David Lean movies screens at BBJ Jul 22, 2008
On Monday, BBJ screened two Oscar-winning movies, which are The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia. --JP. (Jakarta Post, Indonesia -- City)
BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS Jun 29, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008 Last Update: 09:10 AM EDT. Last updated: 2:26 amJune 29, 2008. (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Moviemakers go to extremes to create realistic movie scenes Jun 12, 2008
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957): Unable to make a miniature bridge work in this location-specific epic, director David Lean had a replica of the famous prisoner-produced span built and then, as the story dictated, blown up. It took the production company six months longer to build the reproduction in Ceylon than it took POWs to erect the original. (The Augusta Chronicle)
LETTERS: NCT, May 27, 2008 May 27, 2008
Thousands of tenants up and down the state have been organized to write, "We Hate 98." Like Col. Nicholson in "The Bridge on the River Kwai," if Prop. 99 passes, however, the day after they will be saying, "What have I done?" Therefore, vote yes on 98 and no on Prop. (North County Times)
'Juno' an entertaining way to forget about IRS Apr 15, 2008
Also new today: "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem"; "Lawrence of Arabia (Collector's Edition)"; "The Bridge on the River Kwai (Collector's Edition)"; "War Dance.". Kristi Turnquist: 503-221-8227; kristiturnquist@news. (OregonLive, OR -- Living)
The Reel Queens: Boro's only art house boasts old-style charm Jan 18, 2008
The theater's interior captures the essence of a quaint small-town theater, from its posters of classic films such as "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "The French Connection" and old magazine covers of Photoplay and Motion Picture adorning its walls to music by Frank Sinatra and jazz greats playing softly in the background. Visitors can watch classic films on several televisions in the film's lobby as they wait for their film to start. (Forest Hills Ledger, NY)
How to Save the Awards Shows Jan 4, 2008
In the old days, the Best Picture prize went to box-office hits like Casablanca, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Sound of Music. The mass audience had seen these movies, and they paid attention to the Oscars. (Time.com)
Today in History Dec 19, 2007
In 1957, the World War II epic "The Bridge on the River Kwai" opened in New York. In 1969, Britain's Parliament permanently abolished the death penalty for murder. (Yahoo News)
2007's redemption comes at last Dec 8, 2007
But even they can t compete with movies of years ago, like L.A. Confidential, Moonstruck, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Bridge on the River Kwai, etc. Seems to me movies have become an entirely different genre of entertainment. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Newsweek: 7,714 movies and counting Oct 24, 2007
At the top of the page, displayed like pennants of college football teams, were my favorite movies of all (12 years') time: "Giant," "Stalag 17," "High Noon," "Picnic," "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "Carmen Jones." Two years later, in 1960 (on page seven, entry No. 308, "Sink the Bismarck!"), my cinematic sophistication having expanded, I began adding in parentheses the name of the director (Lewis Gilbert). I've kept up the list my entire life. (MSNBC -- Movies)
Click for Full Story Oct 2, 2007
In 1957, the World War II drama "The Bridge on the River Kwai," directed by David Lean, premiered in Britain (the film opened in the U.S. the following December). In 1958, the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa proclaimed its independence. (KWTX.com, TX)
No documentary can capture experience of World War II, veterans say Sep 24, 2007
The film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" is about that ordeal. "We did what was asked of us," Fung said simply. (San Francisco Chronicle)
DVD watch: Julie Christie rules the '60s Sep 11, 2007
Director David Lean was coming off two Oscars for 1957's The Bridge on the River Kwai and 1962's Lawrence of Arabia. Critics generally panned his adaptation of Boris Pasternak's novel about Russia, but audiences flocked to see it, saving MGM. The film won five Oscars. (USA Today -- Life)
Oscar-winning actress Miyoshi Umeki dies Sep 6, 2007
Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa received a best supporting Oscar nomination for The Bridge on the River Kwai. . (MSNBC -- News)
Oscar winner Miyoshi Umeki dies at 78 Sep 6, 2007
Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa received a best supporting Oscar nomination for The Bridge on the River Kwai. Umeki retired from show business in the early 1970s and moved to Licking, a small town in the Missouri Ozarks, in the 1990s to be closer to her family, her son said. (USA Today -- Life)
Finally! Whistling is cool again Aug 26, 2007
Professional whistler Linda Parker Hamilton, owner and moderator of the worldwide online whistling forum Orawhistle, says "Young Folks" has created more buzz around whistling than any other song in the last 50 years, or since the title track to the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was released in 1957. "It's definitely very catchy," says Hamilton, 55, who recently found herself in a Toronto hardware store when "Young Folks" popped into her head. (Boston Globe)
Gold-plated memories| Jul 22, 2007
"It was just as valid as anything he did, from 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' (1949) to 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957); he had a vast range. "To me, it's just as valuable. My friends in the Royal Shakespeare Company slightly felt it an insignificance. (iAfrica.com)
Bangkok Vice: Buddhas, Boxers, and Bar Girls: Apr 4, 2007
Our first stop was the Bridge on the River Kwai War Museum ... You would think that the Bridge on the River Kwai had a sufficiently bloody history that the Thais, not wanting any more needless deaths, would put up guardrails and cover the gaps in the bridge. (Slate)
Best Picture - 1957 Feb 12, 2007
The Bridge on the River Kwai ... Back in 1957, David Lean's The Bridge On The River Kwai took the world the way William Holden and company, in the film's memorable finale, took the bridge. (Suite101.com)
Madness reigns from 'Men to 'Girls' Feb 7, 2007
IT'S 50 YEARS since the release of "The Bridge on the River Kwai," and not quite three since I first invoked that film's closing image -- of a doctor surveying war's carnage and muttering "madness, madness" -- to capture a media world that appears to have gone slightly nuts. Yet here I am again, flipping through TV and newspapers only to be overcome by the strange sensation that either I'm losing it, or everyone else must be. (Variety)
Coming Attraction: Online Netflix Delivery Jan 16, 2007
Like already existing online delivery services, Netflix's "Watch Now" option offers a lot of "B" movies such as "Kickboxer's Tears." But the mix also includes critically acclaimed selections like "Network," "Amadeus," "Chinatown" and "The Bridge On the River Kwai.". The studios contributing to Netflix's new service include NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Lion's Gate and New Line Cinema. (Click2Houston, TX)
Casualty of war films Jan 13, 2007
One of the first movies that understood they were human, shaped by their culture, pressured by their traditions, perhaps unhappy in their work but nevertheless obligated to perform it, was David Lean's great "The Bridge on the River Kwai" of 1957. The film sets up a comparison of military codes. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Saying goodbyeA look back at some of the famous faces who passed away in 2006 Dec 30, 2006
Sir Malcolm Arnold won an Oscar for composing the musical score to the Bridge on the River Kwai in 1958. The British composer scored more than 130 films including Whistle Down the Wind and Hobson's Choice. (BBC News -- Entertainment)
'Ship of Ghosts' Oct 29, 2006
They suffered from tropical diseases, malnutrition, festering wounds and overwork at the hands of brutal Japanese overlords hellbent on building the railway made famous in the book and movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai.". Fate was especially cruel for a few of these sailors. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Flags of Our Fathers Oct 21, 2006
But having seen Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, and even classics like The Bridge On the River Kwai, there are far too many elements of this story that feel familiar. And even with Eastwood's expert hand at the helm, I cannot avoid feeling like this is the director's stopgap for the film that he really wants to make -- namely, the exploration of the Japanese experience in World War II that will soon be chronicled in Letters From Iwo Jima. (IGN FilmForce)
Top 10 World War II films Oct 17, 2006
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)David Leans epic surrounds British POWs forced by their Japanese captors to build a bridge in a rugged jungle. Led by Col. Nicholson (Sir Alec Guinness), the Brits decide to show their captors a thing or two about work ethic, obligation and dignity by performing the task a high level while maintaining the honor of the officers involved. (MSNBC -- Movies)
Flags joins noble line of WW II films Oct 10, 2006
"The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) Alec Guinness is dazzling in David Lean's prison tale as a British officer torn between duty to country and his sense of a good day's work as he supervises fellow POWs in construction of a bridge for the Japanese, while saboteurs led by William Holden plot to blow it up. "Patton" (1970) In his best kingly firebrand mode, George C. Scott was born to play Gen. George Patton in Franklin J. Schaffner's brilliant portrait of a man who was scourge to the... (MSNBC -- Movies)
Malcolm Arnold, 84; First British Composer to Win Academy Award Sep 26, 2006
By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer September 26, 2006 Malcolm Arnold, the prolific British composer who won an Academy Award for his musical score for David Lean's World War II prisoner-of-war epic "The Bridge on the River Kwai," has died ... Arnold had 10 days to write the score for "The Bridge on the River Kwai," Lean's 1957 film starring William Holden and Alec Guinness about British POWs whose Japanese captors force them to build a railroad bridge ... Arnold, who is said to have written... (Los Angeles Times)
UPI NewsTrack Entertainment News Sep 25, 2006
-0- 'Kwai' Oscar-winning composer Arnold dies NORFOLK, England, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Oscar winning British composer Malcolm Arnold who wrote "The Bridge on the River Kwai" score, died in a Norfolk, England, hospital after a brief illness. Arnold, 84, who died Saturday, was suffering from a chest infection, the BBC said Sunday. (Washington Times, DC)
Tributes to late composer Arnold Sep 25, 2006
The composer, who won an Oscar for The Bridge on the River Kwai film score, died after a brief illness. He lived near Norwich and died at the city's Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. (BBC News -- Entertainment)
Composer Sir Malcolm Arnold dies Sep 24, 2006
Sir Malcolm, who won an Oscar for the musical score to the Bridge on the River Kwai film in 1958, was suffering from a chest infection. He is most famous for his film scores, composing 132 including Whistle Down the Wind and Hobson's Choice. (BBC News -- Entertainment)
Raghu Krishnan Sep 10, 2006
The novel by Richard Mason won the 1948 John Llewellyn Rhys prize for the best bit of fictional/non-fictional writing in the previous year and the 1958 movie version was directed by Ralph Thomas after David Lean completed the script but opted out to shoot The Bridge on the River Kwai. But I remember, though not necessarily in the same order, the movie starring Dirk Bogarde and Yoko Tani, author Richard Mason (who also wrote The World of Suzie Wong and served in World War-II) and the poem each... (India Times)
Coach-cam could really boost the ratings for rugby Jun 17, 2006
Channel Seven helped set the scene for the match against Japan by screening The Bridge On The River Kwai as its midday movie on Monday. One of the movie's best-known quotes - from the Japanese camp commandant, Colonel Saito - seemed to have special relevance: "Do not speak to me of rules. This is war! This is not a game of cricket!" In a week in which three of the football codes staged premier events, the World Cup was the most watched of them all. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Sport)
AFI's top 100 inspiring films Jun 15, 2006
"The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957). 15. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
When the POW tables were turned on American forces Jun 12, 2006
More widely remembered is the fate of tens of thousands of other allied captives, the deprivation and seemingly random brutality they suffered at the hands of their Japanese captors, as dramatized in movies such as "The Bridge on the River Kwai.". The conventional wisdom is that Japan's appalling treatment of POWs during World War II was a reflection of the nation's long martial tradition -- the Bushido spirit of the samurai, which required a warrior to choose death over the shame of capture. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Real Hollywood war heroes of World War II Jun 5, 2006
Alec Guinness: (Bridge on "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Star Wars"): Was at the helm of a British Royal Navy landing craft on D-Day. James Doohan: (Scotty on "Star Trek"): Landed in Normandy, France, with the U.S. Army on D-Day. (Charlotte Sun Herald)
Ten films that give Oscar a bad name Mar 22, 2006
Indeed, in the 78 years that Oscars have been awarded, there are only a dozen or so times when the statuette was awarded to an undisputed classic such as "It Happened One Night," "Gone With the Wind," "Casablanca," "All About Eve," "On the Waterfront," "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II.". ADVERTISEMENT. (calendarlive.com)
Three films are triple Oscar winners Mar 7, 2006
Among them: "West Side Story," "Ben-Hur" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai.". Another still highlighted real people played expertly in movies including figures as diverse as Vincent Van Gogh, Helen Keller, Jake LaMotta, Thomas More, Marie Curie, Lenny Bruce, Fanny Brice and Lou Gehrig. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Defending Time Warner Feb 17, 2006
Mr. Icahn compared him to the delusional Col. Nicholson, the Alec Guinness character in "The Bridge on the River Kwai," and even invoked Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" ("The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves") at a televised news conference. Mr. Parsons' strategy -- which as of last night appeared to be paying off -- has been simple. (Wall Street Journal)
Plus: Taking Sides on DVD Standards Jan 7, 2006
Sony is readying 20 titles for 50-gigabyte, dual-layer Blu-ray discs, including House of Flying Daggers, Hitch, Black Hawk Down, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Last Waltz, Desperado, Bram Stokers Dracula, For a Few Dollars More, Sense and Sensibility, Legends of the Fall, and Kung Fu Hustle. With the announcement of these first 20 titles, I am delighted to say that the age of Blu-ray has truly arrived, said Benjamin Feingold, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. (Red Herring)
