‘River Kwai’ is the latest Omaha Film Event tribute (Omaha Steve to be in tux again)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.shoutomaha.com/2011/10/13/oscar-sweeper/#comments-wrap



‘River Kwai’ is the latest Omaha Film Event tribute
By Jim Delmont

Bruce Crawford’s 29th Omaha Film Event is a tribute to William Holden via a gala showing at the Joslyn on Nov. 4 of the Oscar-sweeping 1957 classic, “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” Based loosely on the building of the Burma railroad in Thailand during the Pacific War, the film story is from a novel by French author Pierre Boulle (famous also for “The Planet of the Apes”). It details the building of a strategic railroad bridge by British and American prisoners of war under harsh conditions. The captured allied troops were represented by their officers, notably a Colonel Nicholson, a ramrod, old-school Brit who stood up to the rough Japanese camp commander, Colonel Saito.

Alex Guinness, then rightly regarded as one of the finest film actors in the world, won the Oscar for his performance as Nicholson while the much older Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa, was nominated for best supporting actor, but did not win. His was the only one of eight nominations that “River Kwai” did not gather in, as the box office hit won best picture and best director (David Lean), in addition to best actor – plus best cinematography, best musical score, best film editing and best screenplay. The latter was an interesting footnote in Hollywood blacklisting history as Boulle got credit (and actress Kim Novak accepted for him) but the script was actually written by two McCarthy-era blacklisted writers, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson (decades later they received formal recognition from the Academy).

“The Bridge on the River Kwai” had tough competition that year from popular hits like “Peyton Place” (nine Oscar nominations), “Raintree County,” and “Sayonara” (ten nominations). It had art house competition from the superbly crafted Stanley Kubrick war film, “Paths of Glory,” which, alas, received no Oscar nominations, though nominated in the best film category by the British Academy Awards (it also earned a smattering of best director nods from various critics’ groups). But “River Kwai,” released in late December in the U.S., to make eligibility for 1957, swept the Oscar derby and the British Academy Awards and most critics groups, including that of the New York Film Critics Circle. It was a wide screen (70mm) blockbuster – nearly three hours long, an expensive production with impressive sets of the camp and the bridge. The cast was one of international big names, including, in addition to Guinness, then at the peak of his fame, William Holden (one of the busiest performers of the ‘50s, fresh off an Oscar win for “Stalag 17” a few years earlier), and the great British character actor, Jack Hawkins.

In the story, the British and Japanese are in a continual struggle with regard to building the bridge and the treatment of the allied prisoners, but Nicholson has pledged to finish the bridge on time and up to all expectations and specifications. What he doesn’t know is that an allied commando group has been sent through the jungle to blow up the bridge, which by this time he is obsessed with getting right.

FULL story at link.

Here I am with Debbie Reynolds:

[Kennah]

1. David Lean was fucking awesome

A 3 hour movie in the 1950s, and people LOVE IT still today, that's brilliance and chutzpah.

[Graybeard]

2. Kwai is riveting from the first scene to the last.

It never lags in interest and the suspense at the end is edge of the seat perfection.

It must have been a great event!

[Omaha Steve]

3. It's not till Nov 4th

I'll post about it after the event.