The ten-year decline in movie attendance continued in 1957.

The concept of subscription or toll television got its first full-fledged commercial tryout when, on September 3, Video Independent Theatres debuted a wired closed circuit system called Telemovies in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Subscribers were offered 11 hours a day of recent movies for a flate rate of $9.50 a month.

Academy Awards
(for 1956 releases)

Best Production -- Around the World in Eighty Days, Michael Todd
Actor -- Yul Brynner, The King and I
Actress -- Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia
Supporting Actor -- Anthony Quinn, Lust for Life
Supporting Actress -- Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind
Director -- George Stevens, Giant
Cinematography, Black and White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, Somebody Up There Likes Me
Cinematography, Color -- Lionel Lindon, Around the World in Eighty Days
Music Score -- Victor Young, Around the World in Eighty Days
Musical Scoring -- Alfred Newman and Ken Darby, The King and I
Original Song -- Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, "Que Sera, Sera," The Man Who Knew Too Much
Short Subject, One-Reel -- Crashing The Water Barrier, Warners
Short Subject, Two-Reel -- The Bespoke Overcoat, George K. Arthur-Romulus
Short Subject, Cartoon -- Mister Magoo's Puddle Jumper, U.P.A. Pictures-Columbia
Art Direction, Black and White -- Cedric Gibbons and Malcolm F. Brown, Somebody Up There Likes Me
Art Direction, Color -- Lyle R. Wheeler and John DeCuir, The King and I
Costume Design, Black and White -- Jean Louis, The Solid Gold Cadillac
Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, The King and I
Film Editing -- Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax, Around the World in Eighty Days
Documentary, Short -- The True Story of the Civil War, Camera Eye Pictures
Documentary, Feature -- The Silent World, Filmad-F.S.J.Y.C. Productions-Columbia
Sound Recording -- Carl Faulkner, 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound, The King and I
Special Effects -- The Ten Commandments, John P. Fulton, Motion Picture Associates, Inc.-Paramount
Foreign Language Picture -- La Strada, Ponti-De Laurentis Productions

Mike Todd embraces his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, after winning the Best Picture Oscar for Around the World in Eighty Days.

David Niven (right) and Mexican actor Cantinflas in the "balloon scene" from Around the World in Eighty Days.

New York Film Critics' Awards
(for 1956 releases)

Best Picture -- Around the World in Eighty Days, Michael Todd
Actress -- Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia
Actor -- Kirk Douglas, Lust for Life
Director -- John Huston, Moby Dick
Screen Writing -- S. J. Perelman, Around the World in Eighty Days
Foreign Film -- La Strada, Trans-Lux

Film Festivals

The U.S. film Friendly Persuasion was named Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

Twelve Angry Men was named Best Picture at the International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany.

American actor Anthony Francicosa received the Best Actor award at the Venice (Italy) Film Festival for his performance in A Hatful of Rain.

San Francisco, California, staged the first truly international film festival in the United States in December. Its Golden Gate Awards were given to Pather Panchali (India) as the Best Picture, and to its director Satyajit Ray for Best Direction. Acting awards went to Heinz Ruhmann of Germany and Dolores Dorn Heft of the United States.

Other Highlights

An unscheduled burning of the motion-picture version of St. Joan, played by Jean Seberg, occurred in February 1957 during the filming of the scene showing the heroine being burned at the stake. The actress, unable to escape from the flames which were momentarily out of control, was eventually rescued by her "executioner" (in the film) and a studio policeman. She was not badly burned.

A replica of the plane in which Charles Lindbergh made his non-stop flight from New York to Paris was used in the motion-picture biography The Spirit of St. Louis, a 1957 Warner Brothers film starring James Stewart as Lindbergh.

Kirk Douglas (as Doc Holliday) peers through a shattered window in a scene from Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, a Paramount production released in 1957.

The concluding scene from The Red Balloon, a French fantasy film about a little boy (played by Pascal Lamorisse) and a devoted red balloon that followed him about the streets of Paris. The film was released in France in 1956, and in the United States in 1957.

SEE ALSO
In the Year 1957
Yul Brynner
Charles Lindbergh

Questions or comments about this page?

This page was last updated on 07/29/2017.