The Bridge on the River Kwai

Director David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, 1962) turned to Cinemascope for the first film in his new epic phase. Alec Guinness copped an Oscar for his brilliant performance as Colonel Nicholson, a rigid military man, leading a group of WWII British soldiers trapped in a Japanese POW camp in Burma. It’s one of seven Oscars the film won, including Best Picture.

Nicholson stands up to the cruel punishments of the camp’s commander (a superb Sessue Hayakawa), and keeps his soldiers occupied by overseeing the building of an immense bridge. Defending his bridge becomes Nicholson’s insane calling, even as the Allied forces lead a commando raid to blow it up. Based on a French novel by Pierre Boulle (Planet of the Apes), Boulle was listed as screenwriter; only years later were blacklisted writers Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman recognized for their Oscar-winning adaptation.

The famous whistling of the British POWs is ”Colonel Bogey’s March ”1918). “The Bridge on the River Kwai carefully builds its psychological tension until it erupts in a blinding flash of sulfur and flame.” (Slant Magazine)

Part of our Cinemascope series.

In English, Japanese & Thai with English subtitles