The Bridge on the River Kwai The Bridge on the River Kwai The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British-American epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the novel "Le Pont de la Rivière Kwaï" (1952) by Pierre Boulle. The film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943. The cast included William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness, and Sessue Hayakawa. It was initially scripted by screenwriter Carl Foreman, who was later replaced by Michael Wilson. Both writers had to work in secret, as they were on the Hollywood blacklist and had fled to England in
BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay Kill" – Paul Dehn "The Bridge on the River Kwai" – Pierre Boulle "The Man Who Never Was" – Nigel Balchin "The Ladykillers" – William Rose "The Young Lovers" – George Tabori, Robin Estridge BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay The BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay was a British Academy Film Award from 1954 to 1967. "A Man for All Seasons" – Robert Bolt "Morgan!" – David Mercer "Darling" – Frederic Raphael "The Pumpkin Eater" – Harold Pinter "Tom Jones" – John Osborne "Lawrence of Arabia" – Robert Bolt "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" – Wolf Mankowitz and