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 t... Read allBritish 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.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.
- Won 7 Oscars
- 30 wins & 8 nominations total
- Colonel Green
- (as Andre Morell)
- Captain Kanematsu
- (as Henry Okawa)
- Lieutenant Miura
- (as Keiichiro Katsumoto, K. Katsumoto)
- Director
- Writers
- Pierre Boulle
- Carl Foreman(originally uncredited)
- Michael Wilson(originally uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAt one point during filming, director Sir David Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by a river current. Actor Geoffrey Horne saved his life.
- GoofsJapan was not a signatory of the Geneva Conventions until 1953, therefore there was no expectation by Allied prisoners of being treated in accordance with them. In fact, the Japanese treatment of prisoners led to the review and update of the conventions in 1949.
- Quotes
Maj. Warden: You'll go on without me. That's an order. You're in command now, Shears.
Commander Shears: You make me sick with your heroics! There's a stench of death about you. You carry it in your pack like the plague. Explosives and L-pills - they go well together, don't they? And with you it's just one thing or the other: destroy a bridge or destroy yourself. This is just a game, this war! You and Colonel Nicholson, you're two of a kind, crazy with courage. For what? How to die like a gentleman, how to die by the rules - when the only important thing is how to live like a human being!... I'm not going to leave you here to die, Warden, because I don't care about your bridge and I don't care about your rules. If we go on, we go on together.
- Crazy creditsAnd introducing Geoffrey Horne
- Alternate versionsVarious versions have different main credits. There is the original that gives screenplay credit to Pierre Boulle, there is the restored version in which previously blacklisted Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson are credited and there is the original version that was distributed to cinemas at the time still lacking in CinemaScope equipment in which the Cinema Scope credit is omitted and the credits formatted to fit the smaller frame.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Geisha Boy (1958)
- SoundtracksColonel Bogey March
(1914) (uncredited)
Music by Kenneth Alford
Arranged by Malcolm Arnold
Whistlers trained by John Scott
Whistled by Alec Guinness with British Prisoners of War
Amazing direction, and the whole approach to making this film is timeless - a study in being ahead of its time. Stunning set pieces and production design - such and effort was put into this. Fantastic cinematography, filled to the brim with pitch-perfect pans, wide-shots, and tracking-shots. Intense and dramatic score, deservedly receiving one of the total of seven Academy Awards. Brilliant cast and in particular Alec Guinness, who perfectly portrays a man of honour.
What is a big shame is the way Colonel Philip Toosey - the original colonel, portrayed through Nicholson - was misrepresented, in that he actually acted very differently and much more courageously than in the film.
Nonetheless, as a look into the historic event that took place in 1943 Burma, it is absolutely brilliant, and although the film does not carry loads of emotional moments, it is technically excellent, and greatly entertaining.
Highly recommended.
- calspers
- Sep 9, 2019
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $3,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $27,200,000
- Gross worldwide
- $27,200,000
- Runtime2 hours 41 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.55 : 1
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