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They felt none of the Bridge on the River Kwai cast could fully understand or represent what it was like to be there. This Week's Toybox is . The River Kwai, also known as Khwae Noi or Khwae Sai Yok is a river located in the western region of Thailand. Take a look below for 28 more fun and interesting facts about The Bridge on the River Kwai. . 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 Bridge on the River Kwai. Real Bridge on the River Kwai. 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. [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). The movie was mainly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and also in England. As shown in the movie, Guinness played the scene without flinching. rainy day Therefore, there are not many people. 28. 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. But poor old Goebbels Tonight, enjoy dinner at a hotel restaurant Overnight: Kanchanaburi Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. 3. In early 1943, a contingent of British prisoners of war, led by Lt. Two bridges were built; one was made of wood, one was made of concrete and steel. 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. [22], Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by the river current during a break from filming.[23]. [41] According to Variety, the film earned estimated domestic box office revenues of $18,000,000[42] although this was revised downwards the following year to $15,000,000, which was still the biggest for 1958 and Columbia's highest-grossing film at the time. Corrections? Toosey later defended him in his war crimes trial after the war, and the two became friends. Thousands of Asian workers and POWs (prisoners of war) died while working on the project. Young: "Donald, did anyone whistle Colonel Bogey as they did in the film?" But whats the real story? Lean shouted at them, 'For God's sake, whistle a march to keep time to.' This film is taken from a popular novel written by Pierre Boulle in 1952. 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. Some sections, such as the infamous Hellfire Pass, required carving through tough sheer rock. $ 3 million (estimated) 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 ). Only minor damage was inflicted. [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 movie was filmed in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka. In the movie the bridge is destroyed by commandos. 16- "You make me sick with your heroics! 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. 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. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . The year: 1943. The ending of that was sort of the story of life. Lets find out. As Ashton explained, it was so cheap because "we used local labor and elephants; and the timber was cut nearby.". Burma-Siam Railway labourers and prisoners of war slept in rudimentary bamboo huts on filthy floors. Camps were set up at 100-metre intervals. Geoffrey Horne saved his life. "[53], Among retrospective reviews, Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, noting that it is one of the few war movies that "focuses not on larger rights and wrongs but on individuals", but commented that the viewer is not certain what is intended by the final dialogue due to the film's shifting points of view. In reality, Japanese engineers proved to be just as capable at construction efforts as their Allied counterparts.[58][59]. The destruction of the bridge as depicted in the film is also entirely fictional. The negative itself manifested many of the kinds of issues one would expect from a film of this vintage: torn frames, embedded emulsion dirt, scratches through every reel, colour fading. The film was directed by David Lean and starred William Holding, Jack Hawkins and academy award winner Sir Alex Guinness. The river is the Mae Klong River which passes through a valley of the Khwae Noi River (little tributary). 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. Or maybe you have a story for us or would like to work together. The real Bridge on the River Kwai. It was initially scripted by screenwriter Carl Foreman, who was later replaced by Michael Wilson. The trials of Australian Army Lieutenant George Hamilton Lamb reflected the mens awful experience building the Burma-Siam Death Railway. Did he really want the enemy to come in across it? All but a small section of the route was built in dense, malarial jungles, in sweltering heat and monsoon rains. Bandaranaike, then Prime Minister of Ceylon, and a team of government dignitaries. as for the bridge on the River Kwai, it crossed the river only in the imagination of its author. 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.. As the train approaches, Nicholson frantically pulls up the wire, following it to find the detonator. The place: Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma. The Bridge on the River Kwai was selected in 1997 for preservation in the National Film Registry. : 1942: Boldly advancing through Asia, the Japanese need a train route from Burma going north. [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". [14][15], The film was an international co-production between companies in Britain and the United States. As it opens, two POWs, the American navy commander Shears (William Holden) and an Australian, are digging graves for their companions. 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. 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. They would work in appalling conditions, given minuscule amounts of food, snatches of sleep, and little to no medical treatment. The cemetery was established by the Army Graves Service to hold casualties made along the railways southern Bangkok to Nieke section. Cutting the base board 1190 x 160 x 12 mm. Express 08:30, 10:30. We worked at bayonet point and under bamboo lash, taking any risk to sabotage the operation whenever the opportunity arose. A regiment of British prisoners arrives, whistling the Colonel Bogey March, under the command of Colonel Nicholson (Sir Alec Guinness). It was set up at the beginning of the Burma-Siams construction. Its construction came about because Japan needed another supply route to link Singapore and Malaysia to its possessions in Burma following Singapores fall in February 1942. Prisoners, including the sick, were marched to camps further along Death Railway. It spans crosses the lazily winding Khwae Noi at Kanchanaburi, Thailand. For one sunset scene, David Lean specifically traveled 150 miles to capture it. Within 16 months the bridge was completed but it took another two years to complete the entire rail line. David Lean's classic 1957 World War II movie Bridge on the River Kwai depicted the horrors endured by the Allied prisoners of war (POWs) forced to build the Thailand-Burma railway by the Japanese Imperial Army. It worked. Explore the CWGC Archive through our online portal. 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. They included Chinese, Malayan, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian and Singaporean people. Put on your marching boots and whistle a jaunty tune as we investigate some behind-the-scenes facts about this enduring war film. 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. "[47] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . Bridge Over The River Kwai Address: Tha Makham, Kanchanaburi, Thailand. The Colonel Bogey March" was composed in 1914 by Kenneth Alford, a military band conductor. To enjoy Thailand River cruises, you need to understand a little about the geography of Thailand and its river system. [40], The Bridge on the River Kwai was a massive commercial success. 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. Just a stone's throw from the Menin Gate, visit our Information Centre to learn more about the CWGC. 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. Starring Alec Guinness, William Holden, and Sessue Hayakawa, among others, it paints an . 27. While the story is fiction, the broader setting--including the construction of the Burmese railway--is based on historical events. [54] Slant magazine gave the film four out of five stars. Imperial Japanese Army Command deemed this unacceptable. The Bridge Over the River Kwai won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) in 1958. Read more. On 16 October 1943, the two ends of the Burma-Thailand railway were joined at Konkoita in Thailand. [50] William Holden was also credited for his acting for giving a solid characterization that was "easy, credible and always likeable in a role that is the pivot point of the story". 4. Join us in an act of virtual remembrance and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. 10. This was an entertaining story. In many tense, dramatic scenes, only the sounds of nature are used. To keep costs down, producer Sam Spiegel decided not to hire any extras, using crew members and Ceylon locals instead. [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. 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. 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." When he asks for Saitos help in cutting the wires, the hidden commando, Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne), leaps up and kills Saito. [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 bridge construction is going badly, however, and Saito offers concessions to Nicholson in an effort to get the structure completed on schedule. Surviving veterans consider Toosey one of the finest officers they ever served under. 2. [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. Construction of the Burma-Siam railway began in October 1942 and would end in October 1943. Spiegel sent the screenplay to the Japanese government ahead of time, hoping to get their cooperation with the production. does not fall onto the plunger, and the bridge suffers only minor damage. The bridges were quickly repaired with the use of POW labour from the camp at Tha . Thank God that I'm starting work tomorrow with an American actor (William Holden). 13. One of the iconic war films of its time, the Bridge on the River Kwai has shone a spotlight on POWs suffering. Himmler 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. 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 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. Has no balls Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson have written the screenplay for this film. 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." [9], The film was relatively faithful to the novel, with two major exceptions. The majority of its smaller components are originals, while a few are post-war replacements. The young soldier from Suffolk was dispatched to work on the bridge over the River Kwai, one of the railway's most daunting engineering projects. Nicholson's obsession with the bridge eventually drives him to allow his officers to volunteer to engage in manual labor. At its behest, Sam Spiegel asked David Lean to incorporate a love scene. 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. 26. [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. At one point during filming, David Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by a river current. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. Please note the delivery estimate is greater than 10 business days. It was repaired in time to be blown up the next morning, with Bandaranaike and his entourage present. [43] By October 1960, the film had earned worldwide box office revenues of $30 million. Read the response of the CWGC to the findings of the Special Committee. Sam Spiegel bought the railroad train from the Ceylonese government. Toosey was very different from Nicholson and was certainly not a collaborator who felt obliged to work with the Japanese. Nicholson forbids any escape attempts because they were ordered by headquarters to surrender, and escapes could be seen as defiance of orders. David Lean, director of such landmark epics as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, didn't always make giant movies. Image: Bridge 277 aka the real Bridge over the River Kwai, Image: The iconic poster of the 1957 classic. Like thousands of other POWs, Lamb was kept in degrading conditions, refused medical treatment and barely fed. Log in. They were soon sent to Thailand to begin labouring on the Death Railway. Nicholson objects, informing Saito the Geneva Convention exempts officers from manual labour. [27] Gavin Young[28] recounts meeting Donald Wise, a former prisoner of the Japanese who had worked on the Burma Railway. Leadership Analysis: The Bridge On The River Kwai. The casualties of the Burma-Siam railway were often buried in camp burial grounds located close to where they originally fell. 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. 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. 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. Pitted against the warden, Colonel . 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. 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. 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 early 1943, World War II British prisoners arrive by train at a Japanese prison camp in Burma. US $4.49 Standard Shipping from outside US. British English: The Top 50 Most Beautiful British Insults, British Slang: Your Guide to British Police Slang for the Telly Watcher, British Slang: Tea Time British Words for Tea and Tea Related Culture, ltimate List of Funny British Place Names, 101 Budget Britain Travel Tips 2nd Edition, Great Britons Book: Top 50 Greatest Brits Who Ever Lived, Anglotopias Grand Adventure Lands End to John OGroats. (This can be compared to a scene in the 1927 movie, The General, which starred Buster Keaton.). Nevertheless, the leeches in the recreated swamps were real. 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.. 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). Nicholson will not cooperate and finally insists that the bridge can be built only under his command. California Doubling: The film is set in Thailand, but was filmed in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), a distinction the publicity of the time didn't see fit to make clear.Instead, it raved about the movie being shot in Ceylon in a way which implied the real-life River Kwai was located there.