1957 in film

The year 1957 in film involved some significant events. The Bridge on the River Kwai topped the year's box office in North America, France, and Germany, and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

List of years in film

In television: 1954; 1955; 1956; 1957; 1958; 1959; 1960

In radio: 1954; 1955; 1956; 1957; 1958; 1959; 1960

In music: 1954; 1955; 1956; 1957; 1958; 1959; 1960

+...

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1957 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1957
Rank	Title	Studio	Domestic rentals
1	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Columbia Pictures	$15,000,000^[1]
2	Peyton Place	20th Century Fox	$11,000,000^[1]
3	Sayonara	Warner Bros. Pictures	$10,500,000^[1]
4	Search for Paradise	Cinerama Releasing Corporation	$6,500,000^[1]
5	Old Yeller	Walt Disney/Buena Vista Distribution	$5,900,000^[1]
6	Raintree County	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$5,830,000^[2]
7	Island in the Sun A Farewell to Arms	20th Century Fox	$5,000,000^[3]
8	Pal Joey	Columbia Pictures	$4,700,000^[3]
9	Gunfight at the O.K. Corral	Paramount Pictures	$4,300,000^[3]
10	Don't Go Near the Water	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$4,265,000^[2]

Top-grossing films by country

The highest-grossing 1957 films in various countries.

Country	Title	Director	Studio	Revenue	Admissions
France	The Bridge on the River Kwai	David Lean	Columbia Pictures	—	13,481,750^[4]
Germany	The Bridge on the River Kwai	David Lean	Columbia Pictures	—	14,500,000^[5]
India	Mother India	Mehboob Khan	Mehboob Productions	₹80,000,000^[6] ($17,000,000)^[7]	100,000,000^[8]
Italy	The Ten Commandments	Cecil B. DeMille	Paramount Pictures	—	16,800,000^[9]
Japan	Emperor Meiji and the Great Russo-Japanese War	Kunio Watanabe	Shintoho	¥800,000,000^[10] ($2,220,000)^[7]	20,000,000^[11]
Soviet Union	The Sisters	Grigori Roshal	Mosfilm	10,625,000 Rbls ($2,656,000)^{[n 1]}	42,500,000^[12]
United Kingdom	The Bridge on the River Kwai	David Lean	Columbia Pictures	—	12,600,000^[15]
United States and Canada	The Bridge on the River Kwai	David Lean	Columbia Pictures	$27,200,000^[16]	54,400,000^[16]

Events

February 1 – RKO ceases domestic distribution of feature films which is taken over by Universal Pictures.
May – Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal wins the Special Jury Prize at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.
June 6 – Jerry Lewis appears in his first film without Dean Martin in The Delicate Delinquent.
June – United Artists rejoins the Motion Picture Association of America, following an expansion of the MPAA code appeals board members. The board had previously denied The Man With the Golden Arm a Production Code seal in 1955, leading UA to quit the MPAA.
October 2 – Raintree County is the first film shot in MGM Camera 65.
October 16 – First London Film Festival held at the newly opened National Film Theatre.^[17]
December 6 – Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries is released in Sweden. It goes on to win the Golden Bear at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1959.

Awards

Category/Organization	15th Golden Globe Awards February 22, 1958		30th Academy Awards March 26, 1958
Category/Organization	Drama	Comedy or Musical	30th Academy Awards March 26, 1958
Best Film	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Les Girls	The Bridge on the River Kwai
Best Director	David Lean The Bridge on the River Kwai
Best Actor	Alec Guinness The Bridge on the River Kwai	Frank Sinatra Pal Joey	Alec Guinness The Bridge on the River Kwai
Best Actress	Joanne Woodward The Three Faces of Eve	Kay Kendall Les Girls Taina Elg Les Girls	Joanne Woodward The Three Faces of Eve
Best Supporting Actor	Red Buttons Sayonara
Best Supporting Actress	Elsa Lanchester Witness for the Prosecution		Miyoshi Umeki Sayonara
Best Foreign Language Film	Confessions of Felix Krull Tizoc Woman in a Dressing Gown Yellow Crow		Nights of Cabiria

Top ten money making stars

Rank	Actor/Actress
1.	Rock Hudson
2.	John Wayne
3.	Pat Boone
4.	Elvis Presley
5.	Frank Sinatra
6.	Kim Novak
7.	Gary Cooper
8.	William Holden
9.	James Stewart
10.	Jerry Lewis

1957 film releases

February 14 - Cinderella (re-release)
July 3 - Bambi (re-release)

Notable films released in 1957

United States unless stated

Y

Yagyu Secret Scrolls (Yagyu Bugeicho), starring Toshiro Mifune – Japan
Yellow Crow (Kiiroi karasu) – (Japan)
Young and Dangerous, starring Mark Damon

Z

Zero Hour!, starring Dana Andrews, Sterling Hayden, Linda Darnell, Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, dramatic basis for later spoof Airplane!

Short film series

Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
Terrytoons (1930–1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
Woody Woodpecker (1941–1972)
Droopy (1943–1958)
Noveltoons (1943–1967)
The Nearsighted Mister Magoo (1950–1959)
Casper the Friendly Ghost (1950–1959)
Herman and Katnip (1952–1959)
Chilly Willy (1953–1972)

Ending this year

Births

Month	Day	Name	Profession	Year of death
January	12	John Lasseter	American animator, director, producer, writer
	15	Mario Van Peebles	American actor and director
	16	Ricardo Darin	Argentine actor
	17	Steve Harvey	American actor, comedian, author
	17	Keith Chegwin	English television presenter and actor	2017
	24	Adrian Edmondson	English comedian, actor, musician, and television presenter
	25	Jenifer Lewis	American actress, comedian, singer and activist
February	6	Kathy Najimy	American actress
	6	Robert Townsend	American actor, director and writer
	16	LeVar Burton	American actor, director, producer, and author
	19	Ray Winstone	English actor
	26	C. J. Graham	American actor
	27	Timothy Spall	English actor
	28	John Turturro	American actor, writer and director
March	4	Mykelti Williamson	American actor
	6	Eddie Deezen	American actor and comedian
	20	Chris Wedge	American director, producer, and voice actor
		Spike Lee	American director, producer, writer and actor
		Theresa Russell	American actress
		Vanessa Bell Calloway
	23	Teresa Ganzel
		Paul Eiding	American actor, voice actor, and voice instructor
		Amanda Plummer	American actress
	29	Christopher Lambert	French actor
	30	Paul Reiser	American actor and comedian
	31	Marc McClure	American actor
April	4	Aki Kaurismäki	Finnish director
	14	Richard Jeni	American actor and comedian	2007
	23	Jan Hooks	American actress and comedienne	2014
	25	Esther Scott	American actress
	29	Daniel Day-Lewis	English actor
May	4	John Akomfrah	Ghanaian-born British filmmaker
	5	Richard E. Grant	English actor
	7	Ned Bellamy	American actor
	21	Judge Reinhold	American actor
	29	Ted Levine	American actor
	30	Aire Koop	Estonian actress
June	17	Jon Gries	American actor
	1	Dorota Kędzierzawska	Polish director and screenwriter
	23	Frances McDormand	American actress
	29	María Conchita Alonso	Cuban-Venezuelan singer and actress
July	9	Kelly McGillis	American actress
	13	Cameron Crowe	American director and screenwriter
	21	Sulev Keedus	Estonian director and screenwriter
	21	Jon Lovitz	American actor, comedian and singer
	26	Nana Visitor	American actress
	28	Lisa Freeman	American author and actress
August	1	Taylor Negron	American actor, playwright and painter	2015
	9	Melanie Griffith	American actress
	12	Isaach de Bankolé	Ivorian-French-American actor
	15	Željko Ivanek	Slovenian-American actor
	18	Denis Leary	American actor, comedian and writer
	18	Carole Bouquet	French actress
	24	Stephen Fry	English comedian, author and actor
	28	Daniel Stern	American actor
	28	Rick Rossovich	American actor
September	12	Hans Zimmer	German composer
	12	Rachel Ward	English actress
	21	Ethan Coen	American director, producer, screenwriter and editor
	24	Brad Bird	American animator, director, writer, actor
	25	Michael Madsen	American actor, producer, writer and director
	30	Fran Drescher	American actress
October	4	Bill Fagerbakke	American actor and voice actor
	5	Bernie Mac	American actor and comedian	2008
	11	Dawn French	English actress, comedian and writer
	12	John Kassir	American actor, voice actor, and comedian
	12	Camilla and Carey More	English twin actresses
	25	Nancy Cartwright	American voice actress
	29	Dan Castellaneta	American actor, voice actor, comedian, and screenwriter
	30	Kevin Pollak	American actor
November	5	Dolph Lundgren	Swedish actor and director
	6	Cam Clarke	American voice actor and singer
	6	Lori Singer	American actress, cellist
	19	Tom Virtue	American actor
	24	Denise Crosby	American actress
December	10	Michael Clarke Duncan	American actor	2012
	13	Steve Buscemi	American actor
	21	Ray Romano	American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and voice actor

Deaths

January 14 – Humphrey Bogart, 57, American actor, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, The Caine Mutiny
January 19 – Sheila Terry, 46, American actress, The Sphinx, The Silk Express
January 26 – William Eythe, 38, American actor, The Song of Bernadette, The House on 92nd Street
February 19 – Märta Torén, 31, Swedish actress, Sirocco, One Way Street
March 25 – Max Ophüls, 54, German director, The Earrings of Madame de..., Lola Montès
March 31
- Harry Depp, 74, American actor, The Love Girl, Inez from Hollywood
- Gene Lockhart, 65, Canadian actor, Miracle on 34th Street, Algiers
April 3 – Ned Sparks, 73, Canadian actor, 42nd Street, Imitation of Life
April 8 – Dorothy Sebastian, 53, American actress, Spite Marriage, Our Dancing Daughters
April 27 – Paweł Owerłło, 87, Polish actor, Pan Tadeusz
May 7 – Charles King, 62, American actor, Outlaws of the Plains, Adventures of Sir Galahad
May 9 – Ezio Pinza, 64, Italian singer and actor, Tonight We Sing, Mr. Imperium
May 12 – Erich von Stroheim, 71, Austrian actor, director, Sunset Boulevard, La Grande Illusion
May 29 – James Whale, 67, British director, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man
June 12 – Robert Alton, 51, American choreographer and director, White Christmas, Pagan Love Song
July 3 – Judy Tyler, 24, American actress, Jailhouse Rock, Bop Girl Goes Calypso
July 15 – George Cleveland, 71, Canadian actor, Carson City, Fort Defiance
July 24 – Sacha Guitry, 72, French playwright, actor and director, Confessions of a Cheat, A Crime in Paradise
August 7 – Oliver Hardy, 65, American actor, The Flying Deuces, Sons of the Desert
August 9 – Konrad Tom, 70, Polish actor, screenwriter, director and singer, His Excellency, The Shop Assistant
August 12 – Tim Whelan, 63, American director, The Thief of Bagdad, The Divorce of Lady X
September 1 – Helen Haye, 83, Indian-British actress, The 39 Steps, Richard III
September 19 – Edvard Persson, 69, Swedish actor, South of the Highway, Kalle's Inn
October 20 – Jack Buchanan, 66, British actor, Auld Lang Syne, The Band Wagon
October 29 – Louis B. Mayer, 73, Russian-American producer and studio executive, Greed, That's Entertainment!
November 17 – Cora Witherspoon, 67, American actress, The Bank Dick, Libeled Lady
November 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, 60, Austrian composer, Anthony Adverse, The Adventures of Robin Hood
November 30 – Fred F. Sears, 44, American director, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Rock Around the Clock
December 11 – Musidora, 58, French actress, director, Les Vampires, Judex
December 15 – Alfonso Bedoya, 53, Mexican actor, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Big Country
December 24 – Norma Talmadge, 63, American actress, New York Nights, Secrets
December 25 – Charles Pathé, 94, French producer, writer, The Conquest of the Pole
December 27 – Alan Bridge, 66, American actor, The Stranger from Texas, Cross My Heart

Film debuts

Norman Alden – Hear Me Good
Alan Arkin – Calypso Heat Wave
Bruno Cremer – Send a Woman When the Devil Fails
Alain Delon – Send a Woman When the Devil Fails
Catherine Deneuve – The Twilight Girls
Ben Gazzara – The Strange One
William Hickey – A Hatful of Rain
Bill Hunter – The Shiralee
Clifton James – The Strange One
Sally Kellerman – Reform School Girl
George Peppard – The Strange One
Lee Remick – A Face in the Crowd
Jean Seberg – Saint Joan
Liv Ullmann – Fjols til fjells
Ray Walston – Kiss Them for Me
Adam West – Voodoo Island

Notes

^ 42.5 million Soviet tickets sold,^[12] average ticket price of 25 kopecks,^[13] 4 Rbls per US$ in 1957^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.
^ ^a ^b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ ^a ^b ^c "All-Time Top Grosses". Variety. January 4, 1961. p. 49. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
^ "Bilan Annuel France – 1957". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
^ "Bilan Annuel Allemagne – 1957". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
^ , Box Office India, archived 22 September 2012
^ ^a ^b "Pacific Exchange Rate Service" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. 1957. (PDF) from the original on 2015-05-12. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
^ Bahubali 2 Is The Biggest Hindi Blockbuster This Century 24 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Box Office India, 8 June 2017
^ "Bilan Annuel Italie – 1957". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
^ "天皇と映画～映画における、時代ごとの天皇観～". Cinema Today (in Japanese). April 28, 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
^ "About". Okura Pictures. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
^ ^a ^b . KinoKultura (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
^ Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War, page 48 2018-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, Cornell University Press, 2011
^ . Central Bank of Russia. Archived from the original on 29 December 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
^ . British Film Institute. 28 November 2004. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
^ ^a ^b "The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
^ "10-Day London Fest Films Preems Oct. 16". Variety. 9 October 1957. p. 14 – via Archive.org.

[15] 42.5 million Soviet tickets sold,^[12] average ticket price of 25 kopecks,^[13] 4 Rbls per US$ in 1957^[14]

[Finler-1] Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.

[Mannix-2] The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.

[1961AllTime-3] "All-Time Top Grosses". Variety. January 4, 1961. p. 49. Retrieved April 24, 2019.

[4] "Bilan Annuel France – 1957". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 12 December 2018.

[5] "Bilan Annuel Allemagne – 1957". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 12 December 2018.

[boi57-6] , Box Office India, archived 22 September 2012

[Sauder-7] "Pacific Exchange Rate Service" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. 1957. (PDF) from the original on 2015-05-12. Retrieved 8 February 2019.

[hindi-8] Bahubali 2 Is The Biggest Hindi Blockbuster This Century 24 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Box Office India, 8 June 2017

[9] "Bilan Annuel Italie – 1957". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 12 December 2018.

[10] "天皇と映画～映画における、時代ごとの天皇観～". Cinema Today (in Japanese). April 28, 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2020.

[11] "About". Okura Pictures. Retrieved 25 January 2019.

[kinokultura-12] . KinoKultura (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2012-10-09.

[moscow7-13] Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War, page 48 2018-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, Cornell University Press, 2011

[russia-14] . Central Bank of Russia. Archived from the original on 29 December 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2009.

[16] . British Film Institute. 28 November 2004. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2013.

[kwai-17] "The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 12 December 2018.

[1st-18] "10-Day London Fest Films Preems Oct. 16". Variety. 9 October 1957. p. 14 – via Archive.org.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[n 1]

[12]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[13]

[14]