10 facts about the bridge on the river kwai

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. Two bridges were built; one was made of wood, one was made of concrete and steel. That evening, the officers are placed in a punishment hut, while Nicholson is beaten and locked in an iron box. Prisoners, including the sick, were marched to camps further along Death Railway. Sam Spiegel bought the railroad train from the Ceylonese government. The elephants employed in helping build the bridge would take breaks every four hours and lie around the water, whether the crew wanted them to or not. 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. The bridges were quickly repaired with the use of POW labour from the camp at Tha . [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. The separate dialogue, music and effects were located and remixed with newly recorded "atmospheric" sound effects. The cemetery was established by the Army Graves Service to hold casualties made along the railways southern Bangkok to Nieke section. In reality, Risaburo Saito was respected by his prisoners for being comparatively merciful and fair towards them. The film won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) at the 30th Academy Awards. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and scooped up seven Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor. Take a look below for 28 more fun and interesting facts about The Bridge on the River Kwai. The commandoes arrive for their mission as the finishing touches are being put on the bridge. 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. Disease was a huge killer among railway workers, but so was brutality. Lean had a lengthy row with Guinness over how to play the role of Nicholson; the actor wanted to play the part with a sense of humour and sympathy, while Lean thought Nicholson should be "a bore." The Bridge on the River Kwai was a smash hit on release. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 in the United States and Canada and was also the most popular film at the British box office that year. The Colonel Bogey strain was accompanied by a counter-melody using the same chord progressions, then continued with film composer Malcolm Arnold's own composition, "The River Kwai March", played by the off-screen orchestra taking over from the whistlers, though Arnold's march was not heard in completion on the soundtrack. 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. Interested in advertising on the world's largest website dedicated to all things Britain? Showing the impact of disease on the workforce, Kanchanaburi contains two graves holding the ashes of 300 Cholera victims. Other parts have been placed in various local war museums. Just as in Love is a Many Splendored Thing, normally hairy chested William Holden had to have a full body wax for his many shirtless scenes in the movie. - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. Lambs sister received a letter from him in September 1943, saying he was in excellent health and being treated well by his captors. 3. Warden tells the Siamese women that he had to prevent anyone from falling into enemy hands, and leaves with them. English / Japanese / Thai. Mortally wounded, he falls onto the plunger, the bridge is blown up, and the train with the dignitaries falls into the river. The screenplay was based on French author Pierre Boulle"s 1954 novel of the same name. Corrections? In the film, a Colonel Saito is camp commandant. Realising he has no choice, Shears volunteers. Kanchanaburi, in Myanmar border, is home to the famous Bridge River Kwai. Ian Watts, longtime professor of English at Stanford and author of the landmark The Rise of the Novel, had actually been a prisoner in the camp and helped with the construction of the bridge. Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 19421943, the plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay are almost entirely fictional. Instead, the Lt. Col would stand up for his men when necessary to try to alleviate some of their hardships. 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. Himmler 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. [49] Mike Kaplan, reviewing for Variety, described it as "a gripping drama, expertly put together and handled with skill in all departments. And a bloke called George Siegatz[29] an expert whistlerbegan to whistle Colonel Bogey, and a hit was born.". Tracy had read the book and told Spiegel emphatically that the part must be played by an Englishman. Despite this, he won an Oscar and a Grammy. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. ", 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. 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 film originally made thirty million dollars over its three million dollar budget and was rereleased in theaters just after Lean and Spiegel's Lawrence of Arabia came out. Search by location, regiment, nationality, and more fields to find the war dead involved in building the blood-soaked Burma-Siam Railway. 2023 Commonwealth War Graves Commission. For all the death and misery caused by its building, the Burma-Siam Railway only ever carried two Japanese divisions and 500,000 tons of supplies before VJ Day brought the war in Asia to a close. "[55], Balu Mahendra, the Tamil film director, observed the shooting of this film at Kitulgala, Sri Lanka during his school trip and was inspired to become a film director. POWs and indentured labourers were worked to death while busy constructing the railway simultaneously. He was listed as missing in action in June 1943. According to one biographer, he was "broke and needed work; he had even pawned his gold cigarette case." While the story is fiction, the broader setting--including the construction of the Burmese railway--is based on historical events. 7. 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. Nicholson yells for help, while attempting to stop Joyce from reaching the detonator. (There were other verses, too, which treated in more depth the number, location, and status of Hitler's anatomy, but you get the idea.) 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. 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. As it opens, two POWs, the American navy commander Shears (William Holden) and an Australian, are digging graves for their companions. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, wining seven -- including Best Picture . The Bridge on the River Kwai was selected in 1997 for preservation in the National Film Registry. [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. Some of the Second World War's fiercest battles involved bridges and inspired some riveting accounts - capture of key bridges (Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day"; Stephen. Lean filmed the scene from behind Guinness and exploded in anger when Guinness asked him why he was doing this. Toosey was very different from Nicholson and was certainly not a collaborator who felt obliged to work with the Japanese. does not fall onto the plunger, and the bridge suffers only minor damage. 9. Despite the nightmarish conditions, and equipped only with the most basic of tools, the POWs pulled off an amazing feat of engineering. [7][8] In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Bridge on the River Kwai the 11th greatest British film of the 20th century. It was 425 feet long, 90 feet high, and cost $52,085 out of the film's $2 million budget. Guinness, however, had his own reservations. At its behest, Sam Spiegel asked David Lean to incorporate a love scene. [18] The bridge in the film was near Kitulgala. Surviving veterans consider Toosey one of the finest officers they ever served under. [66] The original negative for the feature was scanned at 4k (four times the resolution in High Definition), and the colour correction and digital restoration were also completed at 4k. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. c. 1945. Like Chungkai and Kanchanaburi, Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery was originally part of the camp set up serving the Burma-Siams construction. Has only got one ball! The building of Bridge 277, the eponymous bridge that gave Leans film its name, was overseen by 2,000 British and Dutch prisoners of war. The adventure war film The Bridge on the River Kwai may have swept the board of awards and attracted acclaim as one best films of the 20th century, but the War Office was very nervous "it would . Wise: "I never heard it in Thailand. The railway ran for 250 miles from Ban Pong, Thailand to Thanbyuzayat, Burma and is now known as the Death Railway. Supplying it by ship was the only practical solution. It stars Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins and William Holden. Nicholson desperately tries to keep Joyce from depressing the plunger, while Shears and Warden try to kill Nicholson. 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." The documentary itself was described by one newspaper reviewer when it was shown on Boxing Day 1974 (The Bridge on the River Kwai had been shown on BBC1 on Christmas Day 1974) as "Following the movie, this is a rerun of the antidote."[37]. The Suez Canal crisis of 1956 badly affected production. Under cover of darkness, Shears and Joyce plant explosives on the bridge towers. Its a charming, idyllic spot, belying the intense horror and suffering the men who built it went through. Death Railway was bombed heavily by the Allies from 1943 onwards. One of the iconic war films of its time, the Bridge on the River Kwai has shone a spotlight on POWs suffering. In the film, Lt. Col Nicholson is seen collaborating with his captors, even under duress. The Bridge over the River Kwai met its fate in 1945. The bridge is still in everyday use as part of the Bangkok-Nam Tok line. Train crossing the wooden bridge which spanned the Mae Klong River (renamed Kwai Yai River in 1960). British and American intelligence officers conspire . Japanese guards were known for their cruelty and would frequently torture and assault their prisoners. The Burma-Siam Railway was 250 miles of railway constructed by Allied prisoners of war alongside forced Asian labourers. Basically, the bridge was built during World War II when the Japanese occupied Siam (now Thailand) and neighboring Burma (now Myanmar . The region was seized by the Japanese in 1942, and they then set about making preparations . His career was hurt by the advent of sound, and then by increasing anti-Japanese sentiment in America. At one point during filming, David Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by a river current. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a British 1957 movie from Columbia Pictures, based on Pierre Boulle's 1952 book The Bridge over the River Kwai (French: Le Pont de la Rivire Kwai). 1. The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting Facts About The Bridge On The River Kwai: Fascinating Facts About The Bridge on the River Kwai - Kindle edition by Randolph, Amanda. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942-43 for its historical setting. TakeMeTour's Review. In early 1943, a contingent of British prisoners of war, led by Lt. True Grit, Sanctum, Green Lantern and Superman. One of a number of Allied POW"s . Some 5,000 Commonwealth World War Two casualties are buried or commemorated in Kanchanaburi. 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. Bridge over the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Madness! Also, the dense surrounding jungle renders escape virtually impossible. Read our FAQs or send a question to our customer service team. 4. 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. He served as an adviser during the making of the movie. Questions or feedback on our new site? [54] Slant magazine gave the film four out of five stars. Read our Cookie Policy, Terms & Conditions and Data Protection & Privacy Policy. 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). In particular, they objected to the implication presented in the film that Japanese military engineers were generally unskilled at their profession and lacked proficiency. But in 1966, the film aired on American . The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Burma during World War II. Pitted against the warden, Colonel . Mitch Miller had a hit with a recording of both marches. Just a stone's throw from the Menin Gate, visit our Information Centre to learn more about the CWGC. Witnessing the carnage, Clipton shakes his head and mutters, "Madness! 27. FIFTY years ago waves of Liberator bombers were deliberately destroying a remarkable feat of engineering. The real Bridge over the River Kwai is bridge 277 of the Burma-Siam Railway. The film was directed by David Lean and starred William Holding, Jack Hawkins and academy award winner Sir Alex Guinness. However, cameraman Freddy Ford was unable to get out of the way of the explosion in time, and Lean had to stop filming. Saito is expected to commit ritual suicide if he fails to meet the rapidly approaching deadline. ", Warden fires a mortar, killing Shears and Joyce and fatally wounding Nicholson. The Bridge On The River Kwai Film Facts. Laughton would die (of cancer) five years later, at the age of 63. [5][6] It has been included on the American Film Institute's list of best American films ever made. [60] The 167-minute film was first telecast, uncut, in colour, on the evening of 25 September 1966, as a three hours-plus ABC Movie Special. 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. 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. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . They would work in appalling conditions, given minuscule amounts of food, snatches of sleep, and little to no medical treatment. Approximately 5 kilometres north of Kanchanaburi there were two bridges that were built by POWs during the war. Unique to this film, in some ways, were other issues related to poorly made optical dissolves, the original camera lens and a malfunctioning camera. When Joyce is wounded by Japanese fire, Shears swims across, but is himself shot. 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 official credit was given to Pierre Boulle (who did not speak English), and the resulting Oscar for Best Screenplay (Adaptation) was awarded to him. Dying, Nicholson stumbles toward the detonator and falls on the plunger, blowing up the bridge and sending the train hurtling into the river. [21] Guinness later reflected on the scene, calling it the "finest piece of work" he had ever done. Both bridges were used for two years, until they were destroyed by Allied bombing. 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. By the end, prisoners working on the rail route werent calling it the Burma-Siam Railway. Leadership Analysis: The Bridge On The River Kwai. The bridge in the movie was near Kitulgala. They built a railway to link Bangkok to Rangoon. Bridge Over The River Kwai Address: Tha Makham, Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Bridge On The River Kwai is an Epic war-based film. 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. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . On 16 October 1943, the two ends of the Burma-Thailand railway were joined at Konkoita in Thailand. The movie was mainly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and also in England. [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. Only minor damage was inflicted. 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. 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 . She spent most of the next 42 years working as a copy editor and editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set in 1942, shortly after the fall of Singapore. Boulle nonetheless enjoyed the film version though he disagreed with its climax. Return trains are 12.55 and 15.15. The story is fictional but uses the construction of the Burma Railway, in 1942-1943, as its historical setting, and is partly based on Pierre Boulle's own life experience working in Malaysia rubber . The Bridge On The River Kwai is the World War II Oscar winner about an Army colonel (Alec Guinness) obsessed with proving British superiority over his Japanese captors by showing that his . The finished screenplay had significant contributions from both Wilson and Foreman, though each went to his grave insisting he was the more important contributor. Instead of the five year predicted completion, the bridge on river Kwai, was completed in 16 months. ABC, sponsored by Ford, paid a record $1.8 million for the television rights for two screenings in the United States. Toosey would provide the inspiration for Lt. Col Nicholson portrayed by Alec Guinness in the 1957 film. Lean insisted that Laughton could lose weight before shooting began, but Columbia Pictures' insurance underwriters refused to cover him, saying he was too unhealthy to endure several months on location in the jungles of Ceylon. He wanders into a Burmese village, is nursed back to health, and eventually reaches the British colony of Ceylon. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI takes place in Japan-occupied Siam (later Thailand) in 1943, after the Imperial Japanese Empire has conquered vast territories of Asia. By daybreak, however, the river level has dropped, exposing the wire connecting the explosives to the detonator. Lean only got $150,000 himself, but he always said Holden was worth it. 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). Bus Bangkok - Kanchanaburi $ 7.19 3h 30m. "[50] Kaplan further praised the actors, especially Alec Guinness, later writing "the film is unquestionably" his. 15- "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.". Beijing Kwai Technology Co.'s app Kuaishou, or Kwai, is arranged for a photograph on a smartphone in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018.. They included Chinese, Malayan, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian and Singaporean people. The key sites containing Thailand and Burma war graves related to Death Railway and the Bridge on the River Kwai are: Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is located a short distance from the former Kanburi POW camp. 16. Geoffrey Horne saved his life. In the movie the bridge is destroyed by commandos. To keep costs down, producer Sam Spiegel decided not to hire any extras, using crew members and Ceylon locals instead. Check out where to stay in Kanchanaburi and book an accommodation of your choice. The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. Assistant director John Kerrison was killed in a car crash on the way to one of the locations. Construction began before anyone had been cast. 2. 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. 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. Kwai's composer, Malcolm Arnold, wove the march into his Oscar-winning score so seamlessly that modern viewers may assume it was original to the film. 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. David Lean, director of such landmark epics as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, didn't always make giant movies. After the final scene was shot, producer Sam Spiegel shipped the movie footage on five different planes to minimize the risk of loss. The British soldiers were slaves; they did not help the Japanese. Parts of the Burma-Siam railway still stand. Aerial reconnaissance photo of the Steel Bridge taken during a bombing raid. The prisoners of war who had . THE HEAD OF COLUMBIA PICTURES FORCED LEAN TO ADD A LOVE SCENE. The Bridge on the River Kwai. Major Warden of SOE invites Shears to join a commando mission to destroy the bridge just as it is completed. 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.

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