The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Calificación de los usuarios:

8.5/10   

Director:

David Lean

Guionista (WGA):

Pierre Boulle (novel)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

2 octubre 1957 (UK)

Género:

Aventura | Drama | Guerra

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:

Bridge | British | Construction | Japanese | Sabotage

Premios:

Won 7 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 5 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Nothing less than a masterpiece...

Reparto

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

También conocida como:

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

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild war violence. (1991 reissue)

Duración:

161 min

País:

UK | USA

Idioma:

Inglés | Japonés | Tailandés

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Relación de Aspecto:

2.55 : 1

Sonido:

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

Clasificación:

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)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Ambepussa, Sri Lanka

Compañía:

Horizon Pictures (II)

Trivialidades:

Fred Zinnemann was another choice to direct; Sam Spiegel very much wanted him to take the job, due to his box-office clout, but Zinneman didn't understand the novel and declined. Orson Welles was reportedly approached to co-star and direct, but Welles, too, dropped out after reading the script. William Wyler was considered but never formally approached. Ultimately, Spiegel explained the decision to hire David Lean (then virtually unknown outside of Britain) as being "In absence of anybody else."

Errores:

Continuidad: The morning of the explosion, the sun rises upstream of the bridge. When Nicholson finds the exposed wire snagged on the sunken tree, he is squinting into the sun, upstream. All the rest of the action, including the snagged wire, occurs downstream.

Citas:

Colonel Saito: All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

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Banda de Sonido:

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Nothing less than a masterpiece...

About as Oscar-worthy as any film made in the '50s is David Lean's gripping BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI. Based loosely on a real-life incident, it tells the story of an imprisoned British officer (Alec Guinness) who loses sight of his mission when forced to build a bridge for the Japanese that will enable the enemy to carry supplies by train through the jungle during World War II. Guinness plays the crisp British officer to perfection, brilliant in all of his scenes but especially in his confrontations with Sessue Hayakawa. William Holden has a pivotal role as one of the prisoners who escapes and enjoys his freedom for awhile before being asked to return with a small squadron to destroy the bridge. Jack Hawkins and Geoffrey Horne have colorful roles too and all are superb under David Lean's direction.

The jungle settings filmed in Ceylon add the necessary realism to the project and there is never a suspension of interest although the story runs well over two-and-a-half hours. The film builds to a tense and magnificent climax with an ending that seems to be deliberately ambiguous and thought provoking. Well worth watching, especially if shown in the restored letterbox version now being shown on TCM.

Some of the best lines go to William Holden and he makes the most of a complex role--a mixture of cynicism and heroism in a character that ranks with his best anti-hero roles in films of the '50s. He brings as much conviction to his role as Alec Guinness does and deserved a Best Actor nomination that he did not get.