THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
Featuring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins
Directed: David Lean
From the director of Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965) came this earlier multi award winning movie. Among others it won seven Oscars, one of which was the coveted Best Picture Award. However, at the time, it got seriously scythed by the critics. The general feeling was that it misrepresented the real events it was supposed to be based on and caused embarrassment for the English soldiers involved.
Be that as it may, the story goes that during WWII a company of British POW's ends up in a camp in Japanese occupied Burma. When they are forced to build a vital supply railway line and bridge, a battle of wills ensues between the commanding officer of the troops and the Japanese officer in charge of the camp. Eventually a compromise is reached and the construction work can continue. In the meantime, Allied special forces plan to send in saboteurs to blow up the bridge as soon as it is completed.
War politics aside, it is a plausible story and at times quite suspenseful. As long as one keeps in mind that it is a movie from the fifties with typical period stilted acting techniques (method acting hadn't exactly caught on yet) it is rather enjoyable. Anyhow, no half decent DVD collection is complete without this one. I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Alec Guinness
No comments:
Post a Comment