Lawrence of Arabia (film)
1962
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Awards
British Academy of Film & Television Arts Film and British Film 1958 · Winner
British Academy of Film & Television Arts British Screenplay 1958 · Winner
Academy Award Music (Scoring) 1958 · Winner
Academy Award Cinematography 1958 · Winner
British Academy of Film & Television Arts British Actor 1958 · Winner
Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Drama 1958 · Winner
Academy Award Film Editing 1958 · Winner
Academy Award Directing 1958 · Winner
Academy Award Best Motion Picture 1958 · Winner
Academy Award Writing (Screenplay - Based on Material From Another Medium) 1958 · Winner
Academy Award Actor 1958 · Winner
Golden Globe Best Director - Motion Picture 1958 · Winner
Golden Globe Best Performance By an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama 1958 · Winner
Academy Award Actor in a Supporting Role 1958 · Nominated
Golden Globe Best Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture 1958 · Nominated
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Who accepted the Oscar for 'the bridge on the River Kwai'?
Best Picture. Sam Spiegel. 1958 Winner Oscar. Best Actor in a Leading Role. Alec Guinness. Alec Guinness was not present at the awards ceremony. Jean Simmons accepted the award on his behalf. 1958 Nominee Oscar. Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
- Overview
- Production notes and credits
- Cast
- Academy Award nominations (* denotes win)
The Bridge on the River Kwai, British-American war film, released in 1957 and directed by David Lean, that was both a critical and popular success and became an enduring classic. The movie garnered seven Academy Awards, including that for best picture, as well as three Golden Globe Awards and four BAFTA awards.
(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)
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The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Burma during World War II. As it opens, two POWs, the American navy commander Shears (William Holden) and an Australian, are digging graves for their companions. A regiment of British prisoners arrives, whistling the “Colonel Bogey March,” under the command of Colonel Nicholson (Sir Alec Guinness). The camp commander, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), informs the prisoners that they will all begin working on the building of a railway bridge the following day. Nicholson advises Saito that the officers cannot be required to do manual labour according to the Geneva Convention. When, the next morning, Saito orders all the British prisoners to begin building the bridge under the command of a Japanese engineer, Nicholson and the other officers refuse, even when Saito threatens to kill them. They remain standing at attention throughout the day. At the end of the day, the officers are imprisoned, and Nicholson is thrown into “the oven”—a small box made of corrugated metal. In the meantime, Shears manages to escape. After a few days, the British medical officer Major Clipton (James Donald) tries to persuade both Saito and Nicholson to compromise, but both are unyielding. The bridge construction is going badly, however, and Saito offers concessions to Nicholson in an effort to get the structure completed on schedule. Nicholson will not cooperate and finally insists that the bridge can be built only under his command.
Nicholson undertakes the construction of a well-made bridge, at first thinking it a good way to improve the morale and discipline of his regiment but gradually coming to regard the structure not as a part of the enemy war effort but as a monument to British ingenuity. Concurrently, Shears, after a harrowing journey in which he nearly loses his life more than once, is rescued by the British and then required to lead a group of commandoes headed by Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) back to the POW camp that he escaped from in order to blow up the bridge. At the POW camp, Nicholson not only requires officers to work on the bridge but also pulls men from the hospital in order to meet Saito’s deadline for the project. The commandoes arrive for their mission as the finishing touches are being put on the bridge. While the British prisoners celebrate their accomplishment that night, the commandoes wire the bridge with explosives to be detonated by a plunger operated by a hidden soldier, timed to collapse the bridge just as an inaugural train carrying Japanese dignitaries is crossing it. When the sun rises, the commandoes realize that the water level in the river has fallen, exposing the explosives and wiring. After Saito cuts a ceremonial ribbon, Nicholson spots a detonator wire. As the train approaches, Nicholson frantically pulls up the wire, following it to find the detonator. When he asks for Saito’s help in cutting the wires, the hidden commando, Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne), leaps up and kills Saito. Nicholson desperately tries to keep Joyce from depressing the plunger, while Shears and Warden try to kill Nicholson. First Joyce and then Shears are killed in the ensuing gunfire. Nicholson suddenly realizes that his pride in the bridge’s construction has blinded him to his military duty. Mortally wounded, he falls onto the plunger, the bridge is blown up, and the train with the dignitaries falls into the river.
•Studios: Columbia Pictures Corporation and Horizon Pictures
•Director: David Lean
•Writers: Pierre Boulle (novel), Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson (screenplay)
•Music: Malcolm Arnold
•Sir Alec Guinness (Colonel Nicholson)
•Sessue Hayakawa (Colonel Saito)
•William Holden (Commander Shears)
•James Donald (Major Clipton)
•Picture*
•Lead actor* (Sir Alec Guinness)
•Supporting actor (Sessue Hayakawa)
•Cinematography*
•Direction*
•Editing*
- Pat Bauer
The Bridge on the River Kwai is now widely recognized as one of the greatest films ever made. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. The film won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) at the 30th Academy Awards.
With William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa. British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
- (234K)
- Adventure, Drama, War
- David Lean
- 1957-12-14
Oct 23, 2013 · Vincent Price and Anita Ekberg presenting Malcolm Arnold with Best Original Score Oscar® for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" at the 30th Annual Academy Awards® in 1957.
- 2 min
- 9.8K
- Oscars
