Disease was a huge killer among railway workers, but so was brutality. The Bridge on the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi 1942. Check out where to stay in Kanchanaburi and book an accommodation of your choice. 1. 17. Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. The Bridge on the River Kwai Facts for Kids. During World War II, British soldiers added lyrics to the tune that went approximately along these lines: Hitler With William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa. His first epic was his twelfth film: The Bridge on the River Kwai, starring Alec Guinness and William Holden as P.O.W. When the sun rises, the commandoes realize that the water level in the river has fallen, exposing the explosives and wiring. Updates? Nicholson objects, informing Saito the Geneva Convention exempts officers from manual labour. 22. Train crossing the wooden bridge which spanned the Mae Klong River (renamed Kwai Yai River in 1960). Forced labourers were labourers taken from the populations of Japan-conquered territories. Over a muddy jungle river called Kwai, a Japanese colonel, Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), must complete a railroad bridge vital to Japan's war effort. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a British 1957 World War II film by David Lean based on the novel The Bridge Over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. Image: Bridge 277 aka the real Bridge over the River Kwai, Image: The iconic poster of the 1957 classic. Mortally wounded, he falls onto the plunger, the bridge is blown up, and the train with the dignitaries falls into the river. The movie was mainly filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and also in England. The Colonel Bogey March" was composed in 1914 by Kenneth Alford, a military band conductor. After the war, their remains were moved from these makeshift cemeteries and graveyards to purpose-built Commission sites. Toosey was very different from Nicholson and was certainly not a collaborator who felt obliged to work with the Japanese. Sign-up for free daily emails with the latest news about British culture, heritage, and history! Despite the nightmarish conditions, and equipped only with the most basic of tools, the POWs pulled off an amazing feat of engineering. Unique to this film, in some ways, were other issues related to poorly made optical dissolves, the original camera lens and a malfunctioning camera. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Cafes and tourist spots dot the banks of the Khwae Noi. 15. Starring Alec Guinness, William Holden, and Sessue Hayakawa, among others, it paints an . [31], On a BBC Timewatch programme, a former prisoner at the camp states that it is unlikely that a man like the fictional Nicholson could have risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and, if he had, due to his collaboration he would have been "quietly eliminated" by the other prisoners. Saito is expected to commit ritual suicide if he fails to meet the rapidly approaching deadline. Bridge On The River Kwai is an Epic war-based film. [43] By October 1960, the film had earned worldwide box office revenues of $30 million. [citation needed], Julie Summers, in her book The Colonel of Tamarkan, writes that Boulle, who had been a prisoner of war in Thailand, created the fictional Nicholson character as an amalgam of his memories of collaborating French officers. But, what about the real men behind the real story of the construction of the Burma-Siam Railway? Sessue Hayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialog. In fact, the cemetery is the original burial ground started by the prisoners themselves. 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 . Desperate, he uses the anniversary of Japan's 1905 victory in the Russo-Japanese War as an excuse to save face; he announces a general amnesty, releasing Nicholson and his officers and exempting them from manual labour. 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. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a classic 1957 British-American war film based upon the 1952 novel Le Pont de la Rivire Kwai by Pierre Boulle. [14][15], The film was an international co-production between companies in Britain and the United States. Kanchanaburi town is located around 130 kilometres northwest of Bangkok. It stars Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins and William Holden. The bridges were quickly repaired with the use of POW labour from the camp at Tha . Workers died at a rate of 20 men per day. (He didn't attend the Oscars, either.) Lambs sister received a letter from him in September 1943, saying he was in excellent health and being treated well by his captors. Toosey would provide the inspiration for Lt. Col Nicholson portrayed by Alec Guinness in the 1957 film. Some Thailand River cruises begin in Bangkok and lead along the Mekong River to destinations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Around 3,100 Commonwealth Burma war graves can be found at Thanbyuzayat, alongside roughly 620 Dutch burials. What's your favorite? From iconic memorials to local churchyards, there is unique heritage to explore across Great Britain. The real Bridge on the River Kwai. Some sections, such as the infamous Hellfire Pass, required carving through tough sheer rock. 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. This film is taken from a popular novel written by Pierre Boulle in 1952. Did he really want the enemy to come in across it? While the story is fiction, the broader setting--including the construction of the Burmese railway--is based on historical events. There are tourist trains to Nam Tok stopping at stations in between daily from the River Kwai Bridge station at 06.05, 11.00 and 14.30. [64] The image was restored by OCS, Freeze Frame, and Pixel Magic with George Hively editing. Nicholson's obsession with the bridge eventually drives him to allow his officers to volunteer to engage in manual labor. Clipton objects, believing this to be collaboration with the enemy. The Bridge on the River Kwai was widely praised, winning seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 30th Academy Awards. It was released in the US on December 14, 1957, taking in a reported $17M+, which made it the highest-grossing film of 1957. The bridge cost $250,000 to build. 6. 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. The Japanese Railway Regiment forced thousands of allied POWs and natives to build the . The movie has been included on the American Film Institutes list of best American films ever made. Weill you be in London for the Coronation in 2023? The river is the Mae Klong River which passes through a valley of the Khwae Noi River (little tributary). Log in. David Lean was completely at home in the hot and humid Ceylon jungle. 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. Instead of the five year predicted completion, the bridge on river Kwai, was completed in 16 months. Kwai's composer, Malcolm Arnold, wove the march into his Oscar-winning score so seamlessly that modern viewers may assume it was original to the film. British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it. Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson have written the screenplay for this film. Have a question about us or our work? It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. A real train rode over the bridge as it blew up. This records the names of 11 Indian army men buried in Muslim cemeteries throughout Thailand whose graves could not be maintained. [26], A memorable feature of the film is the tune that is whistled by the POWsthe first strain of the "Colonel Bogey March"when they enter the camp. The Bridge over the River Kwai met its fate in 1945. Be the first one to write a review. Prisoners, including the sick, were marched to camps further along Death Railway. 26. 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. The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in . 4. The majority of its smaller components are originals, while a few are post-war replacements. (Lean denied ever wanting Laughton for the role, despite abundant documented evidence to the contrary.). His compassion and insistence on equality amongst the ranks ensured he protected his men as best he could. 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. Japanese guards were known for their cruelty and would frequently torture and assault their prisoners. 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. - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. They felt none of the Bridge on the River Kwai cast could fully understand or represent what it was like to be there. He created the railroad. 25 March 1995. [12], William Holden's deal was considered one of the best ever for an actor at the time, with him receiving $300,000 plus 10% of the film's gross receipts. All but a small section of the route was built in dense, malarial jungles, in sweltering heat and monsoon rains. He was contracted for $150,000 to be paid in installments. 6 Interesting And Awesome Facts About Dondokomon From Digimon, 20 Amazing And Fun Facts About San Bernardino, California, United States, 26 Fun And Fascinating Facts About The Gods Of Egypt Movie, 15 Interesting And Fun Facts About Napa, California, United States, 20 Interesting And Amazing Facts About National City, California, United States, 15 Interesting And Fascinating Facts About Needles, California, United States, 15 Interesting And Amazing Facts About Nevada City, California, United States, 15 Amazing And Interesting Facts About Newark, California, United States. Sessue Hayakawa considered his performance as Saito as the highlight of his career. The film"s story was loosely based on a true World War II incident, and the real-life character of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey. The movie garnered seven Academy Awards, including that for best picture, as well as three Golden Globe Awards and four BAFTA awards. The real swamps in Ceylon were deemed to be too dangerous. Its estimated around 16,000 Allied prisoners of war were killed during construction of the Burma-Siam Railway. 14- "Be happy in your work.". Their roles and characters, however, are fictionalised. (There were other verses, too, which treated in more depth the number, location, and status of Hitler's anatomy, but you get the idea.) Vital equipment that would normally have been shipped through the canal had to be flown out to the location instead. 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. We want to hear from you! For many, its their first exposure to the horrors prisoners of wars suffered in the Far East. Chandran Rutnam and William Holden while shooting The Bridge on the River Kwai. 28. Has something sim'lar "[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. 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]. 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. David Lean's 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films. After Guinness was done with the scene, Lean said, "Now you can all fuck off and go home, you English actors. Although the Death Railway has never again reached the Myanmar border, a shorter stretch was reopened by Thailand's railway authorities between 1949 and 1958, and trains on this modern-day line cross the infamous Bridge on the River Kwai. He'd just been through a costly divorce from actress Ann Todd. Lean feared Guinness' public persona had changed so much that audiences wouldn't buy him in this very dramatic role, but came around to the idea when the Laughton plan didn't work. Victims were cremated and their remains are buried in the aforementioned graves. 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. But poor old Goebbels 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. 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 . English / Japanese / Thai. Supplying it by ship was the only practical solution. Take a look below for 28 more fun and interesting facts about The Bridge on the River Kwai. Some 5,000 Commonwealth World War Two casualties are buried or commemorated in Kanchanaburi. Toosey later defended him in his war crimes trial after the war, and the two became friends. 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. Boulle was given sole credit on the film and was awarded the Oscar for best screenplay. Those who were there did not think much of the novel or film of the Bridge of the River Kwai. Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. Sam Spiegel bought the railroad train from the Ceylonese government. Showing the impact of disease on the workforce, Kanchanaburi contains two graves holding the ashes of 300 Cholera victims. The cemetery itself is located just outside the town of Kanchanaburi at the point where the Kwai splits into the Mae Khlong and Kwai Noi rivers. This Oscar-winning epic is part of movie folklore and widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever so I really wanted to see the area where director David Lean shot it way back in 1957. The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Burma during World War II. Reviews There are no reviews yet. 16- "You make me sick with your heroics! The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) is an epic World War II adventure/action, anti-war drama. The train crashed into a generator on the other side of the bridge and was wrecked. 14. Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. Some Japanese viewers resented the movie's depiction of their engineers' capabilities as inferior and less advanced than they were in reality. 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. Bus Bangkok - Kanchanaburi $ 7.19 3h 30m. Chungkai was also a POW worker base camp. Guinness, however, had his own reservations. 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. Use our search tools to explore our records and find out about those we commemorate. Japanese engineers had been surveying and planning the route of the railway since 1937, and they had demonstrated considerable skill during their construction efforts across South-East Asia. 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. 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. Victory over the Japanese navy at Midway in June 1942 had created a turning point in the Far East and Pacific. The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was the first to conduct air raids on the bridges over the River Kwai between November 1944 and January 1945. . The movie won seven Academy Awards, one for Best Picture. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set in 1942, shortly after the fall of Singapore. Return trains are 12.55 and 15.15. It is also known as the "River Kwai March". The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and . [31][32] Some consider the film to be an insulting parody of Toosey. Lean only got $150,000 himself, but he always said Holden was worth it. Carl Foreman was the initial screenwriter, but Lean replaced him with Michael Wilson. as soon as he signed, Lean borrowed $2,000 from Columbia Pictures to get his teeth fixed. The young soldier from Suffolk was dispatched to work on the bridge over the River Kwai, one of the railway's most daunting engineering projects. Pay on the train. Witnessing the carnage, Clipton shakes his head and mutters, "Madness! 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. In 1997, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. Omissions? The plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay were almost entirely fictional. 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. 10. 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 1966, the film aired on American . In the setting of World War II, a defeated unit British Soldiers is marched into a Japanese prison camp in western Thailand, with the purpose of constructing a bridge over the River Kwai to carry a new railway line to invade Burma. [10], Although Lean later denied it, Charles Laughton was his first choice for the role of Nicholson. The Kwai River Bridge was part of the meter-gauge railway constructed by the Japanese during World War Two. While the British prisoners celebrate their accomplishment that night, the commandoes wire the bridge with explosives to be detonated by a plunger operated by a hidden soldier, timed to collapse the bridge just as an inaugural train carrying Japanese dignitaries is crossing it. Nicholson desperately tries to keep Joyce from depressing the plunger, while Shears and Warden try to kill Nicholson. 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. The film was based on the 1952 novel Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle. The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. 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). US $4.49 Standard Shipping from outside US. That evening, the officers are placed in a punishment hut, while Nicholson is beaten and locked in an iron box. At their head was Lieutenant-Colonel Phillip Toosey. Jun 7, 2011 - New on Blu 6-7-11: Studios unload nearly 70 titles. He served as an adviser during the making of the movie. $ 3 million (estimated) 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 ). Realising he has no choice, Shears volunteers. Let's talk about British Food! Has no balls A photo of Kitulgala, Sri Lanka in 2004, where the bridge was made for the film. Shears tries to get out of the mission by confessing that he impersonated an officer, hoping for better treatment from the Japanese. [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. "[47] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". As it opens, two POWs, the American navy commander Shears (William Holden) and an Australian, are digging graves for their companions. Explore the story of the CWGC, from our formation during the First World War to our work today. The weather is good, not hot The train passes at 10 AM and the train returns at 4 PM. No visit to the Western Front is complete without a trip to The CWGC Visitor Centre. A small tourist train offers rides across the bridges span, while pedestrians can also travel over it on foot. The finished screenplay had significant contributions from both Wilson and Foreman, though each went to his grave insisting he was the more important contributor. Spiegel, the producer, bought the film rights to the book (the English version of which was called The Bridge Over the River Kwai) and hired Carl Foreman to write the script. Best time to visit Bridge Over The River Kwai (preferred time): 09:00 am - 01:00 pm. 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. Allied bombers struck the wooden bridge and its concrete counterpart in February 1945 with one of the earliest uses of guided bombs in history. The movie starring William Holden, Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins was shot at more than 1 locations. Tonight, enjoy dinner at a hotel restaurant Overnight: Kanchanaburi This was an entertaining story. [27] Gavin Young[28] recounts meeting Donald Wise, a former prisoner of the Japanese who had worked on the Burma Railway. 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?") To enjoy Thailand River cruises, you need to understand a little about the geography of Thailand and its river system. He had basically retired when Lean approached him to play Colonel Saito in Kwai, a performance that earned Hayakawa an Oscar nomination. Both bridges stood for two years and were destroyed by bombers in 1945. The cemetery was established by the Army Graves Service to hold casualties made along the railways southern Bangkok to Nieke section. Today, he rests alongside his fellow POWs in Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma (Myanmar). 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.
Product Definition In Biology, Georgie Bingham Leaves Talksport, Articles OTHER