The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Director:

David Lean

Writer (WGA):

Pierre Boulle (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

2 October 1957 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | War

Tagline:

It spans a whole new world of entertainment!

Plot:

After settling his differences with a Japanese PoW camp commander, a British colonel co-operates to oversee his men's construction of a railway bridge for their captors - while oblivious to a plan by the Allies to destroy it.

Plot Keywords:

Bridge | British | Construction | Japanese | Sabotage

Awards:

Won 7 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

William Holden	...	Shears
Alec Guinness	...	Colonel Nicholson
Jack Hawkins	...	Major Warden
Sessue Hayakawa	...	Colonel Saito
James Donald	...	Major Clipton
Geoffrey Horne	...	Lieutenant Joyce
André Morell	...	Colonel Green (as Andre Morell)
Peter Williams	...	Captain Reeves
John Boxer	...	Major Hughes
Percy Herbert	...	Grogan
Harold Goodwin	...	Baker
Ann Sears	...	Nurse
Heihachiro Okawa	...	Captain Kanematsu (as Henry Okawa)
Keiichiro Katsumoto	...	Lieutenant Miura (as K. Katsumoto)
M.R.B. Chakrabandhu	...	Col. Broome Yai
Vilaiwan Seeboonreaung	...	Siamese Girl
Ngamta Suphaphongs	...	Siamese Girl
Javanart Punynchoti	...	Siamese Girl
Kannikar Dowklee	...	Siamese Girl

Directed by
David Lean

Writing credits (WGA)
Michael Wilson		(screenplay) originally uncredited and
Carl Foreman		(screenplay) originally uncredited
Pierre Boulle		(novel "Le pont de la rivière Kwaï")

Produced by
Sam Spiegel	....	producer

Original Music by
Malcolm Arnold		(music by)

Cinematography by
Jack Hildyard

Film Editing by
Peter Taylor		(chief editor)

Art Direction by
Donald M. Ashton

Makeup Department
Stuart Freeborn	....	makeup artist
George Partleton	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Cecil F. Ford	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gus Agosti	....	assistant director
Ted Sturgis	....	assistant director
John Kerrison	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Geoffrey Drake	....	assistant art director
Peter Dukelow	....	construction manager

Sound Department
Pam Bosworth	....	additional sound editor
Eric Boyd-Perkins	....	additional sound editor
Fred Burnley	....	additional sound editor
Rusty Coppleman	....	additional sound editor
John Cox	....	sound
Teddy Darvas	....	additional sound editor
Janet Davidson	....	additional sound editor
Joel Fein	....	sound mixer (restoration)
Don Hall	....	sound editor (restoration)
Norma Hawkes	....	additional sound editor
Gary Krivacek	....	sound editor (restoration)
Peter Miller	....	additional sound editor
Bob Minkler	....	sound mixer (restoration)
John W. Mitchell	....	sound (as John Mitchell)
Winston Ryder	....	chief sound editor
B. Tennyson Sebastian III	....	sound mixer (restoration) (as Tennyson Sebastian)
Peter Davies	....	post-synchronisation (uncredited)

Stunts
Nosher Powell	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Archie Dansie	....	chief electrician
Peter Newbrook	....	camera operator
Ron Drinkwater	....	clapper loader (uncredited)
Gerry Fisher	....	additional camera operator (uncredited)
Gerry Fisher	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Robert Merry	....	lighting technician (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
John Wilson-Apperson	....	wardrobe (as John Apperson)

Editorial Department
George Hively	....	editor (restoration)
William Pine	....	color timer (restoration) (as Bill Pine)
Sati Tooray	....	colorist (uncredited)

Other crew
Angela Martelli	....	continuity
Jim Painten	....	producer of restoration
L.E.M. Perowne	....	technical advisor (as Major-Gen. L.E.M. Perowne)
William Harrigan Jr.	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Robert Haslam	....	consultant: explosives (uncredited)
Robert Haslam	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Grady Johnson	....	publicist (uncredited)
Maurice Landsberger	....	production accountant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Horizon Pictures (II) (for)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical) (as Columbia Pictures Corporation)
• Warner Bros. (1957) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1966) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (????) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (1999) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2000) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• LK-TEL (1999) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Nothing's New Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia Film-Verleih (1958) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (USA) (laserdisc)

Other Companies

• Ellis Burman III  audio restoration (uncredited)
• Equipment and Construction Co.  bridge construction (as Equipment and Construction Co. of Ceylon)
• Husband & Co. of Sheffield  consulting engineers for the bridge
• OCS/Freeze Frame/Pixel Magic  negative restoration (restoration) (as OCS/Freeze Frame)
• Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The  music played by
• Sony Pictures Studios  sound services (restoration) (as Sony Pictures Studio, Culver City, California)
• Sunset Gower Studios  sound stages (uncredited)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild war violence. (1991 reissue)

Runtime:

161 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Japanese | Thai

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (RCA Sound System) | Dolby SR (re-release) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | USA:Approved | USA:PG (re-rating) (1991) | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:T | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (w) | Sweden:15 | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Ambepussa, Sri Lanka

Company:

Horizon Pictures (II)

Trivia:

Original novelist Pierre Boulle actually had been a prisoner of war in Thailand. His creation of Colonel Nicholson was an amalgam of his memories of various French officers who collaborated with his captors.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening scene, the railway is 5'6" (1.676 m) broad gauge, as used in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the filming location; but when we see tracks on the finished bridge, they're much narrower, about 2' (60 cm).

Quotes:

Maj. Warden: I belong to a rather rum group called Force 316. Our headquarters is up in the botanical gardens.
Commander Shears: Protecting rare plants from the enemy?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in One of the Hollywood Ten (2000)

Soundtrack:

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow

They don't make movies like this anymore.

I recently saw The Bridge on the River Kwai at the Cinerama Dome, and it was quite spectacular. Unlike some of today's grand adventure films, you get to know the characters along with seeing great scenes of acting and cinematography. Alec Guinness is at the top of his form as the single minded Colonel Nicholson. The scene between Nicholson and Saito in Saito's hut is remarkable. Nicholson still will not concede defeat, he even takes offense that other officers of different armies gave in and worked alongside the enlisted men. Saito can't understand Nicholson's acceptance of his punishment, and it drives him crazy. The film's plot has two stories that are beautifully intertwined. Shears' return to the bridge is his only way to escape the bridge. In the film's final act, the tension is turned up as the British commandos try to blow up the bridge, and a train, and only then does Nicholson realise what the bridge really is. The Bridge on the River Kwai is one film that is hard to top, the only film able to do that is Lawrence of Arabia, both directed by the meticulous eye of David Lean. One director who could put intimacy in epic circumstances.