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The History of Cinema: 1957

Albania - Mexico

Albania

– Hysen Hakani’s short film Her Own Children, the first made by an Albanian, is released. [ADD]

Argentina

– The Instituto Nacional de Cinematigrafia is created as a result of the passing of the Cinema Act. [ADD]

Botswana

– The Hunters, a documentary about a 13-day hunting of a giraffe by four members of the Ju’huansi tribesmen in Botswana is released by American filmmakers Robert Gardner and John Marshall. [ADD]

Finland

– The first colour films are produced. [ADD]

Germany

– The Youth Protection Act becomes law, meaning that films are approved by age groups ranging from 6, 12, 16, 18 and older. [ADD]

Ghana

– Kwame Nkrumah, the president of Ghana, nationalises film production and distribution. [ADD] 

India

–  Khwaja Ahmad Abbas’ Pardesi (Journey Beyond the Sea), the first Indo-Soviet co-production, is released. [ADD]

– The importation of raw film stock is centrally controlled after it is declared an essential commodity. [ADD]

– The Cinematograph Bill to establish a National Film Board, Production Bureau and Film Institute is withdrawn. [ADD]

– The Indian Film Quarterly, founded by Chidananda Das Gupta and Satyarit Ray amongst others, begins publication. [ADD]

Italy

21/3 -

On location in Rome, producer David O. Selznick sacks John Huston as director of A Farewell to Arms and replaces him with Charles Vidor. [ADD]

7/9 -

Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini separate after seven years of marriage.   Bergman gets custody of their three children, Roberto, Ingrid and Isabella on the condition that she stays in Europe until they are of age. [ADD]

8/9 -

Pope Pius XII promulgates his encyclical Miranda Prorsus.   He says about motion pictures, radio and television: 'They should serve the spread of truth so that the bonds between peoples will be made closer, so that men will have better mutual understanding and will assist one another in time of crisis, and, finally so that there will be genuine cooperation between public authority and individual citizens.' [ADD]

Japan

15/1 -

Akira Kurosawa's Kumonosu-Jo (Throne of Blood aka Castle of the Spider's Web), an interpretation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is released.   Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura star. [ADD]

Lithuania

– Vytautas Mikalauskas’ Zydrasis horizontas (The Blue Horizon), Lithuania’s first independently produced feature film, is released. [ADD]

Mexico

2/2 -

Actress Elizabeth Taylor marries producer Mike Todd – who is 25 years her senior – in the village of Puerto Marquez.  Guests include Eddie Fisher and his wife Debbie Reynolds, and Cantinflas. [ADD]

15/4 -

Pedro Infante, perhaps the most famous actor of Mexican cinema’s golden age dies in an airplane crash why flying to Mexico City from Yucatan at the age of 39. [ADD]

17/9 -

23-year-old Sophia Loren marries 46-year-old producer Carlo Ponti in the Mexican border town of Juarez.   Romantically, the couple were not actually present at their wedding, having delegated the power of signature to their lawyers. [ADD]

Other Key Films of 1957

Algeria

L'Algérie en flammes (R. Vauthier) [ADD]

Argentina

La casa del angel (Leopoldo Torre Nilsson) [ADD]

Armenia

Sirtn e yergum (The Heart Sings) (Grigori Melik-Avakyan) [ADD]

Greece

The Carriage (Dinos Dimopoulos) [ADD]

India

Pyaasa (Guru Dutt) [ADD]

Jordan

Fight with Jerash [ADD]

Macedonia

Mali covek (Little Man) (Zivan ‘Zika’ Cukulic) [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1957