Years & Movies: 1957

 The best film of world cinema of 1957 according to FilmGourmand was recognized the British film "The Bridge on the River Kwai". Director David Lean.

The literary basis of the script of the film was the book of the same name by the French writer Pierre Boulle. The book of Pierre Boulle, published in 1952, in turn, was based on a real incident that took place on the Kwai River in Burma in 1942-1943, where the main character was British Army Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey, as well as on the writer’s personal recollections of how he was a prisoner of war in Southeast Asia.

The film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" premiered in London on October 2, 1957.

"The Bridge on the River Kwai" has received 30 different film awards, including 4 British BAFTA awards, 3 Golden Globes, including Best Film and Best Director awards, the Italian David Di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Film, and finally 7 awards Oscar, including Best Film Awards, for Best Director. Separately, it should be mentioned that the script of the film was awarded the Oscars and BAFTA. But with these awards is not so simple.

The Academy Award and the BAFTA Prize for the script were awarded to Pierre Boulle by the decisions of the American and British Film Academies, although everyone knew that this French writer who did not speak English was not directly involved in creating the script. The script was written by two American screenwriters: Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson. But their names in the credits of the original version of the film are absent.

Work on the script of the film began Carl Foreman. In the UK, he was not of his own free will. In 1951, while still in the United States, he was summoned for questioning by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The reason of this interrogation was his affiliation with the United States Communist Party, from which he emerged back in 1942. Foreman was asked to name 5-6 other members of the Communist Party. He, unlike Elia Kazan, referring to the 5th amendment to the US Constitution, refused. Formally, Carl Foreman acted within the framework of his constitutional rights. But before his eyes was the example of Dalton Trumbo, the author of the screenplay for "Roman Holiday". Trumbo also refused to “rat on” his like-minded people, believing that he was under the protection of the American constitution. But as a result, he ended up in jail. Foreman, well aware that he was threatened, considered for the good to flee to England.

The similar fate befell Michael Wilson. He, like Carl Foreman and several hundred other American filmmakers, was on the black list. But the reason for his inclusion in the list of unreliable was not only the refusal to become an informer, but also the fact that, being a naval officer, he openly condemned America’s intervention in the Korean War.

In short, when Carl Foreman needed to leave London to do other things, he offered David Lean his colleague and like-minded Michael Wilson. And he was not mistaken: their script, as already mentioned, was awarded an Oscar and a BAFTA prize. To the honor of Pierre Boulle, he refused to attend the Oscars. Instead of him, the gold statuette was received by American actress Kim Novak. Only 27 years later (although the days of “McCarthyism” ended at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s), in 1985, the AMPAS reconsidered its decision and at the next Oscar ceremony presented the statuette to the widows of Foreman and Wilson.  At the same time, the names of the real authors of the script were included in the credits of the film. The British Film Academy has not yet revised its 1958 decision.

Needless to say, the vast majority of reviews by professional film critics are purely positive. Roger Ebert, who gave the film 4 stars out of 4 maximums and included it in his list of "Great Movies", noted in his review: "Most war movies are either for or against their wars. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) is one of the few that focuses not on larger rights and wrongs but on individuals." 

Even the forever grumbling columnist of The New York Times, Bosley Crowther burst into a film address more than a kind review: "Brilliant is the word, and no other, to describe the quality of skills that have gone into the making of this picture, from the writing of the script out of a novel by the Frenchman Pierre Boulle, to direction, performance, photographing, editing and application of a musical score.David Lean has directed it so smartly and so sensitively for image and effect that its two hours and forty-one minutes seem no more than a swift, absorbing hour. In addition to splendid performance, he has it brilliantly filled with atmosphere—the atmosphere of war's backwash and the jungle—touched startlingly with humor, heart and shock."  However, as we see, Crowther proceeds from the fact that the script for the film was written by Pierre Boulle. If he knew that the script was written by two disgraced blacklisted scriptwriters, estimation of this “principal” columnist of the US Democratic Party’s mouthpiece would be diametrically opposed.

The film’s budget was $ 3 million, with the largest budget items being the construction of the bridge and ... William Holden's fee. Both that, and another cost the same amount - 250 thousand dollars. The contract amount of David Lean himself amounted to only 150 thousand dollars, and this amount had to be paid in installments during the entire filming. David Lean, at the time of filming was in an extremely difficult financial situation due to divorce, the first thing after signing the contract was borrowing 2 thousand dollars for dental treatment. In order to save money allocated for the creation of the film, David Lean attracted the local population of Ceylon to perform the roles of ordinary British prisoners of war. 

The film was shown with great success in almost all countries of Western Europe, North and South America and even in Japan. Suffice it to say that in the United States in the first year it was watched by more than 54 million moviegoers, or more than 30% of the country's population. As a result, the film raised $ 27 million, which is 9 times more than its production cost. In the Soviet Union, the film was not shown.

Modern cinemagoers rated the film no less highly than the audience of the late 50s. 73% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users rated the film from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above-mentioned rating of the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai", according to FilmGourmand version, was 11,079, which allowed it to take the high 8th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

In addition to the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai", the following films were included in the "top ten" of the best films of world cinema of 1957 according to FilmGourmand:

- 12 Angry Men. Director Sidney Lumet, USA. Movie's Rating - 10,389; 27th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries). Director Ingmar Bergman, Sweden. Movie's Rating - 10,248; 32nd Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Ôporajito  অপরাজিত) (The Unvanquished). Director Satyajit Ray,    India. Movie's Rating - 9,332; 100th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Летят журавли (The Cranes are Flying). Director Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR. Movie's Rating - 9,093; 142nd Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Le notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria). Director Federico Fellini, Italy. Movie's Rating - 9,066; 150th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal). Director Ingmar Bergman, Sweden. Movie's Rating - 8,770; 225th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Тихий Дон (And Quiet Flows the Don). Director Sergey Gerasimov, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,739; 233rd Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Paths of Glory. Director Stanley Kubrick, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,556; 300th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Witness for the Prosecution. Director Billy Wilder, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,341; 397th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

10 most "cinegenic"*, in our opinion, events of 1957:
- Eisenhower's Doctrine. In the United States, Dwight Eisenhower assumed the presidency for the 2nd time and proclaimed the doctrine that any country subjected to military aggression by international communism can turn to the United States for military or economic assistance. The doctrine was an addition to the doctrine of massive retribution.
- An attempt to remove Khrushchev from power. In the USSR, N. Khrushchev was removed from his post as head Communist Party of the Soviet Union. However, after 3 days, thanks to the intervention Marshal Zhukov (and the Soviet army behind him), Khrushchev was reinstated in as the CPSU leader. However, a month later, Khrushchev dismissed Zhukov from the governing bodies of the CPSU and from his post the Minister of Defense of the USSR.
- Return of Saar to Germany. The population of the Saar, which, following the results of the Second World War, went to France, again voted for reunification with Germany in a referendum.
- Youth festival in Moscow. In the USSR, in connection with the beginning of the so-called "Khrushchev thaw", the VI International Festival of Youth and Students was held.
Asian flu pandemic. The Asian influenza virus, which originated in the Chinese province of Guizhou, the first cases of which were recorded in 1956, spread around the world, killing about 1 million people a year, in connection with which the WHO declared a pandemic.
- Assassination attempt on Sukarno. In Indonesia, President Sukarno, who pursued a policy of state and economic independence, declared a state of emergency and assumed full power. Soon, Sukarno was attacked with a grenade while attending a school event in Chikini, Central Jakarta. Six children died, but Sukarno was not seriously injured. The assassination attempt was organized by members of the Islamist terrorist group Darul Islam.
- Return of the deported peoples. In the USSR, in connection with the beginning of the so-called "Khrushchev thaw", previously deported peoples are allowed to return to their traditional place of residence.
- Kyshtym disaster. In the USSR, in the closed city of Chelyabinsk-40 (now Ozersk), an explosion occurred in a container ("bank") for storing high-level radioactive waste. In the zone of radiation contamination was the territory of several enterprises of the Mayak plant, a military town, a fire station, a prison colony and further an area of ​​23,000 km² with a population of 270,000 people in 217 settlements in three regions: Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk and Tyumen. In terms of its catastrophic consequences, the explosion in Kyshtym ranks third after the tragedies that occurred much later at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and at Fukushima-1.
- The first artificial Earth satellite. In the USSR, the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite.
- Syrian crisis. Due to the reshuffle in the Syrian government, Western countries and Turkey have suspected a communist coup. Turkey has deployed thousands of troops along the Syrian-Turkish border. Nikita Khrushchev threatened to launch missiles at Turkey if it attacks Syria. In response, the United States declared that, in accordance with the Eisenhower Doctrine, it could attack the Soviet Union in retaliation for an attack on Turkey.


Besides Ethan Cohen, Aleksandra Yakovleva-Aasmyae were born.


* -With "cinematic" in the present context, we mean events that either have already found their reflection in world cinema, or deserve to become the basis of the plot of a future film.