The Bridge on the River Kwai
It spans a whole new world of entertainment!
Country
Production
Budget
$3 000 000
Box office
$27 200 000
Director
Actors
William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, Geoffrey Horne, André Morell, Peter Williams, John Boxer, Percy Herbert
All actors and roles (10)
All actors and roles (10)
Scenario
Producer
Sam Spiegel
Camera operator
Composer
Artist
Geoffrey Drake
Audition
Editing
Peter Taylor
Whole Team (25)
Whole Team (25)
Short description
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
What's left behind the scenes
- The assistant director died in a car crash on the way to the set.
- In the film, the bridge was built in 2 months, but in reality, a British company built the bridge for the film in Ceylon for a full 8 months, with the participation of 500 workers and 35 elephants. The bridge turned out to be 425 feet long and 50 feet high. Its cost was 85,000 pounds sterling (by 2002 standards - 1.2 million pounds).
- In Pierre Boulle's original book, Colonel Nicholson manages to prevent the bridge from being blown up. A train is blown up by one of the backup charges set by saboteurs, but the bridge remains intact.
- The train wreckage that viewers see at the end of the film was purchased from an Indian maharaja.
- The film is based on Pierre Boulle’s novel “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai, 1952).
- Screenwriters Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman were blacklisted on suspicion of communist ties. Their names were removed from the credits, and Pierre Boulle, whose novel the film is based on, received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 1984, the award was returned to them, but Wilson received it posthumously.
- The plot is based on the true story of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toose. Memories of him were collected in Peter Davis's book “The Man Behind the Bridge” (1991).
- Howard Hawks was offered the chance to direct the film, but he declined after the failure of his previous film, “Land of the Pharaohs.” He believed that critics would love “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” but audiences would not (in reality, the film grossed around $27 million on a budget of $3 million).
- The film is based on the novel 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai, 1952) by Pierre Boulle.
- Screenwriters Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman were blacklisted on suspicion of ties to communists. Their names were removed from the credits, and the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay was awarded to Pierre Boulle, the author of the novel the film was based on. In 1984, the award was returned to the rightful writers, though Wilson received it posthumously.
- Howard Hawks was offered to direct the film, but he refused after the failure of his previous picture, 'Land of the Pharaohs.' He believed that critics would love 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' but audiences would not (in reality, with a budget of 3 million dollars, 'The Bridge' earned approximately 27 million).
- In Pierre Boulle's original book, Colonel Nicholson manages to prevent the bridge from being blown up. A train is destroyed by one of the backup charges set by the saboteurs, but the bridge remains intact.
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Casting calls in USA
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