as for the bridge on the River Kwai, it crossed the river only in the imagination of its author. The bridge depicted in the film is most definitely real. 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. [7][8] In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Bridge on the River Kwai the 11th greatest British film of the 20th century. The real Bridge over the River Kwai is bridge 277 of the Burma-Siam Railway. Two bridges were built, the first made of wood. The Bridge on the River Kwai was widely praised, winning seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 30th Academy Awards. The Japanese Railway Regiment forced thousands of allied POWs and natives to build the . Surviving veterans consider Toosey one of the finest officers they ever served under. Some Thailand River cruises begin in Bangkok and lead along the Mekong River to destinations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In the movie the bridge is destroyed by commandos. Nevertheless, the leeches in the recreated swamps were real. To learn more about the men behind the real story of the Bridge on the River Kwai, and to discover the casualties, please use our Find War Dead tool. Dying, Nicholson stumbles toward the detonator and falls on the plunger, blowing up the bridge and sending the train hurtling into the river. Did he really want the enemy to come in across it? Recognising Shears, Nicholson exclaims, "What have I done? [50] Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times claimed the film's strongest points were for being "excellently produced in virtually all respects and that it also offers an especially outstanding and different performance by Alec Guinness. In 1985, the Academy officially recognized Foreman and Wilson as the screenwriters and posthumously awarded the Oscar to them. Explore the story of the CWGC, from our formation during the First World War to our work today. He succumbed to malaria, dysentery, and malnutrition at Camp Kilo 101 in Thailand. By this time, the United States and its naval and industrial might had entered the war. Read more. Rather than start building at two ends and meet in the middle, as per normal railway construction, the Japanese created hundreds of camps across its lengths. [56] Warren Buffett said it was his favorite movie. (This can be compared to a scene in the 1927 movie, The General, which starred Buster Keaton.). 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. Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, wining seven -- including Best Picture . The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and . 25. Allied bombers struck the wooden bridge and its concrete counterpart in February 1945 with one of the earliest uses of guided bombs in history. 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. Both the wooden and the adjacent steel bridge were subjected to numerous air raids between January and June 1945. 9. Saito leaves the officers standing all day in the intense heat. In 1984 the Academy Board of Governors voted posthumous Oscars to Foreman and Wilson, and their names were included on prints of the film beginning in the 1990s. The Bridge on the River Kwai was selected in 1997 for preservation in the National Film Registry. By the end, prisoners working on the rail route werent calling it the Burma-Siam Railway. Both bridges stood for two years and were destroyed by bombers in 1945. The real Bridge on the River Kwai. For example, a Sergeant-Major Risaburo Saito was in real life second in command at the camp. We want to hear from you! The Bridge over the River Kwai (French: Le Pont de la rivire Kwa) is a novel by the French novelist Pierre Boulle, published in French in 1952 and English translation by Xan Fielding in 1954. [14][15], The film was an international co-production between companies in Britain and the United States. 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. "[17], The film was made in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Following the raids, Thanbyuzayat was evacuated. In early 1943, World War II British prisoners arrive by train at a Japanese prison camp in Burma. [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. POWs and indentured labourers were worked to death while busy constructing the railway simultaneously. Real Bridge on the River Kwai. 13. - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. 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. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 World War II POW film directed by David Lean, about the construction of the bridges over the River Kwai, although it's heavily fictionalised.It's based on the French novel The Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle, of Planet of the Apes fame; Boulle, who could neither read nor write English, was also credited for the screenplay adaptation due to . THE HEAD OF COLUMBIA PICTURES FORCED LEAN TO ADD A LOVE SCENE. In January 1943, a base hospital was organised to care for sick and injured prisoners and labourers. Commonwealth war graves commission Caring for the fallen, Commonwealth war graves foundation Our charity site. Mortally wounded, he falls onto the plunger, the bridge is blown up, and the train with the dignitaries falls into the river. Vital equipment that would normally have been shipped through the canal had to be flown out to the location instead. Roger Ebert focused on the symbolism of the bridge in this 1999 description: "[The war] narrows down to a single task, building a . Read our Cookie Policy, Terms & Conditions and Data Protection & Privacy Policy. It was released in the US on December 14, 1957, taking in a reported $17M+, which made it the highest-grossing film of 1957. Lean filmed the scene from behind Guinness and exploded in anger when Guinness asked him why he was doing this. 17. 25 March 1995. 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. Today, he rests alongside his fellow POWs in Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma (Myanmar). A real train rode over the bridge as it blew up. Its this structure, Bridge 277, that still stands and is a famous local tourist attraction. Image: British troops surrender at Singapore. The film"s story was loosely based on a true World War II incident, and the real-life character of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey. Mitch Miller had a hit with a recording of both marches. Warden, Shears, and two other commandos parachute into Thailand; one, Chapman, dies after falling into a tree, and Warden is wounded in an encounter with a Japanese patrol and must be carried on a litter. David Leans 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films. David Lean, a British director then in his late forties, had made 11 films, including well-received adaptations of Charles Dickens (Great Expectations, Oliver Twist) and Noel Coward (Blithe Spirit, Brief Encounter). Get information about our funding, our Customer Charter and our Strategic Plan. Unlike the other two, it is not located in Thailand. 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. This was an incorrect assumption. . The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in . Has something sim'lar He wanders into a Burmese village, is nursed back to health, and eventually reaches the British colony of Ceylon. For the scenes where William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Geoffrey Horne and the native girls had to wade through swamps, they were wading through specially created ones. In fact, there were two: one a wooden railway bridge and the other a ferroconcrete structure built using imported bridge sections from Japanese-controlled Java. At all. [30], A 1969 BBC television documentary, Return to the River Kwai, made by former POW John Coast,[33] sought to highlight the real history behind the film (partly through getting ex-POWs to question its factual basis, for example Dr Hugh de Wardener and Lt-Col Alfred Knights), which angered many former POWs. [19], Guinness later said that he subconsciously based his walk while emerging from "the Oven" on that of his eleven-year-old son Matthew,[20] who was recovering from polio at the time, a disease that left him temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. [43] By October 1960, the film had earned worldwide box office revenues of $30 million. For the novel, see, American theatrical release poster, "Style A", A transcript of the interview and the documentary as a whole can be found in the new edition of John Coast's book, Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, 11th greatest British film of the 20th century, the highest-grossing film of 1957 in the United States and Canada, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, Best Sound Track Album, Dramatic Picture Score or Original Cast, AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), "Complete National Film Registry Listing", "New to the National Film Registry (December 1997) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin", "Columbia Earns as It Holds Coin Due Bill Holden on 10% of 'Kwai', "Flashback: A look back at this day in film history (, "Sri Lanka to rebuild bridge from River Kwai movie", "Film locations for David Lean's The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957), in Sri Lanka", "How Father Brown Led Sir Alec Guinness to the Church", "sic - correct spelling is Siegertsz. Put on your marching boots and whistle a jaunty tune as we investigate some behind-the-scenes facts about this enduring war film. Nicholson objects, informing Saito the Geneva Convention exempts officers from manual labour. 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. Has no balls The trials of Australian Army Lieutenant George Hamilton Lamb reflected the mens awful experience building the Burma-Siam Death Railway. English / Japanese / Thai. The region was seized by the Japanese in 1942, and they then set about making preparations . The Japanese did indeed force British, Dutch, Australian, and American prisoners to build the Burma Railway, resulting in some 13,000 POW deaths and at least 80,000 civilian deaths. Sign-up for free daily emails with the latest news about British culture, heritage, and history! Bangkok-Kanchanaburi, by train or private transport, for the Bridge on River Kwai; Kanchanaburi-Nam Tok, by train or private transport, for Death Railway and Hellfire Pass; You can book your bus tickets online and in advance here. 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. [39], The major railway bridge described in the novel and film did not actually cross the river known at the time as the Kwai. Guinness had appeared in Lean's Dickens films but had since made a name for himself doing goofy comedies like The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). 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. rainy day Therefore, there are not many people. [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). Kwai River Bridge history. Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. Questions or feedback on our new site? 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. Use our search tools to explore our records and find out about those we commemorate. Imperial Japanese Army Command deemed this unacceptable. It was not long before the Japanese army overrunning Java captured Lieutenant Lamb and his men. [49] Mike Kaplan, reviewing for Variety, described it as "a gripping drama, expertly put together and handled with skill in all departments. Bangkok - Kanchanaburi More info / Tickets. A sketch of that bridge was used as the basis for the fictional one. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The finished screenplay had significant contributions from both Wilson and Foreman, though each went to his grave insisting he was the more important contributor. He knew that the railway ran parallel to the Kwae for many miles, and he therefore assumed that it was the Kwae which it crossed just north of Kanchanaburi. It worked. Lean only got $150,000 himself, but he always said Holden was worth it. Thanbyuzayat continued to be used as a POW reception centre to reinforce work parties along the Burma-Siam Railway. The steel bridge was repaired and is still in use today. [51] Time magazine praised Lean's directing, noting he demonstrates "a dazzlingly musical sense and control of the many and involving rhythms of a vast composition. But I am writing a factual account, and in justice to these menliving and deadwho worked on that bridge, I must make it clear that we never did so willingly. Although the Death Railway has never again reached the Myanmar border, a shorter stretch was reopened by Thailand's railway authorities between 1949 and 1958, and trains on this modern-day line cross the infamous Bridge on the River Kwai. This story is retold in: Anecdotal Tit Bits: Making "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "links for research, Allied POWs under the Japanese", "The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the, "Once-Stupendous-Now-Modest $2,700,000 Budget Kept Secret; 'River Kwai's' Sockfull Gross", "Screen: 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' Opens", "Film Reviews: The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Balu Mahendra, who made his visuals speak, dies at 74", "Warren Buffett carries an American Express card and about $400 in cash", "How Cartrivision's 1972 VCR ForesawAnd ForfeitedThe Time-Shifted Future", "Movies | Disc & Digital | Sony Pictures", "Wayne and Shuster Show, The Episode Guide (19541990) (series)", Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Drama, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai&oldid=1138405911, Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award-winning performance, Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance, Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award, Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award, Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award, Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe, Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award, Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award, Films with screenplays by Michael Wilson (writer), United States National Film Registry films, World War II films based on actual events, Short description is different from Wikidata, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Best DVD Original Retrospective Documentary/Featurette, Online Film & Television Association Awards, This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 14:21. Himmler Initial estimates from Japanese engineers suggested it would take five years. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set in 1942, shortly after the fall of Singapore. Joyce, manning the detonator, breaks cover and stabs Saito to death. The movie has been included on the American Film Institutes list of best American films ever made. Major Warden of SOE invites Shears to join a commando mission to destroy the bridge just as it is completed. The film was based on the 1952 novel Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle. When he asks for Saitos help in cutting the wires, the hidden commando, Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne), leaps up and kills Saito. Lets find out. In 1957 the movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, premiered in London and became the biggest grossing film of 1958, winning seven academy awards in the process, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Musical Score, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.Not bad for a movie that is largely a work of almost entirely fictional characters and a story which . 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. The telecast of the film lasted more than three hours because of the commercial breaks. 1. Read our FAQs or send a question to our customer service team. Some 5,000 Commonwealth World War Two casualties are buried or commemorated in Kanchanaburi. The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was the first to conduct air raids on the bridges over the River Kwai between November 1944 and January 1945. Like Chungkai and Kanchanaburi, Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery was originally part of the camp set up serving the Burma-Siams construction. Leadership Analysis: The Bridge On The River Kwai. The Bridge Over the River Kwai won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) in 1958.

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