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). 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. Crackling with rapier dialogue, vivid performances, and Wilder's superlative direction, The Lost Weekend gets a UK Blu-ray release – it's first time on Blu-ray anywhere in the world – from Masters of Cinema in a standard edition & limited edition SteelBook on 25th June 2012.

Featuring a new high-definition master, officially licensed from Universal Pictures and optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired, the disc will also have the following extra features:

• Exclusive new video introduction by director Alex Cox;
• The three-part 1992 BBC Arena programme Billy, How Did You Do It? directed by Gisela Grischow and Volker Schlöndorff, featuring Schlöndorff in conversation with Billy Wilder;
• The 1946 Screen Guild Theater radio adaptation of The Lost Weekend – starring Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, and Frankie Faylen;
• The original theatrical trailer;
• PLUS: A 36-page booklet featuring rare archival imagery, and more!

The standard Blu-ray edition will retail at £20.42, while the Sreelbook edition will be £30.63.