10 facts about the bridge on the river kwai 10 facts about the bridge on the river kwai

Then he hired Lean to directand Lean didn't like Foreman's version. Despite this, he won an Oscar and a Grammy. 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. In the movie the bridge is destroyed by commandos. [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. The rail link, however, would . [54] Slant magazine gave the film four out of five stars. David Lean's 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films. In reality, Japanese engineers proved to be just as capable at construction efforts as their Allied counterparts.[58][59]. This is now known as the Death Railway. Use our search tools to explore our records and find out about those we commemorate. By this time, the United States and its naval and industrial might had entered the war. The Burma-Siam Railway was 250 miles of railway constructed by Allied prisoners of war alongside forced Asian labourers. British and American intelligence officers conspire . The events depicted in the film, of a chaotic Commando raid and Lt. Col Nicholsons wounded body falling dramatically on the detonator and blowing the bridge up, are completely false. Train crossing the wooden bridge which spanned the Mae Klong River (renamed Kwai Yai River in 1960). 25 The Bridge on the River Kwai Trivia Questions & Answers Best 17 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Quotes He was contracted for $150,000 to be paid in installments. Visiting The Bridge On The River Kwai, Kanchanaburi Has something sim'lar Please select which sections you would like to print: Pat Bauer graduated from Ripon College in 1977 with a double major in Spanish and Theatre. Use our postcode search tool to discover more about the war dead from your local area. The Bridge Over the River Kwai won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) in 1958. Mortally wounded, he falls onto the plunger, the bridge is blown up, and the train with the dignitaries falls into the river. [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. Brigadier Varley would survive the hellish building work along the Burma-Siam Railway but not the war. 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. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. The movie is based on the novel Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai by Pierre Boulle. But, what about the real men behind the real story of the construction of the Burma-Siam Railway? Return trains are 12.55 and 15.15. 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. [10], Although Lean later denied it, Charles Laughton was his first choice for the role of Nicholson. Real Bridge on the River Kwai. See some of the commonly asked questions about the Special Committee. It was set up at the beginning of the Burma-Siams construction. Warden, Shears, and two other commandos parachute into Thailand; one, Chapman, dies after falling into a tree, and Warden is wounded in an encounter with a Japanese patrol and must be carried on a litter. 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). Lean shouted at them, 'For God's sake, whistle a march to keep time to.' Tickets are 100 baht. 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. Instead of the five year predicted completion, the bridge on river Kwai, was completed in 16 months. 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 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. Colonel Nicholson, arrive at a Japanese prison camp in Thailand. [43] By October 1960, the film had earned worldwide box office revenues of $30 million. It was not long before the Japanese army overrunning Java captured Lieutenant Lamb and his men. (He didn't attend the Oscars, either.) A real train rode over the bridge as it blew up. The bridge cost $250,000 to build. But whats the real story? This article is part of our Classic Film Throwback series - By Sam Hendrian - "Madness. The Bridge on the River Kwai. But poor old Goebbels The Real Story Behind 'The Bridge On The River Kwai' - Coffee or Die Lean wanted to use the tune in Kwai, figured those lyrics wouldn't pass the censors (or the approval of the composer's widow), and opted to have the troops whistle it instead. Ironically, Allied bombing raids of the region between March and June 1943 contributed to casualties sustained around Thanbyuzayat. After the final scene was shot, producer Sam Spiegel shipped the movie footage on five different planes to minimize the risk of loss. The bridge in the movie was near Kitulgala. She recommended Lean to producer Sam Spiegel, who'd been turned down by Fred Zinnemann, William Wyler, and Carol Reed, and offered the directing job to Lean as a last resort. Colonel Saito, the camp commandant, informs the new prisoners they will all work, even officers, on the construction of a railway bridge over the River Kwai that will connect Bangkok and Rangoon. 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But the unusual move paid off for ABCthe telecast drew huge ratings with a record audience of 72 million[60] and a Nielsen rating of 38.3 and an audience share of 61%. Victims were cremated and their remains are buried in the aforementioned graves. The Bridge on the River Kwai Ceylon Guide Sessue Hayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialog. The place: Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma. "[57], Some Japanese viewers have disliked the film's depiction of the Japanese characters and the historical background presented as being inaccurate, particularly in the interactions between Saito and Nicholson. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. Moreover, Kanchanaburi has an annual "Bridge Over the River Kwai" week, which has a sound show to relive the moments of World War II. Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson have written the screenplay for this film. 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. 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.. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Pitted against the warden, Colonel . Log in. Although unconvinced of its merits, Lean agreed to include Shears affair with a British nurse. Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. In 1957 the movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, premiered in London and became the biggest grossing film of 1958, winning seven academy awards in the process, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Musical Score, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.Not bad for a movie that is largely a work of almost entirely fictional characters and a story which . As Ashton explained, it was so cheap because "we used local labor and elephants; and the timber was cut nearby.". 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. Written 20 October 2021. The railway route, which ran through Burma and Thailand, had been planned by the British. 7. Cutting the base board 1190 x 160 x 12 mm. As a result, Boulle, who did not speak English, was credited and received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; many years later, Foreman and Wilson posthumously received the Academy Award.[4]. Its telling that the railway workers had to see to their own medical care. In early 1943, World War II British prisoners arrive by train at a Japanese prison camp in Burma. The telecast of the film lasted more than three hours because of the commercial breaks. It was released in the US on December 14, 1957, taking in a reported $17M+, which made it the highest-grossing film of 1957. They remain standing at attention throughout the day. The prisoners of war who had . [51] Time magazine praised Lean's directing, noting he demonstrates "a dazzlingly musical sense and control of the many and involving rhythms of a vast composition. The Bridge on the River Kwai (Film) - TV Tropes Sri Lanka Filming Locations: The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) Posted on July 17, 2017 by tokyofox. Bridge Over The River Kwai, Kanchanaburi | Ticket Price | Timings (This can be compared to a scene in the 1927 movie, The General, which starred Buster Keaton.). Alec Guiness, William Holden, and Jack Hawkins in front of bridge they built in a scene from the film 'The Bridge On The River Kwai', 1957. In early 1943, a contingent of British prisoners of war, led by Lt. While Nicholson disapproves of acts of sabotage and other deliberate attempts to delay progress, Toosey encouraged this: termites were collected in large numbers to eat the wooden structures, and the concrete was badly mixed. 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. They were calling it the Death Railway. The Bridge on the River Kwai was widely praised, winning seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 30th Academy Awards. The bridge they build will become a symbol of service and survival to one prisoner, Colonel Nicholson, a proud perfectionist. 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. [40] Boulle had never been to the bridge. Weill you be in London for the Coronation in 2023? 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. The screenplay was instead credited to the novelist, Boullewhich was quite a feat, since he didnt speak or read English. 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. Also, in the novel, the bridge is not destroyed: the train plummets into the river from a secondary charge placed by Warden, but Nicholson (never realising "what have I done?") (Lean denied ever wanting Laughton for the role, despite abundant documented evidence to the contrary.). At the end of the day, the officers are imprisoned, and Nicholson is thrown into the ovena small box made of corrugated metal. 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. The Bridge on the River Kwai: The explosive bridge (HD CLIP) These issues, running throughout the film, were addressed to a lesser extent on various previous DVD releases of the film and might not have been so obvious in standard definition.[67]. 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. [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". . As it opens, two POWs, the American navy commander Shears (William Holden) and an Australian, are digging graves for their companions. FIFTY years ago waves of Liberator bombers were deliberately destroying a remarkable feat of engineering. Surviving veterans consider Toosey one of the finest officers they ever served under. Ernest Gordon, a survivor of the railway construction and POW camps described in the novel/film, stated in his 1962 book, Through the Valley of the Kwai: In Pierre Boulle's book The Bridge over the River Kwai and the film which was based on it, the impression was given that British officers not only took part in building the bridge willingly, but finished in record time to demonstrate to the enemy their superior efficiency. This film is produced by Sam Spiegel, and the music is composed by Malcolm Arnold for . The Bridge on the River Kwai - IGN When he asks for Saitos help in cutting the wires, the hidden commando, Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne), leaps up and kills Saito. In particular, they objected to the implication presented in the film that Japanese military engineers were generally unskilled at their profession and lacked proficiency. Toosey would provide the inspiration for Lt. Col Nicholson portrayed by Alec Guinness in the 1957 film. 18. Disease was a huge killer among railway workers, but so was brutality. Allied soldiers had built a church and a hospital on the site where the cemetery now sits. All Rights Reserved. Best time to visit Bridge Over The River Kwai (preferred time): 09:00 am - 01:00 pm. Read our FAQs or send a question to our customer service team. 14- "Be happy in your work.". Tracy had read the book and told Spiegel emphatically that the part must be played by an Englishman. 8. Copyright 2020 Tons Of Facts. 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 this structure, Bridge 277, that still stands and is a famous local tourist attraction. At all. After a few days, the British medical officer Major Clipton (James Donald) tries to persuade both Saito and Nicholson to compromise, but both are unyielding. He didn't like the next draft of the screenplay, either, because it made Nicholson "a blinkered character." He created the railroad. Omissions? - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. When, the next morning, Saito orders all the British prisoners to begin building the bridge under the command of a Japanese engineer, Nicholson and the other officers refuse, even when Saito threatens to kill them. [14][15], The film was an international co-production between companies in Britain and the United States. Both bridges were used for two years, until they were destroyed by Allied bombing. The Bridge on the River Kwai, commonly referred to as the Railroad of Death or Death Railway, which stands in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, was one of only eight steel bridges of the estimated 688 that were built. All the filming locations of The Bridge on the River Kwai are listed below. Geoffrey Horne saved his life. Work on the bridge proceeds badly, due to both the faulty Japanese engineering plans and the prisoners' slow pace and deliberate sabotage. He wanders into a Burmese village, is nursed back to health, and eventually reaches the British colony of Ceylon. 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. 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. 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 Bridge On The River Kwai Film Facts. The Bridge on the River Kwai - Wikipedia 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. The movie is based on the novel "Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai" by Pierre Boulle. 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. 's working to build and/or destroy a bridge for the Japanese during World War II. The real Bridge on the River Kwai. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial, Malaysia. 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 . The bridge depicted in the film is most definitely real. [56] Warren Buffett said it was his favorite movie. 17. Roger Ebert focused on the symbolism of the bridge in this 1999 description: "[The war] narrows down to a single task, building a . Nicholson's obsession with the bridge eventually drives him to allow his officers to volunteer to engage in manual labor. US $4.49 Standard Shipping from outside US. Vital equipment that would normally have been shipped through the canal had to be flown out to the location instead. The Kwai Bridge: The Reel and the Real - The New York Times [31] He strongly denied the claim that the book was anti-British, although many involved in the film itself (including Alec Guinness) felt otherwise.[36]. [27] Gavin Young[28] recounts meeting Donald Wise, a former prisoner of the Japanese who had worked on the Burma Railway. Further afield, and appealing to my military family war history, is Kanchanaburi with its war cemetery and bridge over the Kwai river which is made famous by the Oscar winning film The Bridge on the River Kwai. Nevertheless, the leeches in the recreated swamps were real. . Updates? These problems resulted in a number of anomalies that were very difficult to correct, like a ghosting effect in many scenes that resembles colour mis-registration, and a tick-like effect with the image jumping or jerking side-to-side. [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. Since it first graced the silver screen won the admiration of audiences everywhere and continues to do so. 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. [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. By Barry Fox. Death Railway: History of the Bridge on The River Kwai