The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge over the River Kwai (French:Le Pont de la Rivière Kwai) is a novel by Pierre Boulle, published in 1952, that won France's "Prix Ste Beuve." It is a fictional story but it is based upon the real plight of Allied prisoners of war during World War II forced to build the 258-mile Death Railway by Japanese forces.

Primary cast:

• Alec Guinness : Lt. Col. Nicholson
• Sessue Hayakawa : Col. Saito
• William Holden : Shears
• Jack Hawkins : Maj. Warden
• James Donald : Maj. Clipton
• Geoffrey Horne : Lt. Joyce
• Peter Williams : Capt. Reeves
• André Morell : Col. Green
• John Boxer : Maj. Hughes
• Percy Herbert : Pvt. Grogan
• Harold Goodwin : Pvt. Baker
• Ann Sears : Nurse at Ceylon hospital
• Heihachiro Okawa : Capt. Kanematsu
• Keiichiro Katsumoto : Lt. Miura
• M.R.B. Chakrabandhu : Yai

The destruction of the bridge in the film was accomplished by blowing up a full-sized bridge as a real train drove over it. This may have been the first time such a scene had been attempted without model shots since the silent film era. (Buster Keaton's The General includes an almost identical scene.)

Related Topics:
Silent film - Buster Keaton - The General

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One memorable feature of the movie is the tune that is whistled by the POW's—the "Colonel Bogey March"—and is now widely associated with the movie, and even sometimes referred to as the "River Kwai March." Besides serving as an example of British fortitude and dignity in the face of privation, it suggested (whether or not intended by the screenwriters) a specific symbol of defiance to many movie-goers of the period: WW II veterans (and many of their baby-boom sons) thought of the tune as that of a mockery of Japan's principal ally.

Related Topics:
Colonel Bogey March - WW II - Baby-boom - Mockery - Principal ally

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