Cinema
The Bridge on the River Kwai
David Lean · 1957
Synopsis
Burma, 1943. A column of British prisoners marches whistling into a Japanese camp, whose commandant, Colonel Saito, announces that they will build a railway bridge, officers included. Their colonel, Nicholson, cites the Geneva Convention, which exempts officers from manual labour. He is shut in a tin hut in the full sun. Saito, for his part, must finish the bridge by 12 May.
Context
The film comes from a novel by Pierre Boulle published in 1952. The screenplay is by two Americans blacklisted in Hollywood and taking refuge in Europe: Carl Foreman wrote it first, then Michael Wilson took it over, the director being dissatisfied with the first. Neither could be credited; the credits carried the name of the novelist, who received the Oscar for the screenplay. The two names were added only in December 1984, when neither of the two screenwriters was still alive; Foreman had learned of this recognition the day before his death. The shooting took place in Ceylon.
Who it is for
Two hours forty-one minutes, in two plots running in parallel: the camp around the bridge, and the fate of an American prisoner.
Prizes and reception
Seven Oscars from eight nominations in 1958, and the biggest commercial success of the year.
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