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An Anglo-American film in English based on the book appeared in 1957 and the name was changed slightly, to The Bridge on the River Kwai. The film portrays a group of British captives in a Japanese POW camp forced to build a railway bridge spanning the River Kwai in Thailand. It was directed by David Lean, and stars Alec Guinness, William HoldenFor the North Carolina Governor by this name, please see William Woods Holden. For the California Lieutenant Governor by this name, please see William Holden (politician). William Holden ( April 17, 1918 November 12, 1981) was an American film actor., and Jack HawkinsJohn Edward Hawkins ( September 14, 1910 July 18, 1973) was a British actor who appeared in movies like The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia. He was married to Jessica Tandy from 1932 to 1942. External links Hawkins, Jack Hawkins, Jack.. It was shot in Ceylon (now Sri LankaThe Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (known as Ceylon before 1972) is a tropical island nation off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known in ancient times as Lanka Lankadweepa (meaning "Resplendent Land" in Sanskrit), Taprobane an) and EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England.
The story is based on a real event, the building in 1942Events January January 1 World War II: The word " United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact. January 2 World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces. January 5 Amy Johnson disappears in flight over River Thames estuary ass of a railway bridge over the Mae Klong (not the Kwai) in the Thai town of KanchanaburiWorld War II cemetery in Kanchanaburi Kanchanaburi is both a city and a province in Thailand. For the province, see Kanchanaburi province. Kanchanaburi ( Thai ) is a city in the west of Thailand. Geographical location 14° 2' North, 99° 32' East. Populatio. This was part of a project to link existing Thai and Burmese railway lines to create a route from BangkokCapitals in Asia Bangkok (in Thai or Krung Thep Krung Thep Mahanakhon , population 8,538,610 ( 1990), is the capital and largest city of Thailand. The city is located on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River, near the Gulf of Thailand. Bangkok is one of, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) to support the Japanese occupation of Burma. About a hundred thousand conscripted Asian labourers and 16,000 prisoners of war died on the whole project, which was nicknamed the Death Railway.
The plot of the film is built around a fictional destruction of the wooden bridge by prisoner sabotage. In reality, a parallel steel bridge was added a few months after the wooden bridge was completed, and both were destroyed by Allied aerial bombing, the steel bridge first. The steel bridge has been repaired and is still in use.
The destruction of the bridge in the film was accomplished by blowing up a full-sized bridge as a real train drove over it. This may have been the first time such a scene had been attempted without model shots since the silent era. ( Buster Keaton's The General includes an almost identical scene.)
One memorable feature of the movie is the tune that is whistled by the POW's—the " Colonel Bogey March"—and is now widely associated with the movie, and even sometimes referred to as the "River Kwai March". Besides serving as an example of British fortitude and dignity in the face of privation, it suggested (whether or not intended by the screenwriters) a specific symbol of defiance to many movie-goers of the period: WW II veterans (and many of their baby-boom sons) thought of the tune as that of a mockery of Japan's principal ally.
The film won seven Oscars:
The screenwriters, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson , were on the Hollywood blacklist and could only work secretly. Pierre Boulle, who did not speak English, was given screen credit for adapting his own novel, and the Oscar was awarded to him. Only in 1984 did the Academy rectify the situation by awarding the Oscar to Foreman and Wilson retrospectively (and posthumously in both cases, although Foreman did live long enough to know that it was going to happen). At about the same time a new release of the film finally gave them proper screen credit.
The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.