself. Actually, they have chosen the tough course, for Biraam's five day drunk is not a period of high adventure. Yet on the screen his anguished efforts to keep himself supplied with liquor create their own kiqd of" suspense, and his Increasing hangovers a special terror.

like the book, the picture opens on the Blrnam brothers preparations for a long weekend in the country, a plan which Is diverted by a chance Invitation to a concert In town. With his brother out of the way for a few hours Dan Blmam steals the money left for the cleaning woman, buys two bottles to sustain himself on the trip, then-Indulges In a little preliminary fortification at a bar. His brother, disgusted by the long years of playing nursemaid, goes on without him, leaving Helen, Dons fiancee, to worry alone about his whereabouts. And with the long weekend before him Blmam settles down to steady Indulgence. How to get money for drinks, and how to hide from fielen' are his only Immediate problems.

The film from there becomes a portrait of the progressive stages of alcoholism, minus the books elaborate self Justifications, broodings and memories of childhood. lands skill as an actor (and of lands skill as an actor (and of course, to Wilders direction)' that without lessening Don Bir-nams degradation he manages to suggest the man's underlying charm and to create for him the kind of sympathy you feel for anyone who is side. Nothing of great dramatic moment happens to Blmam. He talks to a bartender of his plans for a book, makes a date with a B-girl which he, doesnt keep, mutes a frantic search for a bottle he has hidden, steals a Roman's purse In a cocktail bar, Is detected and thrown out. His long trek to pawn his typewriter hasnt quite agony or the humor it had in the book, but It serves to get him to the B-glrls apartment, where he begs for money, stumbles down the stairs and ends up In the alcoholic Back In the apartment, after his escape, Blmam drinks himself Into a state of delirium tremens and fanciest harrowing spectacle of a hug? bat killing a mouse.

It is at his lowest physical ebb that Helen breaks Into the apartment, nurses him back to sanity, then fights his determination to kill himmeir. At the end there Is a suggestion of hope that Don Www will be cured through a growing self confidence in his ability to put his own story- down on paper. The case history of a drunk Is not a pretty picture, and those who prefer the superficial In entertainment probably win find it morbid. But as a serious character study of aa alcoholic The Lost Weekend Is absorbing In Its details and Important In the light it throws upon a common problem. The full burden of the film la on Millands shoulders and he carries It brilliantly.

While students of the problem of alcoholism criticise his portrait as a generalization, think you will find his Don Blmam. a special and interesting case. Others In the film stand out only momentarily. Most impressive is Frank FTylen, as Bhn, the sadistic attendant in the alcoholic ward. Jane Wyman Is an effective, sympathetic Helen, with Phillip Terry as Dons long suffering brother.

Howard da Silva contributes some good scenes as the 'bartender, and Doris Dowling dots a nice bit as the B-girL IXiklos Rossa's music score heightens the atmosphere enormously, but the chief triumph Brackett and Wilder's. Their script and handling of the subject make The Lost Weekend a notable fjufci neJotw MiraM PmmT iuHlMrt LAUREL -Vra 99 STUDIO HPLIYWCOP blvb. Atm mnh nititovy Jr WM at. fuMyt Mia. Cv-Ara fhar saWr Girl 217! KNOWS SHE WAS THERE! Tfca IS Saviat Mb at Ifa la Sanaaay! New PtAVOC AT TWttTII GRAND ESQUIRE 41 H.

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