The Bridge on the River Kwai Movie Review 1957

Award-winning adaptation of the Pierre Bouelle novel about the battle of wills between a Japanese POW camp commander and a British colonel over the construction of a rail bridge, and the parallel efforts by escaped prisoner Holden to destroy it. Holden's role was originally cast for Cary Grant. Memorable too for whistling "Colonel Bogey March." Because the writers were blacklisted, Bouelle (who spoke no English) was originally credited as the screenwriter.

Distribution

Home Vision Cinema, c/o Image Entertainment, 20525 Nordhoff St., Ste. 200, Chatsworth, CA 91311, URL: http://www.homevision.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 161 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Bridges, World War II, POW/MIA, Survival, Top Grossing Films of 1957, Ethics & Morals, A River Runs Through the Plot, 4 Bones

Screenplay

Carl Foreman, Michael Wilson

Cast

William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, Geoffrey Horne, Andre Morell, Ann Sears, Peter Williams, John Boxer, Percy Herbert, Harold Goodwin, Henry Okawa, Keiichiro Katsumoto, M.R.B. Chakrabandhu

Cinematography

Jack Hildyard

Director

David Lean

Music

Malcolm Arnold

Other

L.E.M. Perowne

Producer

Sam Spiegel, Columbia Pictures

Awards

Oscars 1957: Actor (Guinness), Adapt. Screenplay, Cinematog., Director (Lean), Film Editing, Picture, Score; AFI 1998: Top 100; British Acad. 1957: Actor (Guinness), Film, Screenplay; Directors Guild 1957: Director (Lean); Golden Globes 1958: Actor--Drama (Guinness), Director (Lean), Film--Drama; Natl. Bd. of Review 1957: Actor (Guinness), Director (Lean), Support. Actor (Hayakawa), Natl. Film Reg. 1997;; N.Y. Film Critics 1957: Actor (Guinness), Director (Lean), Film.