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The Bridge On The River Kwai [1957]
from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
starring William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald
directed by David Lean

Features:

• Anamorphic
• Box set
• Dubbed
• PAL

Editorial Review:

Based on the true story of the building of a bridge on the Burma railway by British prisoners-of-war held under a savage Japanese regime in World War II, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) is one of the greatest war films ever made. The film received seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Performance (Alex Guinness), for Sir Malcolm Arnold's superb music, and for the screenplay from the novel by Pierre Boulle (who also wrote Monkey Planet, the inspiration for Planet of the Apes). The story does take considerable liberties with history, including the addition of an American saboteur played by William Holden, and an entirely fictitious but superbly constructed and thrilling finale. Made on a vast scale, the film reinvented the war movie as something truly epic, establishing the cinematic beachhead for The Longest Day (1962), Patton (1970) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). It also proved a turning-point in director David Lean's career. Before he made such classic but conventionally scaled films as In Which We Serve (1942) and Hobson's Choice (1953). Afterwards there would only be four more films, but their names are Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr Zhivago (1965), Ryan's Daughter (1970) and A Passage to India (1984).

On the DVD: Too often the best extras come attached to films that don't really warrant them. Not so here, where a truly great film has been given the attention it deserves. The first disc presents the film in the original extra-wide CinemaScope ratio of 2.55:1, in an anamorphically enhanced transfer which does maximum justice to the film's superb cinematography. The sound has been transferred from the original six-track magnetic elements into 5.1 Dolby Digital and far surpasses what many would expect from a 1950s' feature. The main bonus on the first disc is an isolated presentation of Malcolm Arnold's great Oscar-winning music score, in addition to which there is a trivia game, and maps and historical information linked to appropriate clips.

The second disc contains a new, specially produced 53-minute "making of" documentary featuring many of those involved in the production of the movie. This gives a rich insight into the physical problems of making such a complex epic on location in Ceylon. Also included are the original trailer and two short promotional films from the time of release, one of which is narrated by star William Holden. Finally there is an "appreciation" by director John Milius, an extensive archive of movie posters and artwork, and a booklet that reproduces the text of the film's original 1957 brochure. --Gary S Dalkin

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

• "Jolly good show" but unrealistic
  If that was a film of duty and bravery, the only characters who meet both demands, were British commandos of 316. All other lines seem to be unrealistic. The facility that was depicted in the movie, is not a forced labor, but rather a holiday camp. Japanese staff had all possibilities to force POWs do whatever work, but Japs don't even tried, simply observing sabotage and malingering. British officers surrender, carry conference with the enemy, build the bridge for the enemy and even celebrate on this... more info

• 51 years after it was made it still holds up very well
  This is an really good film, it goes along at a steady pace, you could say that this does not have alot of action in it, but for me that does not really matter.
  There are 3 things that I love about this film, first off the excellent storyline, a wonderful bit of sparing between Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson (Sir Alec Guinness) and Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), whereby the Colonel goes from being in charge of the camp to almost insignificance which is also really funny to watch too, then there's the... more info

• A true story
  "Do not speak to me of rules. This is war! This is not a game of cricket!"
  In World War Two, in Southeast Asia, Sessue Hayakawa portrays the commandant of a Japanese prison camp. Alec Guinness is the British Colonel of a group of soldiers who were captured and placed in that prison camp. Jack Hawkins is the leader of a British prisoner rescue mission, and William Holden is an American prisoner-of-war escapee. Hayakawa and Guinness collide as Hayakawa tries to "break" the morale of the prisoners and... more info

• A Savage, Biting and Cruel Satire
  Not all satire is funny - this isn't. The film is a masterpiece by a master film maker. Other reviewers will tell you how good it is. That said, I should imagine if you were a Japanese prisoner of war who worked on the Death Railway and saw this film in 1957, you possibly found it to be extremely offensive.
  The author of the book Pierre Boulle realised that the juxtaposition of British Upper-class stiff upper lip and the Japanese Bashido sense of honour were two sides of the same coin. Both the book... more info

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