Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is undeniably a very good movie. The cinematography is excellent, with many distant crane shots that can only be accomplished with outdoor location filming, a swarming cast of extras, and large, expensive sets such as the bridge.

But many films have looked great, but lacked filling. The recent Anna and the King (1999) comes to mind. What separates The Bridge on the River Kwai from the usual 'blockbuster of the month' is its unintentional comic relief.

The story was based on a French novel by Pierre Boulle. Boulle, who did not speak English, was also credited with the screenplay. The actual writers were Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson. As they were blacklisted as a result of communist witch hunts, they did not receive recognition for the film for several decades.

The film takes place during World War II. Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) is the Japanese officer running a British prisoner of war camp in Burma. The prisoners are working as slave laborers, to build a railway bridge over (not on, it doesn't float) the river Kwai. Nicholson (Alec Guiness) is the stubborn British commander, who decides that the bridge is the means to an end of maintaining discipline and spirit among his fellow soldiers.

William Holden is the token Yank lead, as Shears. A cynical opportunist, he is compelled again and again into performing heroic acts, much like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca and Key Largo.

Director David Lean was British, and it shows. Although he is only second billed, Alec Guiness is clearly the lead. His character carries himself with the complete assurance that only comes from being a British officer. Saito, on the other hand, is blustering and incompetent, and eventually impotent. It is the British who know how to build bridges, and who uncovers Shear's officer impersonation. Nicholson quickly spots the wire that will blow up the bridge, after Saito and countless Japanese sentries have paced cluelessly about it. Nicholson and his men had been ordered to surrender to the enemy, a dubious device used to avoid any taint of cowardice.

More humor can be found in the film's dramatic scenes. See William Holden stagger through the desert, like a dead drunk. (Do they have deserts in Southwest Asia?) See Jack Hawkins hobble painfully on his lame foot. See Nicholson stumble like a zombie onto the dynamite trigger. See Saito pound his fists and cry like a baby. See Joyce freeze up like a deer caught in headlights when he must kill a Japanese soldier. See Major Clipton, who really doesn't understand war after all, exclaim "Madness! Madness!".

Then there's the depiction of a World War II prisoner of war camp run by the Japanese. We see soldiers loafing and filling up the sick tent. They fearlessly backtalk the Japanese guards, who do nothing in reply. By the end of the film, the British are practically running the camp. They even stage a play, featuring the cheapest of all laughs, men in drag.

Meanwhile, we have the sabatoge team accompanied by beautiful handmaidens, who look like Asian models. The writers must have had to work very hard to find a way to include young women in the story.

The Japanese must have been both relieved and insulted by the film. Relieved, because the wholesale murders that were perpetrated by the Japanese military during the war are not depicted here. And insulted, because the Japanese are portrayed as hapless. This is a small island nation that had conquered most of Asia and the Pacific. They were very much capable of designing and building a bridge.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is intended as a psychological drama. The first half features the battle of wills between Nicholson and Saito, over who will call the shots at the prison camp. Once Saito has been vanquished, Nicholson must overcome opposition from Major Clipton, who believes that Nicholson has unwittingly become an accomplice to Japanese imperialism.

But the film's dramatic exaggerations cross the threshold into comic performances. Fortunately, this is just subtle enough to work. If the movie had been made explicitly as a comedy, in the style of Hogan's Heroes, it would never have had the necessary production values or quality of cast.

The movie marked a turning point in the career of director Lean. He had been a prolific maker of noted British dramas, with Brief Encounter and Great Expectations both released in 1946. But from now on, all his films would be epics, monumental in scale.

In the next thirty years, he would make only four films: Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter and A Passage to India. His efforts were rewarded: Lawrence and Zhivago both would win the Oscar for Best Picture, with critics falling over themselves in their praise. But although each film had outstanding production values, by then their self importance had begun to overshadow their unintentional comic benefits.

The biggest box office hit of 1957, The Bridge on the River Kwai also won seven Academy Awards. All the major categories were swept except for Best Actress, which would have been difficult to win considering that women have only a handful of lines in the film. The film did win Best Picture, Best Actor (Alec Guiness), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Jack Hildyard), Best Film Editing and Best Score. Sessue Hayakawa was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but as in the movie, he failed to win. (75/100)

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8