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Special Features
Replications of the original lobby cards
Bonus DVD version of the movie
William Holden and Alec Guinness on The Steve Allen Show
Newly Discovered archival audio of William Holden Narrating The Bridge on the River Kwai Premiere
Crossing the Bridge: Picture-in-Graphics track and more
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The story centers on a Japanese prison camp isolated deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia, where the remorseless Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) has been charged with building a vitally important railway bridge. His clash of wills with a British prisoner, the charismatic Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), escalates into a duel of honor, Nicholson defying his captor's demands to win concessions for his troops. How the two officers reach a compromise, and Nicholson becomes obsessed with building that bridge, provides the story's thematic spine; the parallel movement of a team of commandos dispatched to stop the project, led by a British major (Jack Hawkins) and guided by an American escapee (William Holden), supplies the story's suspense and forward momentum.
Shot on location in Sri Lanka, Kwai moves with a careful, even deliberate pace that survivors of latter-day, high-concept blockbusters might find lulling--Lean doesn't pander to attention deficit disorders with an explosion every 15 minutes. Instead, he guides us toward the intersection of the two plots, accruing remarkable character details through extraordinary performances. Hayakawa's cruel camp commander is gradually revealed as a victim of his own sense of honor, Holden's callow opportunist proves heroic without softening his nihilistic edge, and Guinness (who won a Best Actor Oscar, one of the production's seven wins) disappears as only he can into Nicholson's brittle, duty-driven, delusional psychosis. His final glimpse of self-knowledge remains an astonishing moment--story, character, and image coalescing with explosive impact.
Like Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai has been beautifully restored and released in a highly recommended widescreen version that preserves its original aspect ratio. --Sam Sutherland
Product Description
Customer Reviews
First up is the small production book. Actually in comparison with the material you get from other digibooks (which are usually scant on information), these few pages are full of notes and events during filming, almost a quick documentary in itself. It's nice to see a version of this book-within-case that is heavy on words and light on pictures, which are still nice on a few pages.
Second are the replica lobby cards, located after the incorporated book. Not much to say about these, a nice addition for collectors but not much else.
Finally the movie itself. As far as picture goes, its unbeatable for a film from 1957. Much like the other big releases around this time period, care was indeed taken to release a near perfect picture. Obviously in full 1080p, the lighting and scenery really shine here. I'm no expert on filmography and never really looked into the film types and ratios, but what I can judge is a quality blu ray transfer. The picture is sheer excellence down to the last scene, and is quite reminscent of the older James Bond transfers which were fantastic. All in all, as good picture as you'll see anywhere else in blu ray. The audio is great as well, with a fantastic 5.1 transfer. I have 5.1 sound, and it I can tell you it was transferred with the utmost of care. There is no mono soundtrack included in this version.
Extras include a wealth of features, including the previous releases' documentaries and new unreleased features such as Alec and William on the Steve Aleen show. Also included is a narration of the premiere by Holding. The main thing here is the "beyond the bridge" section, in which the full film plays and when applicable scenes come up, the screen size is reduced and graphics will appear on the screen with the movie, along with factoids about the scene. It is a great feature for those who won't mind the screen reducing every now and then.
All in all, this is the definitive version of the film. Chock full with features that you'd expect from a collector's release as well as the film itself (ranking among my all time favorite films), you can't go wrong with this. If you own a previous version, strongly consider this. If you've never owned it or seen it, buy it TODAY.
The remarkable novel by Pierre Boulle (also author of "Monkey Planet"...filmed as the memorable "Planet of the Apes") is masterfully brought to the screen by director David Lean, a true genius behind many historical epics.
Deep inside snake ridden Asian jungles, British and American prisoners of war toil under the sweltering tropical sun working on part of the infamous Burma railway that claimed thousands of Allied lives during WWII. Colonel Saito (talented Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa) presides over his POW camp with an iron rule...driving his Japanese troops as hard as his malnourished prisoners. Enter the honorable and steadfast English POW, Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guiness in an Oscar winning performance) refusing to capitulate to Saito's demands that British officers perform manual labour alongside enlisted men. Each man's blind adherance to their own personal code of honor sees the two men plunge into a psychological war of will, bravado and courage...each determined not to waver from their personal beliefs.
As these two leaders clash with each other, American prisoner of war and resident camp gravedigger, Shears (William Holden) effects on escape from the brutal prison camp and after nearing death, he makes his way back to the Allied forces. Unfortunately for the timid Shears, he is coerced to guide a suicidal commando mission with Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) and Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne) to return to the enemy infested jungles and blow up the railway bridge being built by Nicholson and the British prisoners of war.
Each differing path taken by Nicholson, Saito & Shears eventually intertwines and ultimately sees the three men confront their own inner fears and beliefs with tragic circumstances....
Seven Oscars bear testament to the wonderful attributes of this movie....including Best Picture and Best Actor...plus "Kwai" is regularly listed by critics as one of the most influential and highly regarded movies of the 20th century. For some additional in-depth behind the scenes reading on "The Bridge on the River Kwai" check out the insightful William Holden biograpy entitled "Golden Boy". Excellent reading !!
Quite simply an absolute "must have" addition to any DVD collection, "The Bridge on the River Kwai" remains a benchmark in inspirational movie making....I cannot recommend this film highly enough !!
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