So Spiegel hired another writer, Calder Willingham, to give it a crack. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British-American epic war movie directed by David Lean and starring William Holden, Jack Hawkins, and Alec Guinness, featuring Sessue Hayakawa. - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. This film is produced by Sam Spiegel, and the music is composed by Malcolm Arnold for . Vital equipment that would normally have been shipped through the canal had to be flown out to the location instead. Shears is enjoying his hospital stay in Ceylon unwittingly within a commando school referred to as "Force 316" (likely based on the real world Force 136 of the Special Operations Executive (SOE)). does not fall onto the plunger, and the bridge suffers only minor damage. Last survivor of the Bridge On The River Kwai Japanese railway The rail link, however, would . This article is part of our Classic Film Throwback series - By Sam Hendrian - "Madness. This, plus the fact that he loved to travel, plus the fact that shooting a film in Southeast Asia would be good for him tax-wise, motivated him to accept a project that was bound to be grueling. Young: "Donald, did anyone whistle Colonel Bogey as they did in the film?" The Bridge on the River Kwai - IGN In reality, Japanese engineers proved to be just as capable at construction efforts as their Allied counterparts.[58][59]. The movie was filmed in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka. Kwai River Bridge history. For the scene when Colonel Nicholson emerges from the oven after several days confined there, Alec Guinness based his faltering walk on that of his son Matthew Guinness when he was recovering from polio. For many, its their first exposure to the horrors prisoners of wars suffered in the Far East. As shown in the movie, Guinness played the scene without flinching. Toosey later defended him in his war crimes trial after the war, and the two became friends. Nicholson advises Saito that the officers cannot be required to do manual labour according to the Geneva Convention. As it opens, two POWs, the American navy commander Shears (William Holden) and an Australian, are digging graves for their companions. It would be a massive undertaking. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set in 1942, shortly after the fall of Singapore. Tracy had read the book and told Spiegel emphatically that the part must be played by an Englishman. The camp commander, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), informs the prisoners that they will all begin working on the building of a railway bridge the following day. It was still highly unusual at that time for a television network to show such a long film in one evening; most films of that length were still generally split into two parts and shown over two evenings. The Bridge of the River kwai It is a tourist attraction of Kanchanaburi. 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. On 16 October 1943, the two ends of the Burma-Thailand railway were joined at Konkoita in Thailand. [3] The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Sessue Hayakawa. Tooseys men stated this never happened. 24. The screenplay was instead credited to the novelist, Boullewhich was quite a feat, since he didnt speak or read English. 12. As Ashton explained, it was so cheap because "we used local labor and elephants; and the timber was cut nearby.". Thanks to the film, the Bridge, situated in the Thai town of Kanchanaburi a couple of hours drive from Bangkok, is one of Thailand . ", The screenwriters, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, were on the Hollywood blacklist and, even though living in exile in England, could only work on the film in secret. Before the US began rolling up Japanese possessions throughout the Pacific, and the British really started gaining momentum in Burma, Japan had carved out a large empire. 's working to build and/or destroy a bridge for the Japanese during World War II. Leadership Analysis: The Bridge On The River Kwai. 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. Of course, he could not save many of his men from expiring, but he did their best to make conditions more comfortable. 17. "[57], Some Japanese viewers have disliked the film's depiction of the Japanese characters and the historical background presented as being inaccurate, particularly in the interactions between Saito and Nicholson. US Navy Commander Shears tells of the horrific conditions. The Suez Canal crisis of 1956 badly affected production. They were soon sent to Thailand to begin labouring on the Death Railway. The Bridge on the River Kwai. Shears, who is a British commando officer like Warden in the novel, became an American sailor who escapes from the POW camp. The Bridge on the River Kwai was actually one of the reasons movies started becoming prime-time television programming. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a work of fiction, but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942 to 1943 for its historical setting. Nicholson will not cooperate and finally insists that the bridge can be built only under his command. Japanese guards were known for their cruelty and would frequently torture and assault their prisoners. After the war, their remains were moved from these makeshift cemeteries and graveyards to purpose-built Commission sites. Save up to 50% on Thailand River Cruises August 2024. He joined up in 1940 and served in the Middle East with the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion before transferring back to the Dutch East Indies in early 1942. He succumbed to malaria, dysentery, and malnutrition at Camp Kilo 101 in Thailand. Within 16 months the bridge was completed but it took another two years to complete the entire rail line. [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. Spiegel, the producer, bought the film rights to the book (the English version of which was called The Bridge Over the River Kwai) and hired Carl Foreman to write the script. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Check here to see our open positions and volunteer roles. A picture of the actual bridge over the River Kwai in June 2004. The march was written in 1914 by Kenneth J. Alford, a pseudonym of British Bandmaster Frederick J. Ricketts. 27. The rest were made of wood and local materials. The destruction of the bridge as depicted in the film is also entirely fictional. Some of the characters in the film use the names of real people who were involved in the Burma Railway. The finished screenplay had significant contributions from both Wilson and Foreman, though each went to his grave insisting he was the more important contributor. David Lean, director of such landmark epics as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, didn't always make giant movies. Reviews There are no reviews yet. [48], Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised the film as "a towering entertainment of rich variety and revelation of the ways of men". The Kwai Bridge: The Reel and the Real - The New York Times But Laughton, a fine actor with such credits as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) on his resume, was in poor physical shapegreat for playing the corpulent Henry VIII in Young Bess (1953), not so great for playing a British military officer in a prison camp. Guinness, however, had his own reservations. Is Bridge on River Kwai a true story? - IronSet Aerial reconnaissance photo of the Steel Bridge taken during a bombing raid. Some Thailand River cruises begin in Bangkok and lead along the Mekong River to destinations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Sri Lanka Filming Locations: The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) Posted on July 17, 2017 by tokyofox. In many tense, dramatic scenes, only the sounds of nature are used. He also didn't like hearing that he was Lean's second choice for the role, a fact made more awkward when he arrived in Ceylon and Lean greeted him with, "Of course, you know I really wanted Charles Laughton." Sessue Hayakawa really did accidentally strike Alec Guinness hard enough to draw blood in one scene. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . While Nicholson disapproves of acts of sabotage and other deliberate attempts to delay progress, Toosey encouraged this: termites were collected in large numbers to eat the wooden structures, and the concrete was badly mixed. Or maybe you have a story for us or would like to work together. Take a look below for 28 more fun and interesting facts about The Bridge on the . 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. A train carrying important dignitaries and soldiers is scheduled to be the first to cross the bridge the following day, and Warden wants to destroy both. Log in. 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First Joyce and then Shears are killed in the ensuing gunfire. Kwai River Bridge - History and Facts | History Hit The Bridge on the River Kwai: The explosive bridge (HD CLIP) River Kwai Bridge | TakeMeTour The Bridge on the River Kwai Movie Review | Common Sense Media Bridges beyond the River Kwai | Michigan Today [13], Many directors were considered for the project, among them John Ford, William Wyler, Howard Hawks, Fred Zinnemann, and Orson Welles (who was also offered a starring role). Assistant director John Kerrison was killed in a car crash on the way to one of the locations. Get information about our funding, our Customer Charter and our Strategic Plan. The plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay were almost entirely fictional. All the filming locations of The Bridge on the River Kwai are listed below. This was an entertaining story. 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. Civilian workmen suffered terribly too, with their casualties far outstripping the military personnel. Sri Lanka Filming Locations: The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) Wrote Guinness: "I felt like turning around and getting back on the plane and paying my own fare home!" The weather is good, not hot The train passes at 10 AM and the train returns at 4 PM. Explore the CWGC Archive through our online portal. This way, he remained oblivious to the real nature of his characters fate. The casualties of the Burma-Siam railway were often buried in camp burial grounds located close to where they originally fell. Return trains are 12.55 and 15.15. [14][15], The film was an international co-production between companies in Britain and the United States. David Lean was completely at home in the hot and humid Ceylon jungle. It is also known as the "River Kwai March". Cutting the base board 1190 x 160 x 12 mm. Real Bridge on the River Kwai. Pay on the train. Over a muddy jungle river called Kwai, a Japanese colonel, Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), must complete a railroad bridge vital to Japan's war effort. Nicholson suddenly realizes that his pride in the bridges construction has blinded him to his military duty. [12], William Holden's deal was considered one of the best ever for an actor at the time, with him receiving $300,000 plus 10% of the film's gross receipts. Allied bombers struck the wooden bridge and its concrete counterpart in February 1945 with one of the earliest uses of guided bombs in history. According to one biographer, he was "broke and needed work; he had even pawned his gold cigarette case." Toosey in fact did as much as possible to delay the building of the bridge. In 1997, this film was deemed "culturally . By the way, the real Kwai River was just a trickle near Burma, where Boulle set his bridge; the actual bridge had been built 200 miles away, near Bangkok. But, what about the real men behind the real story of the construction of the Burma-Siam Railway? He wanders into a Burmese village, is nursed back to health, and eventually reaches the British colony of Ceylon. Real Bridge on the River Kwai | New Scientist Budget. Burma-Siam Railway labourers and prisoners of war slept in rudimentary bamboo huts on filthy floors. The Bridge Over The River Kwai: The Real Story - Travel Happy Ten Interesting Facts about The Bridge on the River Kwai - Anglotopia.net Showing the impact of disease on the workforce, Kanchanaburi contains two graves holding the ashes of 300 Cholera victims. The actual name of "Bridge on the River Kwai", on the 258 mile long Burma Railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma, built from 1940-1944, was called Bridge 277. Servicemen who survived the death marches, appalling working conditions, and savage treatment by their guards thought the film nor book reflected the realities of their experience. The deaths of the Asian workers and the prisoners were real events, but most of the book and the movie are not true. Dying, Nicholson stumbles toward the detonator and falls on the plunger, blowing up the bridge and sending the train hurtling into the river. Bought 4 and 6 mm dowel wood for bridge piers. 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. 6. Instead of the five year predicted completion, the bridge on river Kwai, was completed in 16 months. Today, he rests alongside his fellow POWs in Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma (Myanmar). It is famously known as the setting for the a 1957 World War Two epic Bridge over the River Kwai. 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. 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.Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942-1943, the plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay are almost entirely fictional. All but a small section of the route was built in dense, malarial jungles, in sweltering heat and monsoon rains. In the movie the bridge is destroyed by commandos. Kanchanaburi is served by a rail service from Bangkok Noi . They felt none of the Bridge on the River Kwai cast could fully understand or represent what it was like to be there. Warden responds that he already knew and that the US Navy had agreed to transfer him to the British SOE with the simulated rank of Major to avoid embarrassment. According to Columbia Pictures, they followed an all-new 4K digital restoration from the original negative with newly restored 5.1 audio. Under cover of darkness, Shears and Joyce plant explosives on the bridge towers. He, Shears, and Joyce reach the river in time with the assistance of Siamese women bearers and their village chief, Khun Yai. The place: Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma. Only he survives, though he is wounded. Two bridges were built, the first made of wood. Realising he has no choice, Shears volunteers. Jun 7, 2011 - New on Blu 6-7-11: Studios unload nearly 70 titles. The screenplay was based on French author Pierre Boulle"s 1954 novel of the same name. The prisoners of war who had . Those who were there did not think much of the novel or film of the Bridge of the River Kwai. In 1941 the Japanese Army invaded Thailand. Then he hired Lean to directand Lean didn't like Foreman's version. Read our Cookie Policy, Terms & Conditions and Data Protection & Privacy Policy. Rather than draw on their own corps of manpower, which was busy fighting an eventual losing battle against encroaching Allied forces, it would put its legions of POWs and local forced labourers to work. The movie is best known for the "Colonel Bogey March", the song that is whistled by the POWs. He was listed as missing in action in June 1943. It is close to, but not over the country's border with Myanmar. Thanbyuzayat was originally a POW administration headquarters and base camp. Bridge on the River Kwai - silverfox175 The bridge, several museums, and cemeteries have respectfully preserved the history and memorialized the dead. 22. [35], Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey of the British Army was the real senior Allied officer at the bridge in question. These issues, running throughout the film, were addressed to a lesser extent on various previous DVD releases of the film and might not have been so obvious in standard definition.[67]. The Bridge on the River Kwai was selected in 1997 for preservation in the National Film Registry. Thousands of Asian workers and POWs (prisoners of war) died while working on the project. Shears tries to get out of the mission by confessing that he impersonated an officer, hoping for better treatment from the Japanese. You carry it in your pack like the plague. [23], British composer Malcolm Arnold recalled that he had "ten days to write around forty-five minutes worth of music" much less time than he was used to. Its a charming, idyllic spot, belying the intense horror and suffering the men who built it went through. The Bridge On The River Kwai | Film Locations Witnessing the carnage, Clipton shakes his head and mutters, "Madness! 25 March 1995. 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. As a result, Boulle, who did not speak English, was credited and received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; many years later, Foreman and Wilson posthumously received the Academy Award.[4]. - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. 13. Nicholson yells for help, while attempting to stop Joyce from reaching the detonator. Both writers had to work in secret, as they were on the Hollywood blacklist and had fled to the UK in order to continue working. 10. Spiegel sent the screenplay to the Japanese government ahead of time, hoping to get their cooperation with the production. At all. 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. British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it. 2. Nicholson forbids any escape attempts because they were ordered by headquarters to surrender, and escapes could be seen as defiance of orders. The movie is based on the novel Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai by Pierre Boulle. For example, a Sergeant-Major Risaburo Saito was in real life second in command at the camp. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - Trivia - IMDb Spiegel finally sent Michael Wilson to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where Lean was in pre-production, and the two worked together to hammer out the final version. At their head was Lieutenant-Colonel Phillip Toosey. This film is taken from a popular novel written by Pierre Boulle in 1952. Approximately 5 kilometres north of Kanchanaburi there were two bridges that were built by POWs during the war. Despite this, he won an Oscar and a Grammy. 60,000 or so Allied prisoners of war, including British, Australian, Dutch and some US troops, alongside more than 200,000 civilian labourers were pressed into service.
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