The 1945 Oscar Winner for Best Film still looks very impressive. This was the first Hollywood film to deal seriously with alcoholism, and it’s a relentless look at the downward path during a long weekend in New York of a would-be writer (Ray Milland, winner of the Best Actor Oscar) who just can’t stop drinking. Partly filmed on the streets of the city (which was unusual then), Billy Wilder’s corrosive film is undoubtedly grim, but the humanity of his Oscar-winning screenplay (with Charles Brackett) shines through. Wilder won Best Director Oscar, too, for this movie milestone.
