The process of adapting Pierre Boulle's French-language novel Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai was difficult (more on that later), but the two writers ultimately responsible for it were Carl Foreman (High Noon) and Michael Wilson (A Place in the Sun). Victory over the Japanese navy at Midway in June 1942 had created a turning point in the Far East and Pacific. 's working to build and/or destroy a bridge for the Japanese during World War II. The Japanese Railway Regiment forced thousands of allied POWs and natives to build the . The Bridge on the River Kwai is a British 1957 World War II film by David Lean based on the novel The Bridge Over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. 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. 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. Copyright 2020 Tons Of Facts. Search by location, regiment, nationality, and more fields to find the war dead involved in building the blood-soaked Burma-Siam 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. 9. The Bridge On The River Kwai | Film Locations River Kwai Bridge | TakeMeTour Starring Alec Guinness, William Holden, and Sessue Hayakawa, among others, it paints an . They included Chinese, Malayan, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian and Singaporean people. The Bridge over the River Kwai - Wikipedia British people of Anglotopia, what do you make of the whole anglophile thing ? The bridge cost $250,000 to build. To enjoy Thailand River cruises, you need to understand a little about the geography of Thailand and its river system. Toosey would provide the inspiration for Lt. Col Nicholson portrayed by Alec Guinness in the 1957 film. The True Story of the Bridge over the River Kwai | CWGC Leadership Analysis: The Bridge On The River Kwai. He was listed as missing in action in June 1943. 21. Carl Foreman was the initial screenwriter, but Lean replaced him with Michael Wilson. The British Film Institute placed The Bridge on the River Kwai as the 11th greatest British film. The film was based on the 1952 novel Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle. 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. WILLIAM HOLDEN JACK HAWKINS 1957 BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI 8X10 PHOTO. The cemetery itself is located just outside the town of Kanchanaburi at the point where the Kwai splits into the Mae Khlong and Kwai Noi rivers. The Suez Canal crisis of 1956 badly affected production. THE HEAD OF COLUMBIA PICTURES FORCED LEAN TO ADD A LOVE SCENE. Has two but they are small. The real swamps in Ceylon were deemed to be too dangerous. Also, the dense surrounding jungle renders escape virtually impossible. 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]. It stars Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins and William Holden. When, the next morning, Saito orders all the British prisoners to begin building the bridge under the command of a Japanese engineer, Nicholson and the other officers refuse, even when Saito threatens to kill them. [14][15], The film was an international co-production between companies in Britain and the United States. At the POW camp, Nicholson not only requires officers to work on the bridge but also pulls men from the hospital in order to meet Saitos deadline for the project. Put on your marching boots and whistle a jaunty tune as we investigate some behind-the-scenes facts about this enduring war film. Despite the nightmarish conditions, and equipped only with the most basic of tools, the POWs pulled off an amazing feat of engineering. The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Burma during World War II. 12. While the British prisoners celebrate their accomplishment that night, the commandoes wire the bridge with explosives to be detonated by a plunger operated by a hidden soldier, timed to collapse the bridge just as an inaugural train carrying Japanese dignitaries is crossing it. David Leans 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films. [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. 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. The Bridge on the River Kwai (Film) - TV Tropes After the war, their remains were moved from these makeshift cemeteries and graveyards to purpose-built Commission sites. Just a stone's throw from the Menin Gate, visit our Information Centre to learn more about the CWGC. 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. Explore the story of the CWGC, from our formation during the First World War to our work today. It had previously belonged to an Indian maharajah and had seen 65 years of active service. He insisted that Lean add a scene where Shears, the American played by William Holden, cozies up to a nurse (Ann Sears). Bridge on the River Kwai; the true story - Digger History 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)). Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . Take a look below for 28 more fun and interesting facts about The Bridge on the River Kwai. Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson have written the screenplay for this film. Vital equipment that would normally have been shipped through the canal had to be flown out to the location instead. One of the biggest causes of ire was the treatment of Toosey. But whats the real story? Updates? It was set up at the beginning of the Burma-Siams construction. Log in. Two bridges were built; one was made of wood, one was made of concrete and steel. Bombing of the Bridge over the River Kwai Historic War Tours Harry Cohn, the vulgar (but successful) man who ran Columbia Pictures at the time, was furious when he read the script and saw no love interest. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, wining seven -- including Best Picture . 1957 World War II film directed by David Lean, This article is about the film. 3. He was contracted for $150,000 to be paid in installments. Contact us, Image: Rows of graves at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Image: Kanchanaburi Dutch Memorial commemorates Dutch POWs who died building Death Railway, Image: Chungkai War Cemetery's Cross of Sacrifice, Image: The Pavilion at Chungkai War Cemetery, Image: The cemetery's horticulture gives Chungkai a sense of serenity, Image: The Stone of Remembrance at Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Image: Headstones and horticulture at Thanbyuzayat, Get the latest CWGC news and see some of our recent work, Report of the Special Committee to review historical inequalities in Commemoration, Discover world war casualties who lived in your area, The True Story of the Bridge over the River Kwai, Why and how were restoring the Menin Gate: What you need to know about this amazing project, A push through the desert: How The Allies Captured Jericho in 1918, Visit Commonwealth war graves in Arras, France. Recognising Shears, Nicholson exclaims, "What have I done? So Spiegel hired another writer, Calder Willingham, to give it a crack. By this time, the United States and its naval and industrial might had entered the war. To counter the Allies tightening grip on supply lines, the Japanese army resurrected an old idea first mooted by regional powers in the late 19th century: to build a railway between Myanmar and Siam. (There were other verses, too, which treated in more depth the number, location, and status of Hitler's anatomy, but you get the idea.) [7][8] In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Bridge on the River Kwai the 11th greatest British film of the 20th century. Workers died at a rate of 20 men per day. 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. Since it first graced the silver screen won the admiration of audiences everywhere and continues to do so. - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. Realising he has no choice, Shears volunteers. Boulle based his novel, published in 1952, on his own experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, and on an infamous construction project that he wasn't involved with. 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. [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. Aerial reconnaissance photo of the Steel Bridge taken during a bombing raid. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set in 1942, shortly after the fall of Singapore. In early 1943, World War II British prisoners arrive by train at a Japanese prison camp in Burma. The Burma-Siam Railways construction necessitated construction of over 670 bridges and numerous cuttings. The screenplay was based on French author Pierre Boulle"s 1954 novel of the same name. 5. Construction of the Burma-Siam railway began in October 1942 and would end in October 1943. Construction began before anyone had been cast. This was an entertaining story. Nicholson's obsession with the bridge eventually drives him to allow his officers to volunteer to engage in manual labor. 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 .