The Bridge on the River Kwai

With the box-office draw of William Holden and Alec Guinness and a thrilling plot, this British-American epic war film was an artistic and financial triumph, taking home seven Oscars. The first of director David Lean’s (Lawrence of Arabia) ) multimillion dollar, wide-screen spectaculars, it is as engrossing and provocative today as when it first appeared: It’s “that rare film about something as seemingly black-and-white as World War II that is colored entirely in shades of gray, and the better for it,” says Entertainment Weekly.