The Bridge on the River Kwai: Amazon.ca: Geoffrey Horne, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness, David Lean, Sam Spiegel: DVD

Additional Features

The second disc in this special-edition set includes an exclusive documentary, The Making of the Bridge on the River Kwai, which is filled with details about the extraordinary logistical problems of making a film on such a huge scale, in such a remote location. Also included are a short behind-the-scenes documentary originally released at the same time as the film, and a brief appreciation of the film by director John Milius (Big Wednesday). The final treat is a short instructional movie from the USC Film School, introducing the art of film narrative. Narrated by William Holden, and using footage from The Bridge on the River Kwai, this is an unusual but fascinating piece of film history. Biographies of the stars and filmmakers, and a collection of promotional art round out the package, making this set essential for anyone who wants to better appreciate The Bridge on the River Kwai and the remarkable story of the film's creation.

Amazon.com essential video

Director David Lean's masterful 1957 realization of Pierre Boulle's novel remains a benchmark for war films, and a deeply absorbing movie by any standard--like most of Lean's canon, The Bridge on the River Kwai achieves a richness in theme, narrative, and characterization that transcends genre.

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 letterbox version that preserves its original widescreen aspect ratio. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

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16 of 21 people found the following review helpful

Amazon misleads consumers about this DVD July 15 2004

By A Customer

Format:DVD

Amazon has not given an accurate description of this DVD. "The Bridge On The River Kwai" is available in 2 editions: (1) the one disc barebones edition (which is the one shown here) and (2) a limited edition 2 disc special edition. The DVD shown here is the ONE DISC EDITION, not the 2 disc edition which Amazon claims it to be in the product description. It will be interesting to see it Amazon corrects this error or simply continues to mislead consumers!

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

The Bridge On The River Kwai, Collector's Edition (blu ray)...a rousing audo/video experience Nov 13 2010

By Dr. Joseph Lee HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

Video: The picture was presented in 1080p 2.55:1. Compared to the old DVD, the Blu-ray image is cleaner and very noticeably sharper throughout (the evidence is apparent right away in the opening credits which before were problematic), but more importantly, colour fidelity is now superb and image detail really impresses. Blacks are inky and skin tone was accurate. A modest amount of grain is present which imparts a film-like look to the image. (4.5/5)

Audio: The DTS-HD 5.1 MA is also wonderful. Dialogue is clear. The soundtrack by Malcolm Arnold, who won the Oscar for Best Music Score, is very rousing and uplifting. You can whistle along when the tune Colonel Bogey was played. (4/5)

Bridge On The River Kwai won 7 Academy Awards in 1957: Best Picture (producer: Sam Spiegel), Best Director (David Lean), Best Actor (Sir Alec Guiness), Best Cinematography (Jack Hildeyard), Best Film Editing (Peter Taylor), Best Music Score (Malcolm Arnold) and Best Screenplay (Pierre Boulle, Carl Forman, and Michael Wilson). It is of interest to note that Carl Forman and Michael Wilson were blacklisted at the time, and received no screen credit. They were posthumously awarded the Oscars in 1984. Pierre Boulle was not present at the awards ceremony, and Kim Novak accepted the award on his behalf. This was the breakthrough movie for Sir David Lean. Apparently, he was flat broke at the time the movie was made. He had to ask for an advance in order to fix his teeth!

Sony has packaged its Blu-ray release in a thick digibook format with the Blu-ray disc inside the front cover and an updated DVD version inside the back cover. The book is encased in a solid slip-case that gives a professional look to the enterprise. The 32-page digibook focuses on production information and publicity material reproductions, mainly culled from the original 1957 souvenir book. A nice set of 12 lobby card reproductions is also included in a pocket at the end of the book.

For a film 53 years old, the video and audio were properly restored. With all the additional goodies stated above in this Collector's Edition, the price was very reasonable. On Blu-ray, all of its glories are intact, and is highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

What needs to be said? Nov 21 2009

By Maurice A. Rhodes

One of the best ever-war movies, or at least one of the best ever Alec Guiness. What he does is done superbly. SS Hayakawa does real justice to the Japanese Samurai put between a rock and a hard place. Jack Hawkins plays the pukka sahib Brit Colonel and gives one of his greater performances. All told a winner of a movie that I have seen several times. Now that we own it we will see it even more times. Definitely five stars.