Kanchanaburi, in Myanmar border, is home to the famous Bridge River Kwai. The Bridge on the River Kwai: Directed by David Lean. On 16 October 1943, the two ends of the Burma-Thailand railway were joined at Konkoita in Thailand. The actual name of "Bridge on the River Kwai", on the 258 mile long Burma Railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma, built from 1940-1944, was called Bridge 277. English / Japanese / Thai. 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. Shears tries to get out of the mission by confessing that he impersonated an officer, hoping for better treatment from the Japanese. We hadn't much breath left for whistling. There were no facilities on the island of Ceylon to process film rushes, so the days filming had to be flown to London to be processed and then flown back out to Ceylon. According to Columbia Pictures, they followed an all-new 4K digital restoration from the original negative with newly restored 5.1 audio. 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 casualties of the Burma-Siam railway were often buried in camp burial grounds located close to where they originally fell. 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. [14][15], The film was an international co-production between companies in Britain and the United States. 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. Unique to this film, in some ways, were other issues related to poorly made optical dissolves, the original camera lens and a malfunctioning camera. FIFTY years ago waves of Liberator bombers were deliberately destroying a remarkable feat of engineering. [27] Gavin Young[28] recounts meeting Donald Wise, a former prisoner of the Japanese who had worked on the Burma Railway. They felt none of the Bridge on the River Kwai cast could fully understand or represent what it was like to be there. It is a landmark of Kanchanaburi Province. Read our FAQs or send a question to our customer service team. 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." Its a charming, idyllic spot, belying the intense horror and suffering the men who built it went through. Leadership Analysis: The Bridge On The River Kwai. [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". In early 1943, a contingent of British prisoners of war, led by Lt. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Despite the nightmarish conditions, and equipped only with the most basic of tools, the POWs pulled off an amazing feat of engineering. Its estimated around 16,000 Allied prisoners of war were killed during construction of the Burma-Siam Railway. 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. Some Thailand River cruises begin in Bangkok and lead along the Mekong River to destinations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Although unconvinced of its merits, Lean agreed to include Shears affair with a British nurse. Allied soldiers had built a church and a hospital on the site where the cemetery now sits. The curved-shaped truss spans are the originals on the bridge (constructed by the Japanese military during WWII) while the two trapezoidal-shaped bridge spans were provided by Japan as war reparations after the war ended in 1945 (to replace two curved-shaped truss spans that fell into the river after the bridge was attacked and bombed by Allied aircraft. As the train approaches, they hurry down to the riverbank to investigate. For the scene when Colonel Nicholson emerges from the oven after several days confined there, Alec Guinness based his faltering walk on that of his son Matthew Guinness when he was recovering from polio. 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. Prior to casting Alec Guinness, Sam Spiegel tried to persuade Spencer Tracy to play the part of Colonel Nicholson. 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. When he asks for Saitos help in cutting the wires, the hidden commando, Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne), leaps up and kills Saito. Drilled holes for the piers; and cut them to length. [3] The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Sessue Hayakawa. The rest were made of wood and local materials. He was listed as missing in action in June 1943. This records the names of 11 Indian army men buried in Muslim cemeteries throughout Thailand whose graves could not be maintained. This page was last modified on 6 February 2023, at 06:05. To learn more about the men behind the real story of the Bridge on the River Kwai, and to discover the casualties, please use our Find War Dead tool. Forced labourers were labourers taken from the populations of Japan-conquered territories. Thanbyuzayat is in Myanmar. 11. He didn't like the next draft of the screenplay, either, because it made Nicholson "a blinkered character." The Bridge on the River Kwai was widely praised, winning seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 30th Academy Awards. The movie is based on the novel Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai by Pierre Boulle. Only in 1984 did the Academy rectify the situation by retroactively awarding the Oscar to Foreman and Wilson, posthumously in both cases. [39], The major railway bridge described in the novel and film did not actually cross the river known at the time as the Kwai. The separate dialogue, music and effects were located and remixed with newly recorded "atmospheric" sound effects. 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 . Subsequent releases of the film finally gave them proper screen credit. Within 16 months the bridge was completed but it took another two years to complete the entire rail line. Laughton was in his habitually overweight state, and was either denied insurance coverage, or was simply not keen on filming in a tropical location. Cafes and tourist spots dot the banks of the Khwae Noi. The Bridge of the River kwai It is a tourist attraction of Kanchanaburi. Be the first one to write a review. 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. Please note the delivery estimate is greater than 10 business days. Ironically, Allied bombing raids of the region between March and June 1943 contributed to casualties sustained around Thanbyuzayat. Mitch Miller had a hit with a recording of both marches. Around 3,100 Commonwealth Burma war graves can be found at Thanbyuzayat, alongside roughly 620 Dutch burials. Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. Both writers had to work in secret, as they were on the Hollywood blacklist and had fled to England in order to continue working. One of a number of Allied POW"s . Tonight, enjoy dinner at a hotel restaurant Overnight: Kanchanaburi Have a question about us or our work? Joyce, manning the detonator, breaks cover and stabs Saito to death. Workers died at a rate of 20 men per day. [38] Some Japanese viewers also disliked the film for portraying the Allied prisoners of war as more capable of constructing the bridge than the Japanese engineers themselves were, accusing the filmmakers of being unfairly biased and unfamiliar with the realities of the bridge construction, a sentiment echoed by surviving prisoners of war who saw the film in cinemas. The film was based on the 1952 novel Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle. 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. But in Bangkok I was told that David Lean, the film's director, became mad at the extras who played the prisonersusbecause they couldn't march in time. Tickets are 100 baht. The steel bridge was repaired and is still in use today. He had basically retired when Lean approached him to play Colonel Saito in Kwai, a performance that earned Hayakawa an Oscar nomination. A Smith article describes bridge on River Kwai, near Kanchanaburi, Thailand, built by Allied POWs during Japanese occupation of Thailand in World War II and subject of famous film The Bridge on . The railway route, which ran through Burma and Thailand, had been planned by the British. Also, the dense surrounding jungle renders escape virtually impossible. Interested in advertising on the world's largest website dedicated to all things Britain? 13. 27. Approximately 5 kilometres north of Kanchanaburi there were two bridges that were built by POWs during the war. [34] According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission: The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. Tracy had read the book and told Spiegel emphatically that the part must be played by an Englishman. He didn't like the screenplay because it reduced Nicholson to secondary status. It is famously known as the setting for the a 1957 World War Two epic Bridge over the River Kwai. When Columbia Pictures read the script for Kwai, it was concerned that the story was too much about men and had no love interest. Nicholson's obsession with the bridge eventually drives him to allow his officers to volunteer to engage in manual labor. Bridge over the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand. His compassion and insistence on equality amongst the ranks ensured he protected his men as best he could. 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. 3. Two bridges were built, the first made of wood. Chandran Rutnam and William Holden while shooting The Bridge on the River Kwai. Over 65,000 Allied P.O.W.s battled torture, starvation, and disease to hack the 255-mile railway out of harsh jungle for the Japanese. Disease was a huge killer among railway workers, but so was brutality. Sessue Hayakawa (1889-1973) was a Japanese-born actor who came to Hollywood in the very early days of cinemahis first short, The Typhoon, was made in 1914and quickly became a matinee idol, playing exotic villains and such. In reality, Risaburo Saito was respected by his prisoners for being comparatively merciful and fair towards them. Realising he has no choice, Shears volunteers. The bridge, several museums, and cemeteries have respectfully preserved the history and memorialized the dead. A real train rode over the bridge as it blew up. 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. 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. 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.. Despite the discomfort the rest of the crew were experiencing, Lean was thrilled about the shoot and never complained about his living conditions. A regiment of British prisoners arrives, whistling the Colonel Bogey March, under the command of Colonel Nicholson (Sir Alec Guinness). Those who were there did not think much of the novel or film of the Bridge of the River Kwai. Recognising Shears, Nicholson exclaims, "What have I done? Return trains are 12.55 and 15.15. 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. Written 20 October 2021. In fact, the cemetery is the original burial ground started by the prisoners themselves. Copyright 2020 Tons Of Facts. 26. (He didn't attend the Oscars, either.) 2023 Commonwealth War Graves Commission. However, in 1943 a railway bridge was built by Allied POWs over the Mae Klong river renamed Khwae Yai in the 1960s as a result of the film at Tha Ma Kham, five kilometres from Kanchanaburi, Thailand. [22], Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by the river current during a break from filming.[23]. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a work of fiction, but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942 to 1943 for its historical setting. The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in . Warden tells the Siamese women that he had to prevent anyone from falling into enemy hands, and leaves with them. He shows a rare sense of humor and a feeling for the poetry of situation; and he shows the even rarer ability to express these things, not in lines but in lives. Toosey was very different from Nicholson and was certainly not a collaborator who felt obliged to work with the Japanese. THE HEAD OF COLUMBIA PICTURES FORCED LEAN TO ADD A LOVE SCENE. Save up to 50% on Thailand River Cruises August 2024. As Ashton explained, it was so cheap because "we used local labor and elephants; and the timber was cut nearby.". 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). At the end of the day, the officers are imprisoned, and Nicholson is thrown into the ovena small box made of corrugated metal. Weill you be in London for the Coronation in 2023? As shown in the movie, Guinness played the scene without flinching. 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. One of the biggest causes of ire was the treatment of Toosey. Sessue Hayakawa considered his performance as Saito as the highlight of his career. A sketch of that bridge was used as the basis for the fictional one. [21] Guinness later reflected on the scene, calling it the "finest piece of work" he had ever done. 16- "You make me sick with your heroics! To enjoy Thailand River cruises, you need to understand a little about the geography of Thailand and its river system. As the train approaches, Nicholson frantically pulls up the wire, following it to find the detonator. 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 prisoners of war who had . [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. Sessue Hayakawa really did accidentally strike Alec Guinness hard enough to draw blood in one scene. The bridges were quickly repaired with the use of POW labour from the camp at Tha . Nicholson is shocked by the poor job being done by his men and orders the building of a proper bridge, intending it to stand as a tribute to the British Army's ingenuity for centuries to come. By daybreak, however, the river level has dropped, exposing the wire connecting the explosives to the detonator. It begins with British troops being marched into the prison camp after their surrender to the Japanese at Singapore. It stars Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins and William Holden. This article is part of our Classic Film Throwback series - By Sam Hendrian - "Madness. The actual bridge on the River Kwai is located in Thailand, and stretches over a part of the Mae Klong river, which was renamed Khwae Yai (Thai for big tributary). Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . The Mount Lavinia Hotel was used as a location for the hospital. The train crashed into a generator on the other side of the bridge and was wrecked. Pay on the train. 15. Join us in an act of virtual remembrance and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. 1. It was filmed in Kitulgala which is 60 . He joined up in 1940 and served in the Middle East with the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion before transferring back to the Dutch East Indies in early 1942. 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.
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