190 mins |
Rated
PG (Adult themes & low level violence)
Playing as party of Academy's Lost Weekend: A Film Series of Cinema's Most Infamous Drunks, playing March 21 - 28.
Film Noir anti-heroes always had a predilection to hit the bottle, but in these two 'boozy' film noir classics, that habit is taken to destructive extremes. Catch Ray Milland and Michael Redgrave giving searing, career-best work as the alcoholic protagonists in these gripping thrillers from master filmmakers Billy Wilder and Joseph Losey.
__________________________________________
THE LOST WEEKEND (1945)
dir. Billy Wilder
102 mins
Directed by Billy Wilder (DOUBLE INDEMNITY, SUNSET BOULEVARD, SOME LIKE IT HOT), this gut-wrenching adaptation of Charles Jackson's The Lost Weekend horrified its studio, was rejected by test audiences, and was lobbied by temperance groups, yet went on to huge success and became the awards sensation of its year.
Ray Milland stars as Don Birnam, a New York author struggling with years of alcoholism and writer's block. Trying to keep him on the path to rehabilitation are his straight-laced brother Wick (Philip Terry) and devoted long-time girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman, ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS). When Don absconds from a country excursion, he embarks on a four-day binge, spiralling towards rock bottom.
Winner of the Grand Prix at the first ever Cannes Film Festival, as well as Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Screenplay, this brutal noir provided one of cinema's first in-depth studies of addiction.
______________________
TIME WITHOUT PITY (1957)
dir. Joseph Losey
88 mins
Following his blacklisting in the McCarthy HUAC hearings, director Joseph Losey (THE SERVANT, SECRET CEREMONY) moved to the England in the 1950s. The gritty British suspense thriller, TIME WITHOUT PITY was the first film he made in the UK under his own name.
In a BAFTA-nominated performance, the great Michael Redgrave (DEAD OF NIGHT) stars as an anguished father whose son is convicted of murder and languishing on death row. In a desperate race against time, he attempts to prove his son’s innocence whilst bringing the real murderer to justice.
With photography by Freddie Francis (THE ELEPHANT MAN), and a superb supporting cast including Ann Todd (THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS) and Peter Cushing (HORROR EXPRESS), TIME WITHOUT PITY is a brilliantly accomplished slice of Brit-noir, and a potent cry against capital punishment.
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Playing as party of Academy's Lost Weekend: A Film Series of Cinema's Most Infamous Drunks, playing March 21 - 28.
Film Noir anti-heroes always had a predilection to hit the bottle, but in these two 'boozy' film noir classics, that habit is taken to destructive extremes. Catch Ray Milland and Michael Redgrave giving searing, career-best work as the alcoholic protagonists in these gripping thrillers from master filmmakers Billy Wilder and Joseph Losey.
__________________________________________
THE LOST WEEKEND (1945)
dir. Billy Wilder
102 mins
Directed by Billy Wilder (DOUBLE INDEMNITY, SUNSET BOULEVARD, SOME LIKE IT HOT), this gut-wrenching adaptation of Charles Jackson's The Lost Weekend horrified its studio, was rejected by test audiences, and was lobbied by temperance groups, yet went on to huge success and became the awards sensation of its year.
Ray Milland stars as Don Birnam, a New York author struggling with years of alcoholism and writer's block. Trying to keep him on the path to rehabilitation are his straight-laced brother Wick (Philip Terry) and devoted long-time girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman, ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS). When Don absconds from a country excursion, he embarks on a four-day binge, spiralling towards rock bottom.
Winner of the Grand Prix at the first ever Cannes Film Festival, as well as Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Screenplay, this brutal noir provided one of cinema's first in-depth studies of addiction.
______________________
TIME WITHOUT PITY (1957)
dir. Joseph Losey
88 mins
Following his blacklisting in the McCarthy HUAC hearings, director Joseph Losey (THE SERVANT, SECRET CEREMONY) moved to the England in the 1950s. The gritty British suspense thriller, TIME WITHOUT PITY was the first film he made in the UK under his own name.
In a BAFTA-nominated performance, the great Michael Redgrave (DEAD OF NIGHT) stars as an anguished father whose son is convicted of murder and languishing on death row. In a desperate race against time, he attempts to prove his son’s innocence whilst bringing the real murderer to justice.
With photography by Freddie Francis (THE ELEPHANT MAN), and a superb supporting cast including Ann Todd (THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS) and Peter Cushing (HORROR EXPRESS), TIME WITHOUT PITY is a brilliantly accomplished slice of Brit-noir, and a potent cry against capital punishment.