The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Country: GB
Technical: col/scope 161m
Director: David Lean
Cast: Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, André Morell
Synopsis:
A British colonel stands up to a Japanese POW camp commandant over the issue of his officers working alongside the men on a railway bridge in the Siamese jungle, but ultimately loses his sense of priorities.
Review:
Archetypal 'clash of cultures' war film, with a startlingly good central performance and excellent support in all departments. It marked the beginning of its director's 'epic' phase and contains some of his characteristic editing flourishes, including some particularly elliptical (or downright confusing) sequences which add to the film's interest on repeated viewings. Sound also is used to expressive effect and the climax is a tour de force. Above all it is its cruel and manifold ironies that mark its greatness as an anti-war film, the regrettable reality being that there is no place for 'civilized' values in conflict, the tragedy being the natural and noble impulse in men to try to introduce them. One question tacitly raised by the film is not who is the more humane - Nicholson, Saito or Warden - but who is the least insane? The fascinating powerplay between opposing officers was given a homo-erotic angle by Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (qv.).
Country: GB
Technical: col/scope 161m
Director: David Lean
Cast: Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, André Morell
Synopsis:
A British colonel stands up to a Japanese POW camp commandant over the issue of his officers working alongside the men on a railway bridge in the Siamese jungle, but ultimately loses his sense of priorities.
Review:
Archetypal 'clash of cultures' war film, with a startlingly good central performance and excellent support in all departments. It marked the beginning of its director's 'epic' phase and contains some of his characteristic editing flourishes, including some particularly elliptical (or downright confusing) sequences which add to the film's interest on repeated viewings. Sound also is used to expressive effect and the climax is a tour de force. Above all it is its cruel and manifold ironies that mark its greatness as an anti-war film, the regrettable reality being that there is no place for 'civilized' values in conflict, the tragedy being the natural and noble impulse in men to try to introduce them. One question tacitly raised by the film is not who is the more humane - Nicholson, Saito or Warden - but who is the least insane? The fascinating powerplay between opposing officers was given a homo-erotic angle by Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (qv.).
Country: GB
Technical: col/scope 161m
Director: David Lean
Cast: Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, André Morell
Synopsis:
A British colonel stands up to a Japanese POW camp commandant over the issue of his officers working alongside the men on a railway bridge in the Siamese jungle, but ultimately loses his sense of priorities.
Review:
Archetypal 'clash of cultures' war film, with a startlingly good central performance and excellent support in all departments. It marked the beginning of its director's 'epic' phase and contains some of his characteristic editing flourishes, including some particularly elliptical (or downright confusing) sequences which add to the film's interest on repeated viewings. Sound also is used to expressive effect and the climax is a tour de force. Above all it is its cruel and manifold ironies that mark its greatness as an anti-war film, the regrettable reality being that there is no place for 'civilized' values in conflict, the tragedy being the natural and noble impulse in men to try to introduce them. One question tacitly raised by the film is not who is the more humane - Nicholson, Saito or Warden - but who is the least insane? The fascinating powerplay between opposing officers was given a homo-erotic angle by Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (qv.).