The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Director:

David Lean

Guionista (WGA):

Pierre Boulle (novel)

Release Date:

2 octubre 1957 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | War

Frase comercial:

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:

Uniform | Sword | Military | Asia | Bridge Construction

Awards:

Won 7 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 5 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Good film, but a travesty of history

Cast

William Holden	...	Cmdr. Shears
Jack Hawkins	...	Maj. Warden
Alec Guinness	...	Col. Nicholson
Sessue Hayakawa	...	Col. Saito
James Donald	...	Maj. Clipton
Geoffrey Horne	...	Lt. Joyce
André Morell	...	Col. Green (as Andre Morell)
Peter Williams	...	Capt. Reeves
John Boxer	...	Maj. Hughes
Percy Herbert	...	Pvt. Grogan
Harold Goodwin	...	Pvt. Baker, Sick List Volunteer
Ann Sears	...	Nurse at Siamese hospital
Heihachiro Okawa	...	Capt. Kanematsu (as Henry Okawa)
Keiichiro Katsumoto	...	Lt. Miura
M.R.B. Chakrabandhu	...	Yai (as M.R.B. Chakrabandhu {Col. Broome})

También conocida como:

Puente sobre el río Kwai, El (Argentina) (Spain) [es]

Duración:

161 min

País:

UK | USA

Idioma:

English | Japanese | Thai

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sonido:

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

Clasificación:

South Korea:12 | USA:PG (re-rating) (1991) | Brazil:12 | Iceland:12 | USA:Approved | 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)

Trivialidades:

While the bridge in the story was constructed by prisoners in two months, the actual one built in Ceylon by a British company for the filming (425 feet long and 50 feet above the water) took eight months, with the use of 500 workers and 35 elephants. It was demolished in a matter of seconds, and the total cost was 85,000 pounds (equivalent to about 1.2 million pounds in 2002).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Both scenes are wrong: the actual line would have been 1 metre gauge, as it connected existing Thai and Burmese metre-gauge routes.

Quotes:

Colonel Nicholson: I'm adamant. I will not have an officer from my battalion working as a coolie.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Wind and the Lion (1975)

Soundtrack:

If You Were the Only Girl in the World

Good film, but a travesty of history

I am normally an admirer of David Lean. But it is difficult to understand why he chose to base this film on a real event at the River Kwai, as it grossly misrepresents the real "Colonel Nicholson" and caused considerable distress to both him and the River Kwai veterans.

The Colonel Nicholson character is based on the allied camp commander, Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey, who was a remarkable officer by any standards.

Awarded the DSO for heroism during the defence of Singapore, he refused an order to join the evacuation so he could remain with his men during captivity. In the hellish conditions of the camp, he worked courageously to ensure that as many of his men as possible would survive. He endured regular beatings when he complained of ill-treatment of prisoners, but as a skilled negotiator he was able to win many concessions from the Japanese by convincing them that this would speed the completion of the work. Behind their backs, however, he did everything possible to delay and sabotage the construction without endangering his men, and also helped organise a daring escape, at considerable cost to himself. For his conduct in the camp, he won the undying respect of his men.

After the war, he showed great generosity of spirit by saving the life of Colonel Saito, second in command at the camp and a relatively decent officer, when he spoke up for him at the war crimes tribunal. He worked for the veterans all his life, and became President of the National Federation of Far Eastern Prisoners of War.

He refused repeated requests by the veterans to speak out against the film, being much too modest to seek any glory or recognition for himself. However you will find his achievements documented in a book by Professor Peter Davies entitled "The Man Behind the Bridge".

Toosey hoped that no one watching the film would believe a British Army officer could be so stupid in real life. But with the film being rated on this site as one of the top 50 movies of all time, this hope may have been misplaced. Enjoy the film by all means as a work of fiction, but it is surely important to set the record straight and recognise the heroism of the real man involved.