theactor12

Toward the unknown 1956. Warner Bros.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast:   William Holden (Maj. Lincoln Bond)
          Lloyd Nolan , Virginia Leith,
           Charles McGraw,Murray Hamilton,
           Paul Fix, James Garner,

Excellent aviation film, quite truthful in depicting the life of supersonic test pilots with Holden as a tarnished officer eager to regain the confidence of his men.

Meet the Stewarts   1942
Columbia
Director: Alfred A. Green
Cast:   William Holden (Michael Stewart)
             Frances Dee,

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This spotty WWII romance story has many parallels to" From here to eternity" but the love story between Holden and Kerr is never believable.
A film that missed its target and has been seldom seen after the initial release.

The Bridge on the river Kwai 1957. Columbia
Director: David Lean
Cast:    William Holden (Commander Maj. Shears)
           Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa,
           Jack Hawkins, James Donald,Geoffrey Horne,
Screenplay: Pierre Boulle from his novel

A strange, moody curio, directed in somber tones by Reed. Loren plays a kept woman who comes with the London flat belonging to a succession of tugboat captains during WWII.
The stars give exemplary perfrmances i.

The proud and profane 1956.
Paramount
Director: George Seaton
Cast:   William Holden (Lt. Col. Colin Black)
           Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter,
             Dewey Martin,
Screenplay: Lucy Herndon Crockett from her novel" The magnificent bastards"

The $ 3 million-plus movie tells the story of the prisoners of war who built the infamous Thai-Burmese"Death Railway" for the Japanese. The tough, all male action adventure is a study of the futility of war.
Holden stars as an American sailor,escapee from Sessue Hayakawa's prison camp, co-erced by British major Jack Hawkins into returning to the River Kwai camp, and blowing up the bridge built by Colonel Nicholson (Oscar winner Alec Guinness). Holden got top billing but his part is actually a secondary one, the film really belong to Guinness as the bridge -builder.
The film was an artistic as well as commercial triumph and grossed over $ 30 millions, making Holden who had accepted a small salary and a % of the profits a millionaire.

The Key 1958.
Columbia
Director: Carol Reed
Cast:   William Holden (David Ross)
        Sophia Loren, Trevor Howard,
           Oscar Homolka,Bernard Lee ,
            Kieron Moore,
Screenplay: Carl Foreman from the novel "Stella" by Jan de Hartog.