{"id":10037,"date":"2019-06-11T16:23:26","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T20:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=10037"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:58:00","slug":"the-bridge-on-the-river-kwai-1957","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=10037","title":{"rendered":"The Bridge on the River Kwai- 1957"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bridge on the River Kwai- 1957<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director David Lean<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Alec Guinness, William Holden<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #908<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed June 11, 2019<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) is a war film that exemplifies character-driven storytelling from each character’s perspective.<\/p>\n

Films of this genre often do not stray too far from the straight and narrow, showcasing a war-event perspective. This often becomes larger than the humanity piece.<\/p>\n

A key point is that the American, British, and Japanese points of view turn the grand epic experience into a more personal one.<\/p>\n

The film received numerous Oscar nominations, culminating in a Best Picture win.<\/p>\n

The time is early 1943, amid the powerful and destructive World War II, when a group of British prisoners of war (POW) arrives at a Japanese camp.<\/p>\n

Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) commands all prisoners, regardless of rank, to begin work on a railway bridge that will connect Bangkok with Rangoon.<\/p>\n

Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), the British commanding officer, refuses manual labor, and a battle of wills erupts between the two men.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Commander Shears (William Holden), an American also being held at the same camp, vows to destroy the bridge to avoid a court-martial.<\/p>\n

The complexities of the men’s relationships are the main draw and can be discussed at length. Each possesses a firm motivation, but the emotions teeter back and forth as they face various conflicts.<\/p>\n

Each of the three principles is an analytical juggernaut within the human spirit, ranging from the courageous to the cowardly to the evil.<\/p>\n

We are supposed to root for Shears and not root for Saito, but why isn’t that cut and dried?<\/p>\n

Is Shears too revenge-minded? We cheer Nicholson’s resilience, but is he too stubborn for his own good?<\/p>\n

The film’s whistling work theme nearly became famous when it was first released in 1957. Ominous and peppered with a macabre depression, the prisoners go about their work in a near ode to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ cheerier “Whistle While You Work” anthem.<\/p>\n

As they continue to build the bridge dutifully, the audience feels a sense of dread and a foreboding atmosphere. What will ultimately happen? When two prisoners are shot dead while attempting to escape, the film takes a different turn.<\/p>\n

Given that David Lean, responsible for such epic masterpieces as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and A Passage to India (1984), directs The Bridge on the River Kwai, should be telling as far as the sweeping exterior landscape treats in store for the viewer.<\/p>\n

The lavish Asian landscape, so picturesque and beautiful, is peaceful amid the chaos and vile treatment of the prisoners. This imbalance is wonderfully rich and poignant against the robust storytelling.<\/p>\n

The climax is bombastic (literally!) and a nail-biting experience resulting in a stabbing, an explosion, and a heap of tension.<\/p>\n

A train carrying important dignitaries and soldiers is racing towards the newly constructed bridge as one man is intent on detonating a bomb and destroying another race against time to prevent the bloodbath.<\/p>\n

The suspense, action, and cinematic skill are front and center during the final act.<\/p>\n

Deserving of each one of the accolades reaped on The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), the film is the thinking man’s war film.<\/p>\n

Layered with an underlying humanistic approach and with little violence given the subject matter, one can sink into empathy for each point of view presented instead of being force-fed a one-dimensional message.<\/p>\n

Fine acting and gorgeous cinematography make this film one to be forever remembered.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations<\/strong>: 7 wins<\/strong>-Best Motion Picture (won)<\/strong>, Best Director-David Lean (won)<\/strong>, Best Actor-Alec Guinness (won)<\/strong>, Best Supporting Actor-Sessue Hayakawa, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (won)<\/strong>, Best Scoring (won)<\/strong>, Best Cinematography (won)<\/strong>, Best Film Editing (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Golden Globe Nominations: 3 wins-<\/strong>Best Motion Picture-Drama (won), <\/strong>Best Director-Motion Picture-David Lean (won), <\/strong>Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama-Alec Guinness (won),\u00a0<\/strong>Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture-Sessue Hayakawa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bridge on the River Kwai- 1957 Director David Lean Starring Alec Guinness, William Holden Scott’s Review #908 Reviewed June 11, 2019 Grade: A The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) is a war film that exemplifies character-driven storytelling from each character’s perspective. Films of this genre often do not stray too far from the … Continue reading The Bridge on the River Kwai- 1957<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,42,12015,192,194,206,11744],"tags":[535,12175,536,12176,4808,12174,4809,543],"class_list":["post-10037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1957-films","category-bestpictureoscar","category-best-picture-drama-golden-globe-winners","category-dramas","category-epics","category-war-films","category-world-war-ii","tag-alec-guiness","tag-ann-sears","tag-david-lean","tag-geoffrey-horne","tag-jack-hawkins","tag-james-donald","tag-sessue-hayakawa","tag-william-holden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10037"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23871,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10037\/revisions\/23871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}