The building of Bridge 277, the eponymous bridge that gave Leans film its name, was overseen by 2,000 British and Dutch prisoners of war. When he asks for Saitos help in cutting the wires, the hidden commando, Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne), leaps up and kills Saito. The Japanese did indeed force British, Dutch, Australian, and American prisoners to build the Burma Railway, resulting in some 13,000 POW deaths and at least 80,000 civilian deaths. Further afield, and appealing to my military family war history, is Kanchanaburi with its war cemetery and bridge over the Kwai river which is made famous by the Oscar winning film The Bridge on the River Kwai. Alec Guiness overseeing men working on the tracks in a scene from the film 'The Bridge On The River Kwai', 1957. In reality, Risaburo Saito was respected by his prisoners for being comparatively merciful and fair towards them. Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. It was more of a transit hub where prisoners were moved to other work areas along the railway route. He succumbed to malaria, dysentery, and malnutrition at Camp Kilo 101 in Thailand. Saito leaves the officers standing all day in the intense heat. [54] Slant magazine gave the film four out of five stars. 22. Cast the Expert: Percy Herbert, who played the role of a prisoner of war in the film, actually spent four . With William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa. Guinness regarded this one tiny scene as some of the finest work he did throughout his entire career. "[17], The film was made in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). US $4.49 Standard Shipping from outside US. Let's talk about British Food! He created the railroad. David Lean's classic 1957 World War II movie Bridge on the River Kwai depicted the horrors endured by the Allied prisoners of war (POWs) forced to build the Thailand-Burma railway by the Japanese Imperial Army. Highly competent work is also done by William Holden, Jack Hawkins and Sessue Hayakawa". Nicholson undertakes the construction of a well-made bridge, at first thinking it a good way to improve the morale and discipline of his regiment but gradually coming to regard the structure not as a part of the enemy war effort but as a monument to British ingenuity. Harry Cohn, the vulgar (but successful) man who ran Columbia Pictures at the time, was furious when he read the script and saw no . The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Addeddate 2021-08-19 15:12:20 Identifier the-bridge-on-the-river-kwai_202108 Scanner Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4. plus-circle Add Review. Tracy had read the book and told Spiegel emphatically that the part must be played by an Englishman. This meant that some of the British prisoners were actually natives of the region wearing make-up to appear Caucasian. The majority of its smaller components are originals, while a few are post-war replacements. Brigadier Varley would survive the hellish building work along the Burma-Siam Railway but not the war. For the scenes where William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Geoffrey Horne and the native girls had to wade through swamps, they were wading through specially created ones. Also, the dense surrounding jungle renders escape virtually impossible. At one point during filming, David Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by a river current. Then he hired Lean to directand Lean didn't like Foreman's version. [Ronald Searle, To the Kwai and Back: War drawings 1939-45, London, Collins, 1986, 104] 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' is now the best-known site on the Burma-Thailand railway but its fame is due more to a fictional film than its significance in World War II. This story is retold in: Anecdotal Tit Bits: Making "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "links for research, Allied POWs under the Japanese", "The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the, "Once-Stupendous-Now-Modest $2,700,000 Budget Kept Secret; 'River Kwai's' Sockfull Gross", "Screen: 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' Opens", "Film Reviews: The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Balu Mahendra, who made his visuals speak, dies at 74", "Warren Buffett carries an American Express card and about $400 in cash", "How Cartrivision's 1972 VCR ForesawAnd ForfeitedThe Time-Shifted Future", "Movies | Disc & Digital | Sony Pictures", "Wayne and Shuster Show, The Episode Guide (19541990) (series)", Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Drama, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai&oldid=1138405911, Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award-winning performance, Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance, Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award, Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award, Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award, Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe, Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award, Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award, Films with screenplays by Michael Wilson (writer), United States National Film Registry films, World War II films based on actual events, Short description is different from Wikidata, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Best DVD Original Retrospective Documentary/Featurette, Online Film & Television Association Awards, This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 14:21. Has no balls It was repaired in time to be blown up the next morning, with Bandaranaike and his entourage present. This film is taken from a popular novel written by Pierre Boulle in 1952. The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and . In fact, the cemetery is the original burial ground started by the prisoners themselves. Clipton objects, believing this to be collaboration with the enemy. Please note the delivery estimate is greater than 10 business days. Colonel Saito, the camp commandant, informs the new prisoners they will all work, even officers, on the construction of a railway bridge over the River Kwai that will connect Bangkok and Rangoon. While the story is fiction, the broader setting--including the construction of the Burmese railway--is based on historical events. The two did not collaborate on the script; Wilson took over after Lean was dissatisfied with Foreman's work. [10], Although Lean later denied it, Charles Laughton was his first choice for the role of Nicholson. Camps were set up at 100-metre intervals. Wise: "I never heard it in Thailand. The British Film Institute placed The Bridge on the River Kwai as the 11th greatest British film. 7. One of a number of Allied POW"s . Victims were cremated and their remains are buried in the aforementioned graves. Madness!" So go the tragic final words of David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), a spectacular and deeply-moving WWII adventure film that still entertains and challenges over sixty years later. Concurrently, Shears, after a harrowing journey in which he nearly loses his life more than once, is rescued by the British and then required to lead a group of commandoes headed by Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) back to the POW camp that he escaped from in order to blow up the bridge. Everywhere in the jungle, the graveyards made their appearance; starting in a small way they gradually grew bigger, until when the railway was completed at the end of the year, thousands of bodies lay in the jungle from one end to the other.. It is a landmark of Kanchanaburi Province. Other parts have been placed in various local war museums. But Laughton, a fine actor with such credits as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) on his resume, was in poor physical shapegreat for playing the corpulent Henry VIII in Young Bess (1953), not so great for playing a British military officer in a prison camp. The Bridge Over the River Kwai. 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In the movie the bridge is destroyed by commandos. 1957 World War II film directed by David Lean, This article is about the film. Bandaranaike, then Prime Minister of Ceylon, and a team of government dignitaries. comment. Approximately 5 kilometres north of Kanchanaburi there were two bridges that were built by POWs during the war. The bridge they build will become a symbol of service and survival to one prisoner, Colonel Nicholson, a proud perfectionist. Log in. When Joyce is wounded by Japanese fire, Shears swims across, but is himself shot. It is also known as the "River Kwai March". Realising he has no choice, Shears volunteers. The events depicted in the film, of a chaotic Commando raid and Lt. Col Nicholsons wounded body falling dramatically on the detonator and blowing the bridge up, are completely false. The commandoes arrive for their mission as the finishing touches are being put on the bridge. The Hitchhiker's Guide has this to say about John Rabon: When not pretending to travel in time and space, eating bananas, and claiming that things are "fantastic", John lives in North Carolina. [49] Mike Kaplan, reviewing for Variety, described it as "a gripping drama, expertly put together and handled with skill in all departments. [60] The 167-minute film was first telecast, uncut, in colour, on the evening of 25 September 1966, as a three hours-plus ABC Movie Special. Recognising Shears, Nicholson exclaims, "What have I done? "[50] Kaplan further praised the actors, especially Alec Guinness, later writing "the film is unquestionably" his. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, wining seven -- including Best Picture . However, cameraman Freddy Ford was unable to get out of the way of the explosion in time, and Lean had to stop filming. In particular, they objected to the implication presented in the film that Japanese military engineers were generally unskilled at their profession and lacked proficiency. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a work of fiction, but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942 to 1943 for its historical setting. It is close to, but not over the country's border with Myanmar. Lean wanted Holden, a big star and recent Oscar winner (for Stalag 17), to play American prisoner Major Shears, over the objections of producer Spiegel, who wanted Cary Grant. Kwai River Bridge history. The bridge in the movie was near Kitulgala. Has something sim'lar Its estimated around 16,000 Allied prisoners of war were killed during construction of the Burma-Siam Railway. By this time, the United States and its naval and industrial might had entered the war. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and scooped up seven Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor. [31][32] Some consider the film to be an insulting parody of Toosey. Toosey in fact did as much as possible to delay the building of the bridge. 11. 3. Did he really want the enemy to come in across it? Once Spiegel relented, he realized Holden was a box office draw and offered him a great deal: $300,000 salary (about $2.5 million in 2016 dollars), plus 10 percent of the gross. Both bridges stood for two years and were destroyed by bombers in 1945. The young soldier from Suffolk was dispatched to work on the bridge over the River Kwai, one of the railway's most daunting engineering projects. Burma-Siam Railway labourers and prisoners of war slept in rudimentary bamboo huts on filthy floors. The Suez Canal crisis of 1956 badly affected production. Jun 7, 2011 - New on Blu 6-7-11: Studios unload nearly 70 titles. Himmler The telecast of the film lasted more than three hours because of the commercial breaks. Japanese guards were known for their cruelty and would frequently torture and assault their prisoners. His career was hurt by the advent of sound, and then by increasing anti-Japanese sentiment in America. Like Chungkai and Kanchanaburi, Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery was originally part of the camp set up serving the Burma-Siams construction. This article is part of our Classic Film Throwback series - By Sam Hendrian - "Madness. The Bridge On The River Kwai Film Facts. 24. Instead of the five year predicted completion, the bridge on river Kwai, was completed in 16 months. Nicholson will not cooperate and finally insists that the bridge can be built only under his command. Has only got one ball! Warden tells the Siamese women that he had to prevent anyone from falling into enemy hands, and leaves with them. In a 1988 interview with Barry Norman, Lean confirmed that Columbia almost stopped filming after three weeks because there was no white woman in the film, forcing him to add what he called "a very terrible scene" between Holden and a nurse on the beach. Nevertheless, the leeches in the recreated swamps were real. Omissions? British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it. Its construction came about because Japan needed another supply route to link Singapore and Malaysia to its possessions in Burma following Singapores fall in February 1942. 8. "[53], Among retrospective reviews, Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, noting that it is one of the few war movies that "focuses not on larger rights and wrongs but on individuals", but commented that the viewer is not certain what is intended by the final dialogue due to the film's shifting points of view. To keep costs down, producer Sam Spiegel decided not to hire any extras, using crew members and Ceylon locals instead. Spiegel finally sent Michael Wilson to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where Lean was in pre-production, and the two worked together to hammer out the final version. During World War II, British soldiers added lyrics to the tune that went approximately along these lines: Hitler Prisoners, including the sick, were marched to camps further along Death Railway. Their taskmasters were relentless. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942-43 for its historical setting. In 1957 the movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, premiered in London and became the biggest grossing film of 1958, winning seven academy awards in the process, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Musical Score, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.Not bad for a movie that is largely a work of almost entirely fictional characters and a story which . Explore the CWGC Archive through our online portal. Lean only got $150,000 himself, but he always said Holden was worth it. But in Bangkok I was told that David Lean, the film's director, became mad at the extras who played the prisonersusbecause they couldn't march in time. [13], Many directors were considered for the project, among them John Ford, William Wyler, Howard Hawks, Fred Zinnemann, and Orson Welles (who was also offered a starring role). 2. It was not long before the Japanese army overrunning Java captured Lieutenant Lamb and his men. The screenplay was instead credited to the novelist, Boullewhich was quite a feat, since he didnt speak or read English. Harry Cohn, the vulgar (but successful) man who ran Columbia Pictures at the time, was furious when he read the script and saw no love interest. For example, a Sergeant-Major Risaburo Saito was in real life second in command at the camp. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. We worked at bayonet point and under bamboo lash, taking any risk to sabotage the operation whenever the opportunity arose. Spiegel sent the screenplay to the Japanese government ahead of time, hoping to get their cooperation with the production. Subsequent releases of the film finally gave them proper screen credit. Cutting the base board 1190 x 160 x 12 mm. He insisted that Lean add a scene where Shears, the American played by William Holden, cozies up to a nurse (Ann Sears). British and American intelligence officers conspire . The plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay were almost entirely fictional. Spiegel, the producer, bought the film rights to the book (the English version of which was called The Bridge Over the River Kwai) and hired Carl Foreman to write the script. Under cover of darkness, Shears and Joyce plant explosives on the bridge towers. Nicholson advises Saito that the officers cannot be required to do manual labour according to the Geneva Convention. Lets find out. As the train approaches, Nicholson frantically pulls up the wire, following it to find the detonator. The film"s story was loosely based on a true World War II incident, and the real-life character of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey. Like thousands of other POWs, Lamb was kept in degrading conditions, refused medical treatment and barely fed. The Bridge on the River Kwai was a smash hit on release. It would be a massive undertaking. The steel bridge was repaired and is still in use today. They would work in appalling conditions, given minuscule amounts of food, snatches of sleep, and little to no medical treatment. Part of this project was building bridges over Thailand's Kwai Yai, at a place named Tamarkan, which is near a town named Kanchanaburi. 6. Sessue Hayakawa considered his performance as Saito as the highlight of his career. In early 1943, World War II British prisoners arrive by train at a Japanese prison camp in Burma. This way, he remained oblivious to the real nature of his characters fate. Bus Bangkok - Kanchanaburi $ 7.19 3h 30m. It stars Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins and William Holden. Search by location, regiment, nationality, and more fields to find the war dead involved in building the blood-soaked Burma-Siam Railway. [21] Guinness later reflected on the scene, calling it the "finest piece of work" he had ever done. Over a muddy jungle river called Kwai, a Japanese colonel, Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), must complete a railroad bridge vital to Japan's war effort. Warden responds that he already knew and that the US Navy had agreed to transfer him to the British SOE with the simulated rank of Major to avoid embarrassment. A make-up man was also badly injured in the same accident. [56] Warren Buffett said it was his favorite movie. Lamb, as he was known, had been a politician before calling up, serving the state legislature in Victoria, Australia. [3] Since it was not a documentary, there are many historical inaccuracies in the film, as noted by eyewitnesses to the building of the real Burma Railway by historians.[30][31][32][33]. The Bridge on the River Kwai is now widely recognized as one of the greatest films ever made. Have a question about us or our work? as for the bridge on the River Kwai, it crossed the river only in the imagination of its author. But the unusual move paid off for ABCthe telecast drew huge ratings with a record audience of 72 million[60] and a Nielsen rating of 38.3 and an audience share of 61%. The film was directed by David Lean and starred William Holding, Jack Hawkins and academy award winner Sir Alex Guinness. Read more. Toosey was very different from Nicholson and was certainly not a collaborator who felt obliged to work with the Japanese. Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. The year: 1943. The railway ran for 250 miles from Ban Pong, Thailand to Thanbyuzayat, Burma and is now known as the Death Railway. Kanchanaburi town is located around 130 kilometres northwest of Bangkok. To enjoy Thailand River cruises, you need to understand a little about the geography of Thailand and its river system. Wrote Guinness: "I felt like turning around and getting back on the plane and paying my own fare home!" Witnessing the carnage, Clipton shakes his head and mutters, "Madness! The destruction of the bridge as depicted in the film is also entirely fictional. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. Chungkai War Cemetery is something of a sister site to Kanchanaburi. She spent most of the next 42 years working as a copy editor and editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. They were supported by an unknown number of Malaysian labourers. From iconic memorials to local churchyards, there is unique heritage to explore across Great Britain. 19. These problems resulted in a number of anomalies that were very difficult to correct, like a ghosting effect in many scenes that resembles colour mis-registration, and a tick-like effect with the image jumping or jerking side-to-side. The Burma-Siam Railways construction necessitated construction of over 670 bridges and numerous cuttings. He had basically retired when Lean approached him to play Colonel Saito in Kwai, a performance that earned Hayakawa an Oscar nomination. Some 5,000 Commonwealth World War Two casualties are buried or commemorated in Kanchanaburi. The real Bridge on the River Kwai. THE HEAD OF COLUMBIA PICTURES FORCED LEAN TO ADD A LOVE SCENE. Desperate, he uses the anniversary of Japan's 1905 victory in the Russo-Japanese War as an excuse to save face; he announces a general amnesty, releasing Nicholson and his officers and exempting them from manual labour. 2023 Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The Colonel Bogey March" was composed in 1914 by Kenneth Alford, a military band conductor. The curved-shaped truss spans are the originals on the bridge (constructed by the Japanese military during WWII) while the two trapezoidal-shaped bridge spans were provided by Japan as war reparations after the war ended in 1945 (to replace two curved-shaped truss spans that fell into the river after the bridge was attacked and bombed by Allied aircraft. Construction began before anyone had been cast. He was contracted for $150,000 to be paid in installments. In 1997, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. A Smith article describes bridge on River Kwai, near Kanchanaburi, Thailand, built by Allied POWs during Japanese occupation of Thailand in World War II and subject of famous film The Bridge on .