10 facts about the bridge on the river kwai

It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and scooped up seven Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor. THE HEAD OF COLUMBIA PICTURES FORCED LEAN TO ADD A LOVE SCENE. The Mount Lavinia Hotel was used as a location for the hospital. A sketch of that bridge was used as the basis for the fictional one. Visiting The Bridge On The River Kwai, Kanchanaburi "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set in 1942, shortly after the fall of Singapore. Its a charming, idyllic spot, belying the intense horror and suffering the men who built it went through. [40] Boulle had never been to the bridge. After Guinness was done with the scene, Lean said, "Now you can all fuck off and go home, you English actors. After the enlisted men are marched to the bridge site, Saito threatens to have the officers shot, until Major Clipton, the British medical officer, warns Saito there are too many witnesses for him to get away with murder. They built a railway to link Bangkok to Rangoon. 26. Bridge Over The River Kwai Address: Tha Makham, Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Begun in October 1942, using prisoner of war (POW) labour, it was completed and operational by early February 1943. One of a number of Allied POW"s . Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. [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. 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. 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 . . 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. Basically, the bridge was built during World War II when the Japanese occupied Siam (now Thailand) and neighboring Burma (now Myanmar . The prisoners of war who had . The Bridge on the River Kwai: Directed by David Lean. Check here to see our open positions and volunteer roles. Lean wanted Holden, a big star and recent Oscar winner (for Stalag 17), to play American prisoner Major Shears, over the objections of producer Spiegel, who wanted Cary Grant. But poor old Goebbels 5. They felt none of the Bridge on the River Kwai cast could fully understand or represent what it was like to be there. 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]. [49] Mike Kaplan, reviewing for Variety, described it as "a gripping drama, expertly put together and handled with skill in all departments. 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. The Burma-Siam Railway was 250 miles of railway constructed by Allied prisoners of war alongside forced Asian labourers. (Lean denied ever wanting Laughton for the role, despite abundant documented evidence to the contrary.). It spans crosses the lazily winding Khwae Noi at Kanchanaburi, Thailand. The real Bridge over the River Kwai is bridge 277 of the Burma-Siam Railway. Only in 1984 did the Academy rectify the situation by retroactively awarding the Oscar to Foreman and Wilson, posthumously in both cases. 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." During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. Warden tells the Siamese women that he had to prevent anyone from falling into enemy hands, and leaves with them. "[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. British and American intelligence officers conspire . Bridge On The River Kwai is an Epic war-based film. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. They would work in appalling conditions, given minuscule amounts of food, snatches of sleep, and little to no medical treatment. The Bridge Over the River Kwai won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) in 1958. 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 River Kwai, also known as Khwae Noi or Khwae Sai Yok is a river located in the western region of Thailand. Nevertheless, the leeches in the recreated swamps were real. The cemetery was established by the Army Graves Service to hold casualties made along the railways southern Bangkok to Nieke section. rainy day Therefore, there are not many people. It would be a massive undertaking. 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Workers died at a rate of 20 men per day. The year: 1943. 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. The region was seized by the Japanese in 1942, and they then set about making preparations . Despite the discomfort the rest of the crew were experiencing, Lean was thrilled about the shoot and never complained about his living conditions. While the story is fiction, the broader setting--including the construction of the Burmese railway--is based on historical events. He had basically retired when Lean approached him to play Colonel Saito in Kwai, a performance that earned Hayakawa an Oscar nomination. Jun 7, 2011 - New on Blu 6-7-11: Studios unload nearly 70 titles. The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting Facts About 3. 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 . Laughton was in his habitually overweight state, and was either denied insurance coverage, or was simply not keen on filming in a tropical location. The Bridge on the River Kwai Facts for Kids. Ten Interesting Facts about The Bridge on the River Kwai - Anglotopia.net 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. Wrote Guinness: "I felt like turning around and getting back on the plane and paying my own fare home!" The movie was mainly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and also in England. [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. Recognising Shears, Nicholson exclaims, "What have I done? The Bridge on the River Kwai (Film) - TV Tropes It was released in the US on December 14, 1957, taking in a reported $17M+, which made it the highest-grossing film of 1957. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Colonel Nicholson, arrive at a Japanese prison camp in Thailand. This was an incorrect assumption. Pay on the train. Last survivor of the Bridge On The River Kwai Japanese railway On 16 October 1943, the two ends of the Burma-Thailand railway were joined at Konkoita in Thailand. Some Japanese viewers resented the movie's depiction of their engineers' capabilities as inferior and less advanced than they were in reality. ABC, sponsored by Ford, paid a record $1.8 million for the television rights for two screenings in the United States. In 1941 the Japanese Army invaded Thailand. Parts of the Burma-Siam railway still stand. Questions or feedback on our new site? We hadn't much breath left for whistling. 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). Carl Foreman was the initial screenwriter, but Lean replaced him with Michael Wilson. After the war, their remains were moved from these makeshift cemeteries and graveyards to purpose-built Commission sites. They are joined by approximately 1,850 Dutch casualties and one non-war grave. But I am writing a factual account, and in justice to these menliving and deadwho worked on that bridge, I must make it clear that we never did so willingly. Wise: "I never heard it in Thailand. Real Bridge on the River Kwai. Answer (1 of 7): David Lean made some excellent films His Dickens films of the 1940's are classic black and white versions of OLIVER TWIST and GREAT EXPECTATIONS He discovered color and the wide screen in the 1950's and 1960's Besides BRIDGE, Lean also did LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DR ZHIVAGO Peo. Like Chungkai and Kanchanaburi, Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery was originally part of the camp set up serving the Burma-Siams construction. By this time, the United States and its naval and industrial might had entered the war. 1957 World War II film directed by David Lean, This article is about the film. When Columbia Pictures read the script for Kwai, it was concerned that the story was too much about men and had no love interest. He described the music for The Bridge on the River Kwai as the "worst job I ever had in my life" from the point of view of time. Madness! He didn't like the next draft of the screenplay, either, because it made Nicholson "a blinkered character." They were calling it the Death Railway. 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. He succumbed to malaria, dysentery, and malnutrition at Camp Kilo 101 in Thailand. 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. 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: The explosive bridge (HD CLIP) 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. Lean filmed the scene from behind Guinness and exploded in anger when Guinness asked him why he was doing this. Other parts have been placed in various local war museums. 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). Sessue Hayakawa considered his performance as Saito as the highlight of his career. The Bridge on the River Kwai - Wikipedia His first epic was his twelfth film: The Bridge on the River Kwai, starring Alec Guinness and William Holden as P.O.W. Instead of the five year predicted completion, the bridge on river Kwai, was completed in 16 months. As it opens, two POWs, the American navy commander Shears (William Holden) and an Australian, are digging graves for their companions. Some Thailand River cruises begin in Bangkok and lead along the Mekong River to destinations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The movie won seven Academy Awards, one for Best Picture. By daybreak, however, the river level has dropped, exposing the wire connecting the explosives to the detonator. It is famously known as the setting for the a 1957 World War Two epic Bridge over the River Kwai. A picture of the actual bridge over the River Kwai in June 2004. Nicholson objects, informing Saito the Geneva Convention exempts officers from manual labour. 2. (He didn't attend the Oscars, either.) Forced labourers were labourers taken from the populations of Japan-conquered territories. He, Shears, and Joyce reach the river in time with the assistance of Siamese women bearers and their village chief, Khun Yai. Commonwealth war graves commission Caring for the fallen, Commonwealth war graves foundation Our charity site. Only minor damage was inflicted. 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. Just a stone's throw from the Menin Gate, visit our Information Centre to learn more about the CWGC. A small tourist train offers rides across the bridges span, while pedestrians can also travel over it on foot. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma. Mitch Miller had a hit with a recording of both marches. Toosey in fact did as much as possible to delay the building of the bridge. Brigadier Varley would survive the hellish building work along the Burma-Siam Railway but not the war. Assistant director John Kerrison was killed in a car crash on the way to one of the locations. Witnessing the carnage, Clipton shakes his head and mutters, "Madness! Reviews There are no reviews yet. The Suez Canal crisis of 1956 badly affected production. 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. 15- "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.". He served as an adviser during the making of the movie. : 1942: Boldly advancing through Asia, the Japanese need a train route from Burma going north. 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: Fact and fiction - Sentinelassam With William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa. Some 5,000 Commonwealth World War Two casualties are buried or commemorated in Kanchanaburi. The bridge, several museums, and cemeteries have respectfully preserved the history and memorialized the dead. The film won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) at the 30th Academy Awards. The Bridge on the River Kwai Ceylon Guide Young: "Donald, did anyone whistle Colonel Bogey as they did in the film?" This film is produced by Sam Spiegel, and the music is composed by Malcolm Arnold for . The movie was mainly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and also in England. Disease was a huge killer among railway workers, but so was brutality. It worked. 14- "Be happy in your work.". Express 08:30, 10:30. In a prison camp, British POWs are forced into labor. Harry Cohn, the vulgar (but successful) man who ran Columbia Pictures at the time, was furious when he read the script and saw no . He was contracted for $150,000 to be paid in installments. 28 Fun And Interesting Facts About The Bridge On The River Kwai The film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" dramatized the WWII story of the Thailand-Burma Railway, yet it was largely fictional. Approximately 5 kilometres north of Kanchanaburi there were two bridges that were built by POWs during the war. 20. Nicholson spots the wire and brings it to Saito's attention. At its behest, Sam Spiegel asked David Lean to incorporate a love scene. Get information about our funding, our Customer Charter and our Strategic Plan. The Hitchhiker's Guide has this to say about John Rabon: When not pretending to travel in time and space, eating bananas, and claiming that things are "fantastic", John lives in North Carolina. 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. [5][6] It has been included on the American Film Institute's list of best American films ever made. The screenplay was instead credited to the novelist, Boullewhich was quite a feat, since he didnt speak or read English. The Bridge on the River Kwai was actually one of the reasons movies started becoming prime-time television programming. ", Warden fires a mortar, killing Shears and Joyce and fatally wounding Nicholson. Moreover, Kanchanaburi has an annual "Bridge Over the River Kwai" week, which has a sound show to relive the moments of World War II. The Kwai Bridge: The Reel and the Real - The New York Times Of course, he could not save many of his men from expiring, but he did their best to make conditions more comfortable. Also, the dense surrounding jungle renders escape virtually impossible. 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. The bridge cost $250,000 to build. Although the obvious link was by sea, Allied submarines controlling the region made it too treacherous. The Bridge On The River Kwai | Film Locations The river is the Mae Klong River which passes through a valley of the Khwae Noi River (little tributary). It was set up at the beginning of the Burma-Siams construction. Why visit the Bridge on the River Kwai | Audley Travel 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. Lean liked that draft even less. The Bridge On The River Kwai Photos and Premium High Res Pictures Like thousands of other POWs, Lamb was kept in degrading conditions, refused medical treatment and barely fed. The movie was filmed in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka. 27. POWs and indentured labourers were worked to death while busy constructing the railway simultaneously. Nicholson yells for help, while attempting to stop Joyce from reaching the detonator. Kwai River Bridge history. FIFTY years ago waves of Liberator bombers were deliberately destroying a remarkable feat of engineering. Spiegel sent the screenplay to the Japanese government ahead of time, hoping to get their cooperation with the production. 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. Train crossing the wooden bridge which spanned the Mae Klong River (renamed Kwai Yai River in 1960). The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - Trivia - IMDb Today, he rests alongside his fellow POWs in Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma (Myanmar). Bridge on the River Kwai; the true story - Digger History They were supported by an unknown number of Malaysian labourers. Supplying it by ship was the only practical solution. [9], The film was relatively faithful to the novel, with two major exceptions. Cafes and tourist spots dot the banks of the Khwae Noi. Following the raids, Thanbyuzayat was evacuated. The Kwai River Bridge was part of the meter-gauge railway constructed by the Japanese during World War Two. Sri Lanka Filming Locations: The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) Posted on July 17, 2017 by tokyofox. 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. Check out where to stay in Kanchanaburi and book an accommodation of your choice. To enjoy Thailand River cruises, you need to understand a little about the geography of Thailand and its river system. First Joyce and then Shears are killed in the ensuing gunfire. The Bridge on the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand - Travel Full scale plan drawing for the main cantilever bridge design. 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.