The Bridge on The River Kwai (1957)

Image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas

Columbia Pictures’ The Bridge on the River Kwai came roaring into movie theaters in 1957. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, director David Lean’s silver screen spectacular may well be the best war picture ever made.

Pierre Boulle’s The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai is based on the 1952 novel Le pont de la riviere Kwai – The Bridge Over the River Kwai – by Pierre Boulle (1912-1994). A member of the Free French and British special forces during World War II, Boulle had served time in a Vichy French prison camp in Saigon before escaping in 1944.

David Lean Directs The Bridge on the River Kwai

Although Pierre Boulle originally garnered the screenplay credit, blacklisted writers Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman actually wrote The Bridge on the River Kwai for Horizon and Columbia Pictures. In fact, it was Foreman who had originally purchased the screen rights to Boulle’s novel for 3,000 British pounds.

Producer Sam Spiegel had considered several prominent directors for Kwai, including Howard Hawks and John Ford. In the end, British director David Lean received the nod.

Malcolm Arnold (1984, Island in the Sun) created Kwai’s Oscar-winning music score, punctuated by Kenneth Alford’s stirring “Colonel Bogey March.” The latter is performed with great fanfare by British Commonwealth prisoners, who parade into camp while whistling the tune.

The Bridge on the River Kwai Cast

Williams Holden (Shears), Alex Guinness (Lt. Colonel Nicholson) and Jack Hawkins (Major Warden) head the strong cast. Other principals include Sessue Hayakawa (Col. Saito), James Donald (Major Clipton), Geoffrey Horne (Lt. Joyce), Andre Morell (Col. Green), Peter Williams (Captain Reeves), John Boxer (Major Hughes), Percy Herbert (Pvt. Grogan), Ann Sears (Nurse) and M.R.B. Chakrabandhu (Yai).

The Bridge on the River Kwai Filmed in Ceylon

Budgeted at $3 million, Kwai began shooting in December 1956. The movie was filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where cast and crew were housed at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. The harsh jungle scenes took place in Ceylon’s steamy interior at Kitulgala.

One of Kwai’s most difficult scenes was the climactic commando raid where the bridge is blown. Sheffield Steel had built the bridge while Chemical Industries had been hired to detonate it. With multiple cameras rolling, the first take proved to be a dud, as the explosives failed to ignite. On the second attempt, however, the charges went off as planned, with the bridge buckling, sending the locomotive and its six cars crashing into the river below.

The Bridge on the River Kwai Set in World War II 

While imprisoned in Southeast Asia during World War II, a by-the-book British colonel and his men are forced to construct a railway bridge over the Kwai River by the camp’s tyrannical Japanese commandant. Reluctant at first, the Brit colonel eventually launches an all-out effort, taking great pride in his engineering creation.

An American POW – masquerading as a naval officer named Shears – escapes from the jungle prison camp. On to his ruse, Major Warden, the officer in charge of special ops Force 316 in Ceylon, “persuades” Shears to lead a commando mission back to the prison where his team is to blow the bridge.

The Bridge on the River Kwai Premieres in New York City

The Bridge on the River Kwai made its American premiere at New York City’s Palace Theater on December 18, 1957.

“Brilliant is the word, and no other, to describe the quality of skills that have gone into the making of this picture…Here is a film we guarantee you’ll not forget,” crowed Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (12/19/57).

The Bridge on the River Kwai Movie Review

The Bridge on the River Kwai won seven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Guinness), Best Director (Lean), Best Cinematography (Jack Hildyard), Best Writing (Wilson, Foreman), Best Film Editing (Peter Taylor) and Best Music Scoring (Malcolm Arnold). All of them are justly earned, as Kwai represents the very best in filmmaking.

In Kwai, David Lean and company have created a lasting masterpiece. The script – witty, tough, cynical – is one of the best ever crafted, with Oscars posthumously going to Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman in 1984.

Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa (nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) are in top form as the two professional military men locked in a test of wills. William Holden is solid as the American sailor-turned-commando, with blond Ann Sears providing the movie’s feminine touch.

The Bridge on the River Kwai Trivia

• Carl Foreman had originally taken Kwai to producer Alexander Korda.
• The bridge’s construction cost $250,000.
• William Holden’s salary for Kwai was $300,000 plus 10% of the gross.
• Laurence Olivier had been considered for the role of Colonel Nicholson, but declined, telling producer Sam Spiegel: “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch a stiff upper-lip British colonel for two and a half hours.”
• Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper phoned William Holden, telling him that he shouldn’t do Kwai because of its association with the formerly blacklisted Carl Foreman. Holden exploded, telling Hopper to mind her own business.
• Sessue Hayakawa entertained Bill Holden and others with stories from his days in the silent movie era.
• The footage of the crucial bridge demolition was temporarily misplaced for two weeks, finally showing up at the airport in Cairo, Egypt, where it had been on its way to London for processing.
• The Bridge on the River Kwai is available on DVD (Columbia/Tristar, 2000).