The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.
- Won 4 Oscars
- 16 wins & 3 nominations total
Anita Sharp-Bolster
- Mrs. Foley
- (as Anita Bolster)
Andy Andrews
- Alcoholic
- (uncredited)
Gene Ashley
- Male Nurse
- (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin
- Man from Albany
- (uncredited)
Harry Barris
- Pianist at Harry & Joe's
- (uncredited)
Ian Begg
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
Eddie Borden
- Drunk in Alcoholic Ward
- (uncredited)
Jess Lee Brooks
- Hospital Patient
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRay Milland checked himself into Bellevue Hospital with the help of resident doctors, in order to experience the horror of a drunk ward. Milland was given an iron bed and locked inside the "booze tank." That night, a new arrival came into the ward screaming, an entrance that immersed the whole ward in hysteria. With the ward falling into bedlam, a robed and barefoot Milland escaped while the door was ajar and slipped out onto 34th Street where he tried to hail a cab. When a suspicious cop spotted him, Milland tried to explain, but the cop didn't believe him, especially after he noticed the Bellevue insignia on his robe. The actor was dragged back to Bellevue where it took him a half-hour to explain his situation to the authorities before he was finally released.
- GoofsDon Birnam stops at the "A. Bloom" pawn shop. When it is closed, he walks uptown. He passes another pawn shop with a man standing in front of it, and the name "A. Bloom" is again seen.
- Quotes
[Nat moves to wipe away the circle of whisky from Don Birnam's glass]
Don Birnam: Don't wipe it away, Nat. Let me have my little vicious circle. You know, the circle is the perfect geometric figure. No end, no beginning.
- ConnectionsEdited into Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
- SoundtracksLa Traviata
(1853) (uncredited)
Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Libiamo ne' lieti calici (Drinking Song) Performed by John Garris and Theodora Lynch with The San Francisco Opera Company
Featured review
This is on my list of 50 best of all time....
The script and score are superb and the acting flawless. Ray Milland is riveting in the role of a man who is as consumed by alcohol as it is consuming him. He lives and breathes for it and all around him become secondary including his long suffering girlfriend.
There is always a girl like this in the life of a good looking useless purposeless alcoholic kept afloat by either a wife or other family member, in this case a brother who pays the bills and tries to sober him up and dry him out periodically.
The score is relentless and highly avant Gard for its time, featuring music normally backing sci-fi flicks. Some of the scenes are profoundly frightening, his stay in the drunk tank with a sadistic feminine male nurse outlining all the horrors that await him and his DTs which feature a bat biting the head off a bird.
Very well done. I felt the ending was a little too pat, that would be my only fault with this.
9 out of 10. Excellent.
There is always a girl like this in the life of a good looking useless purposeless alcoholic kept afloat by either a wife or other family member, in this case a brother who pays the bills and tries to sober him up and dry him out periodically.
The score is relentless and highly avant Gard for its time, featuring music normally backing sci-fi flicks. Some of the scenes are profoundly frightening, his stay in the drunk tank with a sadistic feminine male nurse outlining all the horrors that await him and his DTs which feature a bat biting the head off a bird.
Very well done. I felt the ending was a little too pat, that would be my only fault with this.
9 out of 10. Excellent.
helpful•644
- wisewebwoman
- Dec 28, 2003
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,250,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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