1957 Poster - Directed by David Lean
By now, David Lean was really getting into his stride as a Film Director. The opening shots of this prisoner of war drama are a series of compelling images: a bird of prey circles in the sky; the camera then shows impenetrable thick jungle a long way below; then it changes to rows of recently dug graves, with primitive wooden crosses; then to the emaciated and exhausted PoWs working at the end of a train line. The viewer then sees a line of British prisoners marching into a jungle camp, to the background of the famous 'Colonel Bogey March'. They line up in front of the Japanese prison commander, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa).
Alec Guinness as Lieut.-Col. Nicholson
The British meet up with Commander Shears of the US Navy (William Holden), who describes the appalling conditions in the camp. Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) not only forbids all escape attempts because they were ordered in Singapore to surrender, but also refuses to instruct his officers to do manual labour. For this, he is put in a solitary 'cooler' (after being beaten) and his officers herded into another. Meanwhile, Shears and two others do escape, but only the former manages to get through to a Siamese village; he subsequently is given a river craft by them and ends up in Ceylon.
The British engage in every ploy to slow down/sabotage the construction of the railway bridge; Saito uses the excuse of the anniversary of Japan's 1905 victory over Russia to grant a general amnesty. The released Nicholson, shocked at the poor quality of workmanship on the bridge, persuades Saito to let him and his officers take over. The bridge, moved to a more sensible section of the river, is completed on time. However! a British officer, Major Warden (Jack Hawkins), in Ceylon persuades a very reluctant Shears (who has impersonated a dead US officer all along) to join two others in a trek (after being dropped by parachute) to destroy the bridge. There followed many shots of them bashing their way through the jungle, with Siamese girl coolies carrying the detonation materials.
Nicholson and Saito trace the line to the detonator
Excitement mounts: will the saboteurs manage to fixes the explosives under the bridge in time; will anyone see the fuse wire when the river level unaccountably drops? yes and yes. It is Nicholson who realises something is suspicious. The climax is Saito, who is following him to find the detonator, gets shot, as does Lieut. Joyce, i/c detonation; then Holden is killed, finally Guinness dies (both by a mortar shot by Hawkins from the heights above), but not until he has fallen across the plunger, thereby detonating the bridge, with the train plunging into the river. Moreover, Guinness just has time to cry out What have I done? The film ends with the PoW's British doctor Clipton shaking his head, saying Madness!..Madness!
The movie was a great commercial success, being the highest grossing film of 1957 in the USA and Canada; it was the most popular film at the British Box Office. It won 7 Oscars in that year: including Best Picture; Best Director (Lean); Best Actor (Guinness). Guinness said he based his unsteady walk from the cooler on his 11 year-old son, who was then recovering from polio.
There are some memorable scenes: Saito shouting - This is War. This is not a game of cricket. And later, I hate the British. (jabbing his knife into the table). You are defeated but you have no shame. You are stubborn but have no pride. You endure but you have no courage. I hate the British. When Holden is delirious, he appears to see a bird of prey hovering over (and for) him - in fact, it is a colourful kite flown by village children, who are his rescuers. Guinness, released, goes out to his cheering men; the camera then focuses on Saito weeping in his room. The entertainment, with PoWs, inevitably dressed as damsels, went down well, too.
The brief romantic entanglement of Holden in Ceylon (which Lean himself disliked, calling it a very terrible scene) and the flirtation with the coolies didn't work for me. I suppose you couldn't have had long, drawn-out filming just of the bridge being built, but the shots of the jungle saboteurs went on a bit too long. Guinness and James Donald (Major Clipton, the PoW doctor) both thought the film was anti-British. Some Japanese views disliked the depiction of the Japanese characters - that's a surprise! In fact, some 13,000 captured servicemen died working on the Death Railway in far worse conditions than those shown in the movie. I assume the USA liked it due to the presence of William Holden.
Outer Sleeve and Inner Casing - 1985 DVD
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