David Lean in scale and more extensively released internationally. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) was based on a novel by Pierre Boulle recounting the story of British and American prisoners of war trying to survive in a Japanese prison camp during the Second World War. The film stars William Holden and Alec Guinness and became the highest-grossing film of 1957 in the United States. It won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Alec Guinness, who had battled with Lean to give more depth to his role as an obsessively correct British commander who is
The Oscar (film) a promotional force for the film. The film features an impressive cast and crew, including several real Academy Award winners: eight-time costume design winner Edith Head (who would also be nominated, but not win, for "The Oscar"); Best Actor winners Borgnine and Crawford; Best Supporting Actor winners Begley, Brennan (three wins), Sinatra, and James Dunn, and cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg. Also in the cast were Oberon and Parker, who had been nominated for Oscars but did not win. As movie star Frankie Fane (Boyd) is about to hear if he won a best acting Oscar, his friend Hymie Kelly (Bennett) reminisces