The movie was mainly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and also in England. Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. While the British prisoners celebrate their accomplishment that night, the commandoes wire the bridge with explosives to be detonated by a plunger operated by a hidden soldier, timed to collapse the bridge just as an inaugural train carrying Japanese dignitaries is crossing it. Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. Just two months later, Lieutenant Lamb was dead. Kwai's composer, Malcolm Arnold, wove the march into his Oscar-winning score so seamlessly that modern viewers may assume it was original to the film. The screenplay was based on French author Pierre Boulle"s 1954 novel of the same name. For all the death and misery caused by its building, the Burma-Siam Railway only ever carried two Japanese divisions and 500,000 tons of supplies before VJ Day brought the war in Asia to a close. [54] Slant magazine gave the film four out of five stars. Though he'd already earned five Oscar nominations (three for directing, two for adapting the Dickens novels) and would soon be widely celebrated for Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965), at this stage, Lean was in trouble. [49] Mike Kaplan, reviewing for Variety, described it as "a gripping drama, expertly put together and handled with skill in all departments. Bus Bangkok - Kanchanaburi $ 7.19 3h 30m. Let's talk about British Food! From iconic memorials to local churchyards, there is unique heritage to explore across Great Britain. - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. Burma-Siam Railway labourers and prisoners of war slept in rudimentary bamboo huts on filthy floors. Answer (1 of 7): David Lean made some excellent films His Dickens films of the 1940's are classic black and white versions of OLIVER TWIST and GREAT EXPECTATIONS He discovered color and the wide screen in the 1950's and 1960's Besides BRIDGE, Lean also did LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DR ZHIVAGO Peo. By 1944, its operational capacity was being massively hampered by the damage caused by air raids. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . An example of this is when commandos Warden and Joyce hunt a fleeing Japanese soldier through the jungle, desperate to prevent him from alerting other troops. It also won the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay. POWs and indentured labourers were worked to death while busy constructing the railway simultaneously. No visit to the Western Front is complete without a trip to The CWGC Visitor Centre. Cafes and tourist spots dot the banks of the Khwae Noi. And a bloke called George Siegatz[29] an expert whistlerbegan to whistle Colonel Bogey, and a hit was born.". The site's critical consensus reads, "This complex war epic asks hard questions, resists easy answers, and boasts career-defining work from star Alec Guinness and director David Lean. Begun in October 1942, using prisoner of war (POW) labour, it was completed and operational by early February 1943. The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. 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. Imperial Japanese Army Command deemed this unacceptable. They included Chinese, Malayan, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian and Singaporean people. The destruction of the bridge as depicted in the film is also entirely fictional. A temporary wooden bridge was completed at the beginning of 1943 and a few months later the steel bridge (which can be seen today) was finished. The bridges were quickly repaired with the use of POW labour from the camp at Tha . The Bridge on the River Kwai was widely praised, winning seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 30th Academy Awards. Drilled holes for the piers; and cut them to length. The correct name for the River Kwai is Khwae Noi, meaning small tributary, which merges with Khwae Yai River to create the Mae Kong River. All but a small section of the route was built in dense, malarial jungles, in sweltering heat and monsoon rains. [18] The bridge in the film was near Kitulgala. US $4.49 Standard Shipping from outside US. 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. First Joyce and then Shears are killed in the ensuing gunfire. In 1985, the Academy officially recognized Foreman and Wilson as the screenwriters and posthumously awarded the Oscar to them. Budget. . After the war, their remains were moved from these makeshift cemeteries and graveyards to purpose-built Commission sites. 13. The film"s story was loosely based on a true World War II incident, and the real-life character of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey. In a prison camp, British POWs are forced into labor. The majority of its smaller components are originals, while a few are post-war replacements. Sessue Hayakawa really did accidentally strike Alec Guinness hard enough to draw blood in one scene. At the POW camp, Nicholson not only requires officers to work on the bridge but also pulls men from the hospital in order to meet Saitos deadline for the project. Some 5,000 Commonwealth World War Two casualties are buried or commemorated in Kanchanaburi. Nicholson spots the wire and brings it to Saito's attention. 17. They were soon sent to Thailand to begin labouring on the Death Railway. The actual bridge on the River Kwai is located in Thailand, and stretches over a part of the Mae Klong river, which was renamed Khwae Yai (Thai for big tributary). The filming of the bridge explosion was to be done on 10 March 1957, in the presence of S.W.R.D. Check out where to stay in Kanchanaburi and book an accommodation of your choice. The Colonel Bogey strain was accompanied by a counter-melody using the same chord progressions, then continued with film composer Malcolm Arnold's own composition, "The River Kwai March", played by the off-screen orchestra taking over from the whistlers, though Arnold's march was not heard in completion on the soundtrack. Pitted against the warden, Colonel . For one sunset scene, David Lean specifically traveled 150 miles to capture it. Construction of the Burma-Siam railway began in October 1942 and would end in October 1943. Pay on the train. There's a stench of death about you. For many, its their first exposure to the horrors prisoners of wars suffered in the Far East. Forced labourers were labourers taken from the populations of Japan-conquered territories. [65], On 2 November 2010 Columbia Pictures released a newly restored The Bridge on the River Kwai for the first time on Blu-ray. It was repaired in time to be blown up the next morning, with Bandaranaike and his entourage present. [56] Warren Buffett said it was his favorite movie. [26], A memorable feature of the film is the tune that is whistled by the POWsthe first strain of the "Colonel Bogey March"when they enter the camp. Find the latest updates on the work of the Special Committee. THE HEAD OF COLUMBIA PICTURES FORCED LEAN TO ADD A LOVE SCENE. Just as in Love is a Many Splendored Thing, normally hairy chested William Holden had to have a full body wax for his many shirtless scenes in the movie. He insisted that Lean add a scene where Shears, the American played by William Holden, cozies up to a nurse (Ann Sears). He didn't like the screenplay because it reduced Nicholson to secondary status. This Oscar-winning epic is part of movie folklore and widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever so I really wanted to see the area where director David Lean shot it way back in 1957. [39], The major railway bridge described in the novel and film did not actually cross the river known at the time as the Kwai. Bangkok - Kanchanaburi More info / Tickets. [40], The Bridge on the River Kwai was a massive commercial success. Bridge On The River Kwai is an Epic war-based film. Goering The deaths of the Asian workers and the prisoners were real events, but most of the book and the movie are not true. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma. The river is the Mae Klong River which passes through a valley of the Khwae Noi River (little tributary). 2023 Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Read our FAQs or send a question to our customer service team. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and scooped up seven Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor. The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and . [21] Guinness later reflected on the scene, calling it the "finest piece of work" he had ever done. Unique to this film, in some ways, were other issues related to poorly made optical dissolves, the original camera lens and a malfunctioning camera. Both writers had to work in secret, as they were on the Hollywood blacklist and had fled to England in order to continue working. [44], The film was re-released in 1964 and earned a further estimated $2.6 million at the box office in the United States and Canada[45] but the following year its revised total US and Canadian revenues were reported by Variety as $17,195,000. This film is produced by Sam Spiegel, and the music is composed by Malcolm Arnold for . It was set up at the beginning of the Burma-Siams construction. Lean and his production designer, Donald Ashton, were in Ceylon months ahead of time to construct the film's title character (the bridge, not the river). 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.. 9. It spans crosses the lazily winding Khwae Noi at Kanchanaburi, Thailand. In many tense, dramatic scenes, only the sounds of nature are used. He served as an adviser during the making of the movie. See some of the commonly asked questions about the Special Committee. After a few days, the British medical officer Major Clipton (James Donald) tries to persuade both Saito and Nicholson to compromise, but both are unyielding. In the meantime, Shears manages to escape. Toosey later defended him in his war crimes trial after the war, and the two became friends. There are tourist trains to Nam Tok stopping at stations in between daily from the River Kwai Bridge station at 06.05, 11.00 and 14.30. Also, in the novel, the bridge is not destroyed: the train plummets into the river from a secondary charge placed by Warden, but Nicholson (never realising "what have I done?") Jun 7, 2011 - New on Blu 6-7-11: Studios unload nearly 70 titles. Bought 4 and 6 mm dowel wood for bridge piers. As the train approaches, Nicholson frantically pulls up the wire, following it to find the detonator. 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. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial, Malaysia. 25 March 1995. "[17], The film was made in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). US Navy Commander Shears tells of the horrific conditions. In the film, a Colonel Saito is camp commandant. We hadn't much breath left for whistling. Has something sim'lar The Kwai River Bridge was part of the meter-gauge railway constructed by the Japanese during World War Two. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI takes place in Japan-occupied Siam (later Thailand) in 1943, after the Imperial Japanese Empire has conquered vast territories of Asia. The Bridge over the River Kwai met its fate in 1945. Weill you be in London for the Coronation in 2023? [14][15], The film was an international co-production between companies in Britain and the United States. [citation needed], Julie Summers, in her book The Colonel of Tamarkan, writes that Boulle, who had been a prisoner of war in Thailand, created the fictional Nicholson character as an amalgam of his memories of collaborating French officers. [40] Boulle had never been to the bridge. 23. Sign-up for free daily emails with the latest news about British culture, heritage, and history! They are joined by approximately 1,850 Dutch casualties and one non-war grave. Its telling that the railway workers had to see to their own medical care. The Bridge on the River Kwai poses complex interpretive issues about the vagaries of war and military behavior as conveyed by the Japanese soldiers, Commander Saito, Lt. Col. Nicholson, and the British captives. Written 20 October 2021. David Lean himself also claimed that producer Sam Spiegel cheated him out of his rightful part in the credits since he had had a major hand in the script. Thousands of Asian workers and POWs (prisoners of war) died while working on the project. A sketch of that bridge was used as the basis for the fictional one. After the final scene was shot, producer Sam Spiegel shipped the movie footage on five different planes to minimize the risk of loss. 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. The bridge construction is going badly, however, and Saito offers concessions to Nicholson in an effort to get the structure completed on schedule. 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. In the setting of World War II, a defeated unit British Soldiers is marched into a Japanese prison camp in western Thailand, with the purpose of constructing a bridge over the River Kwai to carry a new railway line to invade Burma. When, the next morning, Saito orders all the British prisoners to begin building the bridge under the command of a Japanese engineer, Nicholson and the other officers refuse, even when Saito threatens to kill them. Alec Guiness, William Holden, and Jack Hawkins in front of bridge they built in a scene from the film 'The Bridge On The River Kwai', 1957. Lean had a lengthy row with Guinness over how to play the role of Nicholson; the actor wanted to play the part with a sense of humour and sympathy, while Lean thought Nicholson should be "a bore." This Week's Toybox is . By this time, the United States and its naval and industrial might had entered the war. The prisoners of war who had . Questions or feedback on our new site? Lean wanted to use the tune in Kwai, figured those lyrics wouldn't pass the censors (or the approval of the composer's widow), and opted to have the troops whistle it instead. Allied soldiers had built a church and a hospital on the site where the cemetery now sits. After the enlisted men are marched to the bridge site, Saito threatens to have the officers shot, until Major Clipton, the British medical officer, warns Saito there are too many witnesses for him to get away with murder. The film won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Guinness), not to mention a handful of Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and even a Grammy nomination for its soundtrack. The place: Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma. The plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay were almost entirely fictional. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Although the obvious link was by sea, Allied submarines controlling the region made it too treacherous. Nicholson will not cooperate and finally insists that the bridge can be built only under his command. Today, he rests alongside his fellow POWs in Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma (Myanmar). During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. [9], The film was relatively faithful to the novel, with two major exceptions. A real train rode over the bridge as it blew up. Nicholson forbids any escape attempts because they were ordered by headquarters to surrender, and escapes could be seen as defiance of orders. Bridge over the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Some sections, such as the infamous Hellfire Pass, required carving through tough sheer rock. $ 3 million (estimated) The Bridge on the River Kwai is a British 1957 movie from Columbia Pictures, based on Pierre Boulle 's 1952 book The Bridge over the River Kwai ( French: Le Pont de la Rivire Kwai ). Both the wooden and the adjacent steel bridge were subjected to numerous air raids between January and June 1945. The Suez Canal crisis of 1956 badly affected production. [16], Director David Lean clashed repeatedly with his cast members, particularly Guinness and James Donald, who thought the novel was anti-British. By daybreak, however, the river level has dropped, exposing the wire connecting the explosives to the detonator. For example, a Sergeant-Major Risaburo Saito was in real life second in command at the camp. Lean only got $150,000 himself, but he always said Holden was worth it. [5][6] It has been included on the American Film Institute's list of best American films ever made. The Burma-Siam Railways construction necessitated construction of over 670 bridges and numerous cuttings. The line passing through the scenic Three Pagodas Pass runs for 250 miles. However, in 1943 a railway bridge was built by Allied POWs over the Mae Klong river renamed Khwae Yai in the 1960s as a result of the film at Tha Ma Kham, five kilometres from Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Omissions? 27. A regiment of British prisoners arrives, whistling the Colonel Bogey March, under the command of Colonel Nicholson (Sir Alec Guinness). Best time to visit Bridge Over The River Kwai (preferred time): 09:00 am - 01:00 pm. Approximately 5 kilometres north of Kanchanaburi there were two bridges that were built by POWs during the war. Lean filmed the scene from behind Guinness and exploded in anger when Guinness asked him why he was doing this. Return trains are 12.55 and 15.15. David Leans 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films. Thanbyuzayat continued to be used as a POW reception centre to reinforce work parties along the Burma-Siam Railway. The Bridge on the River Kwai, commonly referred to as the Railroad of Death or Death Railway, which stands in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, was one of only eight steel bridges of the estimated 688 that were built. As the train approaches, they hurry down to the riverbank to investigate. [66] The original negative for the feature was scanned at 4k (four times the resolution in High Definition), and the colour correction and digital restoration were also completed at 4k. At their head was Lieutenant-Colonel Phillip Toosey. Bridge Over The River Kwai Timing: 24-hrs. This article is part of our Classic Film Throwback series - By Sam Hendrian - "Madness. The movie starring William Holden, Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins was shot at more than 1 locations. ABC, sponsored by Ford, paid a record $1.8 million for the television rights for two screenings in the United States. Ernest Gordon, a survivor of the railway construction and POW camps described in the novel/film, stated in his 1962 book, Through the Valley of the Kwai: In Pierre Boulle's book The Bridge over the River Kwai and the film which was based on it, the impression was given that British officers not only took part in building the bridge willingly, but finished in record time to demonstrate to the enemy their superior efficiency. Mitch Miller had a hit with a recording of both marches. Explore the CWGC Archive through our online portal. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In 1997, the movie was deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. Or maybe you have a story for us or would like to work together. 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. Want to work for the CWGC? The two did not collaborate on the script; Wilson took over after Lean was dissatisfied with Foreman's work. The story is fictional but uses the construction of the Burma Railway, in 1942-1943, as its historical setting, and is partly based on Pierre Boulle's own life experience working in Malaysia rubber . In 1942 Japan seized Myanmar from British control and quickly decided to build a rail link to Thailand in order to maintain a secure supply route to their forces. He was contracted for $150,000 to be paid in installments. 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. Clipton objects, believing this to be collaboration with the enemy. Nicholson suddenly realizes that his pride in the bridges construction has blinded him to his military duty. But, what about the real men behind the real story of the construction of the Burma-Siam Railway? Explore the story of the CWGC, from our formation during the First World War to our work today. In the film, Lt. Col Nicholson is seen collaborating with his captors, even under duress. 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. The Burma-Siam Railway was 250 miles of railway constructed by Allied prisoners of war alongside forced Asian labourers. However, cameraman Freddy Ford was unable to get out of the way of the explosion in time, and Lean had to stop filming. [41] According to Variety, the film earned estimated domestic box office revenues of $18,000,000[42] although this was revised downwards the following year to $15,000,000, which was still the biggest for 1958 and Columbia's highest-grossing film at the time. Witnessing the carnage, Clipton shakes his head and mutters, "Madness! Of course, he could not save many of his men from expiring, but he did their best to make conditions more comfortable. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Neither of them got credit, though, as The Bridge on the River Kwai was released during the three-year period when people who'd ever been Communists (or who refused to answer questions about it before Congress) were ineligible for Academy Awards. We worked at bayonet point and under bamboo lash, taking any risk to sabotage the operation whenever the opportunity arose. Kanchanaburi is served by a rail service from Bangkok Noi . The Bridge on the River Kwai was selected in 1997 for preservation in the National Film Registry. (This can be compared to a scene in the 1927 movie, The General, which starred Buster Keaton.). They were calling it the Death Railway. Has no balls It was initially scripted by screenwriter Carl Foreman, who was later replaced by Michael Wilson.
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