Bridge on the River Kwai

UPC: 043396052789

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Adult Situations, War Violence]

Summary: The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma in 1943, where a battle of wills rages between camp commander Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and newly arrived British colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness). Saito insists that Nicholson order his men to build a bridge over the river Kwai, which will be used to transport Japanese munitions. Nicholson refuses, despite all the various "persuasive" devices at Saito's disposal. Finally, Nicholson agrees, not so much to cooperate with his captor as to provide a morale-boosting project for the military engineers under his command. The colonel will prove that, by building a better bridge than Saito's men could build, the British soldier is a superior being even when under the thumb of the enemy. As the bridge goes up, Nicholson becomes obsessed with completing it to perfection, eventually losing sight of the fact that it will benefit the Japanese. Meanwhile, American POW Shears (William Holden), having escaped from the camp, agrees to save himself from a court martial by leading a group of British soldiers back to the camp to destroy Nicholson's bridge. Upon his return, Shears realizes that Nicholson's mania to complete his project has driven him mad. Filmed in Ceylon, Bridge on the River Kwai won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for the legendary British filmmaker David Lean, and Best Actor for Guinness. It also won Best Screenplay for Pierre Boulle, the author of the novel on which the film was based, even though the actual writers were blacklisted writers Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, who were given their Oscars under the table. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: War

Awards: Best British Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Film - Any Source – British Academy of Film and Television Arts U.S. National Film Registry – Library of Congress 100 Greatest American Movies – American Film Institute Best Picture - Drama – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Director – null Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Actor – National Board of Review Best Director – National Board of Review Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – National Board of Review Best Picture – New York Film Critics Circle Best Actor – New York Film Critics Circle Best Director – New York Film Critics Circle Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – National Board of Review Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts

Features: Digitally mastered audio and anamorphic video
Audio: English 5.1 [Dolby Digital] and 2-channel [Dolby Surround], French, Spanish, Portuguese
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai
Interactive and animated menus
Scene selections with motion
Theatrical trailers
Talent files

Bridge on the River Kwai

Format: DVD

Release Date: 11/21/2000

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 162 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish,Portuguese

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish,Portuguese

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1
0. Scene Selections
1. Start
2. "Colonel Bogey March"
3. "I am Colonedl Saito."
4. Nicholson meets Shears
5. Officers' meeting
6. A point of difference
7. The oven
8. Right moment & company
9. How not to build a bridge
10. Five minutes with Nicholson
11. A successful escape
12. A late supper with Saito
13. Shears leaves paradise
14. Victory & defeat
15. Inspection
16. Setting Saito straight
17. Shears meets Warden
18. The commando school
19. Warden's plan
20. The truth about Shears
21. Building a proper bridge
22. Fourth team member
23. The mission begins
24. A change of route
25. Jungle trek
26. Radio repair
27. Facing a crisis
28. Bathing with the enemy
29. Superficially chipped bone
30. Reconnaissance
31. Attack plan
32. "A first-rate job."
33. Setting the charges
34. A few words from Nicholson
35. Final preparations
36. "The river's gone down."
37. "Something odd's going on."
38. Leading them right to it
39. "Blow up the bridge?"
40. Mission accomplished

Richard Gilliam

The Bridge on the River Kwai ranks as one of the greatest films of all time and arguably director David Lean's best film. At the heart of the film is the performance of Alec Guinness as the obsessively principled Colonel Nicholson. In a lesser film, his character might be simplified into a heroic martyr, but The Bridge on the River Kwai revels in its moral ambiguity: no significant character is either purely a hero or purely a villain. Filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the film features brutal prisoner-of-war work camps that are nonetheless considerably nicer than their historical counterparts, a good decision since it frees the audience to focus on the battle of wills, at first between Nicholson and Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), later between Shears (William Holden) and Warden (Jack Hawkins). The film's closing line ("Madness... Madness") is among the best-known and most enigmatic closings in screen history. The film received seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Guinness). ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Malcolm Arnold  Composer (Music Score) 
Pierre Boulle  Screenwriter 
David Lean  Director 
Sam Spiegel  Producer 
Michael Wilson  Screenwriter 
Carl Foreman  Screenwriter 
William Holden  Actor 
Alec Guinness  Actor 
Jack Hawkins  Actor 
Sessue Hayakawa  Actor 
Geoffrey Horne  Actor 
James Donald  Actor 
Andre Morell  Actor 
Peter Williams  Actor 
John Boxer  Actor 
Percy Herbert  Actor 
Harold Goodwin  Actor 
Ann Sears  Actor 
Henry Okawa  Actor 

Country: UK,USA