15. Cafes and tourist spots dot the banks of the Khwae Noi. Part of this project was building bridges over Thailand's Kwai Yai, at a place named Tamarkan, which is near a town named Kanchanaburi. [3] Since it was not a documentary, there are many historical inaccuracies in the film, as noted by eyewitnesses to the building of the real Burma Railway by historians.[30][31][32][33]. 9. Get information about our funding, our Customer Charter and our Strategic Plan. The majority of its smaller components are originals, while a few are post-war replacements. Showing the impact of disease on the workforce, Kanchanaburi contains two graves holding the ashes of 300 Cholera victims. [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. They remain standing at attention throughout the day. 1957 World War II film directed by David Lean, This article is about the film. 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. In the film, Lt. Col Nicholson is seen collaborating with his captors, even under duress. Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma, worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre. It stretched from Japan, Korea, and China in the north all the way down to Indonesia. 1. By the end, prisoners working on the rail route werent calling it the Burma-Siam Railway. The movie was mainly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and also in England. Further afield, and appealing to my military family war history, is Kanchanaburi with its war cemetery and bridge over the Kwai river which is made famous by the Oscar winning film The Bridge on the River Kwai. To keep costs down, producer Sam Spiegel decided not to hire any extras, using crew members and Ceylon locals instead. The Bridge on the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi 1942. Use our search tools to explore our records and find out about those we commemorate. [31] He strongly denied the claim that the book was anti-British, although many involved in the film itself (including Alec Guinness) felt otherwise.[36]. Persuaded that the film would be about the horror and folly of war, the Japanese government sent a military adviser to help with the camp scenes. It stars Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins and William Holden. He didn't like the screenplay because it reduced Nicholson to secondary status. Questions or feedback on our new site? Thanbyuzayat is in Myanmar. He shows a rare sense of humor and a feeling for the poetry of situation; and he shows the even rarer ability to express these things, not in lines but in lives. Tickets are 100 baht. Guinness regarded this one tiny scene as some of the finest work he did throughout his entire career. The region was seized by the Japanese in 1942, and they then set about making preparations . 6 Interesting And Awesome Facts About Dondokomon From Digimon, 20 Amazing And Fun Facts About San Bernardino, California, United States, 26 Fun And Fascinating Facts About The Gods Of Egypt Movie, 15 Interesting And Fun Facts About Napa, California, United States, 20 Interesting And Amazing Facts About National City, California, United States, 15 Interesting And Fascinating Facts About Needles, California, United States, 15 Interesting And Amazing Facts About Nevada City, California, United States, 15 Amazing And Interesting Facts About Newark, California, United States. Supplying it by ship was the only practical solution. It spans crosses the lazily winding Khwae Noi at Kanchanaburi, Thailand. As the train approaches, they hurry down to the riverbank to investigate. "[52] Harrison's Reports described the film as an "excellent World War II adventure melodrama" in which the "production values are first-rate and so is the photography. The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. (Lean denied ever wanting Laughton for the role, despite abundant documented evidence to the contrary.). Sign-up for free daily emails with the latest news about British culture, heritage, and history! 26. 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. Toosey in fact did as much as possible to delay the building of the bridge. Be the first one to write a review. At the end of the day, the officers are imprisoned, and Nicholson is thrown into the ovena small box made of corrugated metal. For many, its their first exposure to the horrors prisoners of wars suffered in the Far East. The ending of that was sort of the story of life. . Allied bombers struck the wooden bridge and its concrete counterpart in February 1945 with one of the earliest uses of guided bombs in history. 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. Over a muddy jungle river called Kwai, a Japanese colonel, Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), must complete a railroad bridge vital to Japan's war effort. The railway ran for 250 miles from Ban Pong, Thailand to Thanbyuzayat, Burma and is now known as the Death Railway. 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. 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. 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. We want to hear from you! Bus Bangkok - Kanchanaburi $ 7.19 3h 30m. So Spiegel hired another writer, Calder Willingham, to give it a crack. She retired Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Unique to this film, in some ways, were other issues related to poorly made optical dissolves, the original camera lens and a malfunctioning camera. Pierre Boulle, a Frenchman, who had experienced great hardship after being captured by the Vichy French on the Mekong River, wrote a novel called 'Le Pont de la rivire Kwa' - The Bridge of the . 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. The movie is best known for the "Colonel Bogey March", the song that is whistled by the POWs. 2023 Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Joyce, manning the detonator, breaks cover and stabs Saito to death. Although the obvious link was by sea, Allied submarines controlling the region made it too treacherous. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) is an epic World War II adventure/action, anti-war drama. The Bridge On The River Kwai was the first of David Lean's five epic films and the third of six movies that he made with Alec Guinness. He didn't like the next draft of the screenplay, either, because it made Nicholson "a blinkered character." Nicholson yells for help, while attempting to stop Joyce from reaching the detonator. Its telling that the railway workers had to see to their own medical care. Laughton was in his habitually overweight state, and was either denied insurance coverage, or was simply not keen on filming in a tropical location. Want to work for the CWGC? In reality, Japanese engineers proved to be just as capable at construction efforts as their Allied counterparts.[58][59]. 20. The telecast of the film lasted more than three hours because of the commercial breaks. Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. The Burma-Siam Railways construction necessitated construction of over 670 bridges and numerous cuttings. On 16 October 1943, the two ends of the Burma-Thailand railway were joined at Konkoita in Thailand. 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. Prisoners, including the sick, were marched to camps further along Death Railway. 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. The official credit was given to Pierre Boulle (who did not speak English), and the resulting Oscar for Best Screenplay (Adaptation) was awarded to him. 25. [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. (This can be compared to a scene in the 1927 movie, The General, which starred Buster Keaton.). It begins with British troops being marched into the prison camp after their surrender to the Japanese at Singapore. The film won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) at the 30th Academy Awards. 4. 18. comment. [40] Boulle had never been to the bridge. The Mount Lavinia Hotel was used as a location for the hospital. Or maybe you have a story for us or would like to work together. English / Japanese / Thai. Begun in October 1942, using prisoner of war (POW) labour, it was completed and operational by early February 1943. 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). You carry it in your pack like the plague. [9], The film was relatively faithful to the novel, with two major exceptions. Join us in an act of virtual remembrance and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. She spent most of the next 42 years working as a copy editor and editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. One of the iconic war films of its time, the Bridge on the River Kwai has shone a spotlight on POWs suffering. Japanese engineers had been surveying and planning the route of the railway since 1937, and they had demonstrated considerable skill during their construction efforts across South-East Asia. 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The movie was mainly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and also in England. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. The film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" dramatized the WWII story of the Thailand-Burma Railway, yet it was largely fictional. [3] The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Sessue Hayakawa. She recommended Lean to producer Sam Spiegel, who'd been turned down by Fred Zinnemann, William Wyler, and Carol Reed, and offered the directing job to Lean as a last resort. The place is regarded as "The Symbol of Peace". Nicholson desperately tries to keep Joyce from depressing the plunger, while Shears and Warden try to kill Nicholson. Nicholson advises Saito that the officers cannot be required to do manual labour according to the Geneva Convention. 7. John Coast, a young British officer who went on to become a successful filmmaker who spent three and half years as a Japanese POW, said: As nobody should ever have need telling, the picture is a load of high-toned codswallop.. Chungkai was also a POW worker base camp. Their taskmasters were relentless. In 1997, this film was deemed "culturally . The rail link, however, would . He was listed as missing in action in June 1943. At one point during filming, David Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by a river current. Despite this, he won an Oscar and a Grammy. Unlike the other two, it is not located in Thailand. Commonwealth war graves commission Caring for the fallen, Commonwealth war graves foundation Our charity site. [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. The Bridge Over the River Kwai. After Saito cuts a ceremonial ribbon, Nicholson spots a detonator wire. 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. Did he really want the enemy to come in across it? [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". Guinness, however, had his own reservations. The Suez Canal crisis of 1956 badly affected production. Both the wooden and the adjacent steel bridge were subjected to numerous air raids between January and June 1945. The Bridge on the River Kwai, British-American war film, released in 1957 and directed by David Lean, that was both a critical and popular success and became an enduring classic. Civilian workmen suffered terribly too, with their casualties far outstripping the military personnel. It was 425 feet long, 90 feet high, and cost $52,085 out of the film's $2 million budget. You can also take a boat down the Kwai River . By 1944, its operational capacity was being massively hampered by the damage caused by air raids. 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. David Leans 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films. 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. First Joyce and then Shears are killed in the ensuing gunfire. But he'd never made anything on an epic scale, wasn't well known outside of England, and wouldn't have been considered for The Bridge on the River Kwai if it weren't for Katharine Hepburn, the star of his 1955 film Summertime. And a bloke called George Siegatz[29] an expert whistlerbegan to whistle Colonel Bogey, and a hit was born.". The Bridge on the River Kwai is a classic 1957 British-American war film based upon the 1952 novel Le Pont de la Rivire Kwai by Pierre Boulle. 23. In a prison camp, British POWs are forced into labor. International shipment of items may be subject to customs processing and additional charges. The bridge cost $250,000 to build. Pay on the train. The Bridge on the River Kwai. 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. As Ashton explained, it was so cheap because "we used local labor and elephants; and the timber was cut nearby.". Sessue Hayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialog. 6. The bridge is still in everyday use as part of the Bangkok-Nam Tok line. As it opens, two POWs, the American navy commander Shears (William Holden) and an Australian, are digging graves for their companions. The real River Kwai, and its bridge, is in what was then Siam, now Thailand.The name 'River Kwai' refers to the Khwae Noi and Khwae Yai rivers in western Thailand, which converge to become the Mae Klong river at Kanchanaburi, about 70 miles northwest of Bangkok, and it was across the Mae Klong that the infamous bridge was built. The real swamps in Ceylon were deemed to be too dangerous. Geoffrey Horne saved his life. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. "[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. Goering In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Bridge on the River Kwai the 11th greatest British film of the 20th Century. 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. Once Spiegel relented, he realized Holden was a box office draw and offered him a great deal: $300,000 salary (about $2.5 million in 2016 dollars), plus 10 percent of the gross. 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. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . Recognising Shears, Nicholson exclaims, "What have I done? Sessue Hayakawa (1889-1973) was a Japanese-born actor who came to Hollywood in the very early days of cinemahis first short, The Typhoon, was made in 1914and quickly became a matinee idol, playing exotic villains and such. Thanbyuzayat was originally a POW administration headquarters and base camp. Nicholson undertakes the construction of a well-made bridge, at first thinking it a good way to improve the morale and discipline of his regiment but gradually coming to regard the structure not as a part of the enemy war effort but as a monument to British ingenuity. FIFTY years ago waves of Liberator bombers were deliberately destroying a remarkable feat of engineering. Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson have written the screenplay for this film. What's happening in this "The Bridge on the River Kwai" movie clip?Warden (Jack Hawkins from Land of the Pharaohs and Ben-Hur) fires a mortar, wounding Nicho. 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. The bridge depicted in the film is most definitely real. 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). "[47] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Boulle drew on the experiences of Far East POWs building the now infamous Burma-Siam Railway, linking modern-day Myanmar and Thailand to create his work. "[50] Kaplan further praised the actors, especially Alec Guinness, later writing "the film is unquestionably" his. [31], On a BBC Timewatch programme, a former prisoner at the camp states that it is unlikely that a man like the fictional Nicholson could have risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and, if he had, due to his collaboration he would have been "quietly eliminated" by the other prisoners. The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Burma during World War II. The US was beginning to control the sea lanes, making it increasingly difficult for Japanese shipborne cargo to reach the army dotted across the Pacific. Lean feared Guinness' public persona had changed so much that audiences wouldn't buy him in this very dramatic role, but came around to the idea when the Laughton plan didn't work. Image: Bridge 277 aka the real Bridge over the River Kwai, Image: The iconic poster of the 1957 classic. The Bridge on the River Kwai was widely praised, winning seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 30th Academy Awards. Nevertheless, the leeches in the recreated swamps were real. Log in. Lean wanted Charles Laughton (who'd starred in his 1954 film Hobson's Choice) to play Colonel Nicholson, the role that ultimately went to Alec Guinness. "[17], The film was made in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). David Lean, director of such landmark epics as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, didn't always make giant movies. In many tense, dramatic scenes, only the sounds of nature are used. Express 08:30, 10:30. Written 20 October 2021. In a 1988 interview with Barry Norman, Lean confirmed that Columbia almost stopped filming after three weeks because there was no white woman in the film, forcing him to add what he called "a very terrible scene" between Holden and a nurse on the beach. [34] According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission: The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. See some of the commonly asked questions about the Special Committee. The producer's press release, thoughwanting to emphasize that this was a Big Budget Hollywood Pictureclaimed the bridge had cost $250,000. Nicholson's obsession with the bridge eventually drives him to allow his officers to volunteer to engage in manual labor. [64] The image was restored by OCS, Freeze Frame, and Pixel Magic with George Hively editing. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set in 1942, shortly after the fall of Singapore. However, cameraman Freddy Ford was unable to get out of the way of the explosion in time, and Lean had to stop filming. (There were other verses, too, which treated in more depth the number, location, and status of Hitler's anatomy, but you get the idea.) [Ronald Searle, To the Kwai and Back: War drawings 1939-45, London, Collins, 1986, 104] 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' is now the best-known site on the Burma-Thailand railway but its fame is due more to a fictional film than its significance in World War II. Moreover, Kanchanaburi has an annual "Bridge Over the River Kwai" week, which has a sound show to relive the moments of World War II. Kwai River Bridge history. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The real Bridge on the River Kwai. 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. It was more of a transit hub where prisoners were moved to other work areas along the railway route. 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.