The Bridge on the River Kwai

See also AZON. But Judah swears to come back and take revenge. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Although Messala knows that they are not guilty he sends Judah to the galleys and throws his mother and sister into prison. At about the same time a new release of the film finally gave them proper screen credit. During the welcome parade a brick falls down from Judah's house and barely misses the governor. Only in 1984 did the Academy rectify the situation by awarding the Oscar to Foreman and Wilson retrospectively (and posthumously in both cases, although Foreman did live long enough to know that it was going to happen). At first they are happy to meet after a long time but their different politic views separate them.

Pierre Boulle, who did not speak English, was given screen credit for adapting his own novel, and the Oscar was awarded to him. Together with the new governor his old friend Messala arrives as commanding officer of the Roman legions.
The screenwriters, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, were on the Hollywood blacklist and could only work secretly. Judah Ben-Hur lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 1st century.
Award nominations:. The film was also nominated for one further award.
Award wins:. To this day, Heston publically rejects the idea that there was ever any homosexual subtext to the film, even going so far as to rewrite part of his published book, revising his account of Vidal's role in the film.

One memorable feature of the movie is the tune that is whistled by the POW's—the "Colonel Bogey March"—and is now widely associated with the movie, and even sometimes referred to as the "River Kwai March." Besides serving as an example of British fortitude and dignity in the face of privation, it suggested (whether or not intended by the screenwriters) a specific symbol of defiance to many movie-goers of the period: WW II veterans (and many of their baby-boom sons) thought of the tune as that of a mockery of Japan's principal ally. However, Gore and Wyler felt that Heston could not handle such a character development and thus he was never told. (Buster Keaton's The General includes an almost identical scene.). Gore told Boyd about the homosexual subtext in the film, and Boyd played his role as Messala accordingly. The destruction of the bridge in the film was accomplished by blowing up a full-sized bridge as a real train drove over it. This may have been the first time such a scene had been attempted without model shots since the silent film era. Vidal suggested, and the director agreed, that it would add much more to the storyline if these two men had been lovers as teenagers, and if now years later Messala wants to start up the romance again but Judah Ben-Hur does not. The steel bridge has been repaired and is still in use. Author Gore Vidal wrote much of the final script and managed to persuade the director that the conflict between Judah and Messala had to be more than two men that disagree over politics and hate each other for the next three hours.

In reality, a parallel steel bridge was added a few months after the wooden bridge was completed, and both were destroyed by Allied aerial bombing, the steel bridge first. MGM received over 40 scripts.
The plot of the film is built around a fictional destruction of the wooden bridge by prisoner sabotage. This was a successful attempt to save MGM from bankruptcy.
. The visually astonishing MGM Camera 65 process and excellent cinematography by Robert Surtees made the chariot race one of the most memorable scenes in modern cinema. About a hundred thousand conscripted Asian labourers and 16,000 prisoners of war died on the whole project, which was nicknamed the Death Railway. Filmed long before the advent of computer-generated effects, it took over three months alone to film, including 8000 extras on the largest film set ever built, some 18 acres.

This was part of a project to link existing Thai and Burmese railway lines to create a route from Bangkok, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) to support the Japanese occupation of Burma. Even by today's standards, the chariot race in Ben-Hur is considered to be one of the most spectacular action sequences ever filmed. The story is based on a real event, the building in 1942 of a railway bridge over the Mae Klong (not the Kwai) in the Thai town of Kanchanaburi. This allowed for spectacular panoramic shots in addition to four-channel audio. It was filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and England. The movie was filmed in a process known as "MGM Camera 65", a 70mm anamorphic print with an aspect ratio of 2.76:1, considered to be one of the widest prints ever made, having a width of almost three times its height. An Anglo-American film in English based on the book appeared in 1957 and the name was changed slightly, to The Bridge on the River Kwai. The film portrays a group of British captives in a Japanese POW camp forced to build a railway bridge spanning the River Kwai in Thailand. This version won a stunning 11 Academy Awards (a number matched only by two other movies in the history of Academy Awards - Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003).

Le Pont de la Rivičre Kwai (The Bridge over the River Kwai) is a novel by Pierre Boulle, published in 1954, that won France's "Prix Ste Beuve." It dramatizes the plight of Allied prisoners of war during World War II forced to build the 258-mile Death Railway by Japanese forces. It premiered at Loew's Theater in New York City on November 18, 1959. Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album, Dramatic Picture Score or Original Cast (Malcolm Arnold). It was produced in grand style with over 300 sets scattered over 340 acres, and featured Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur and Stephen Boyd as Messala. Golden Globe Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Sessue Hayakawa). Ben-Hur is a 1959 film directed by William Wyler and is, today, the best-known version of the film based on the 1880 book by Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Sessue Hayakawa). Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium - Karl Tunberg.

Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay - Pierre Boulle - Carl Foreman - Michael Wilson. Best Sound - Franklin Milton. Academy Award for Original Music Score - Malcolm Arnold. Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Miklós Rózsa. Academy Award for Film Editing - Peter Taylor. Winters. Academy Award for Best Cinematography - Jack Hildyard. Dunning, and Ralph E.

New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actor (Alec Guinness). Best Film Editing - John D. Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama (Alec Guinness). Lory (audible), and Robert MacDonald (visual). Academy Award for Best Actor (Alec Guinness). Arnold Gillespie (visual), Milo B. New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Director (David Lean). Best Effects, Special Effects - A.

Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture (David Lean). Academy Award for Costume Design, Color - Elizabeth Haffenden. Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (David Lean, Assistants: Gus Agosti & Ted Sturgis). Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color - Robert Surtees. Academy Award for Directing (David Lean). Horning, and Hugh Hunt. New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Film. Carfagno, William A.

Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Set Decoration, Color - Edward C. BAFTA Award for Best Picture. Academy Award for Directing - William Wyler. Academy Award for Best Picture. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - Hugh Griffith. M.R.B. Chakrabandhu  : Yai. Academy Award for Best Actor - Charlton Heston.

Miura. Academy Award for Best Picture - Sam Zimbalist, producer. Keiichiro Katsumoto  : Lt. Kanematsu. Heihachiro Okawa  : Capt.

Ann Sears  : Nurse at Ceylon hospital. Baker. Harold Goodwin  : Pvt. Percy Herbert  : Pvt. Grogan.

John Boxer  : Maj. Hughes. Green. André Morell  : Col. Reeves.

Peter Williams  : Capt. Geoffrey Horne  : Lt. Joyce. Clipton. James Donald  : Maj.

Warden. Jack Hawkins  : Maj. William Holden  : Shears. Saito.

Sessue Hayakawa  : Col. Alec Guinness  : Colonel Nicholson.