The Bridge on the River Kwai - William Holden 1957 HD Le Pont de la rivière Kwai Ondertiteling bijgesloten (.srt) Nl Bul Ell Eng2 Fre Heb Hrv Ita Ser Ita Pob Rum Scc Slv Spa Tur Eng 1280 x 352 ****** /x.264/ Won 7 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 5 nominations / I realize how difficult it's going to be in this god-forsaken place where you can't find what you need, but there's the challenge. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050212/ http://www.moviemeter.nl/film/1071 Groot Brittannië / Verenigde Staten Oorlog / Drama 161 minuten geregisseerd door David Lean met William Holden, Alec Guinness en Sessue Hayakawa Britse oorlogsgevangenen krijgen tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog van de Japanners als taak om een brug te bouwen in een jungle in Azie. Onder leiding van Colonel Nicholson behalen de gevangenen een morele overwinning op de Japanners door alle touwtjes bij het bouwen in handen te nemen. Wat ze echter niet weten is dat er een geallieerde missie gepland staat om de brug te vernietigen. The Bridge on the River Kwai - 1957 The film deals with the situation of British prisoners of war during World War II who are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam railway. Their instinct is to sabotage the bridge but, under the leadership of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), they are persuaded that the bridge should be constructed as a symbol of British morale, spirit and dignity in adverse circumstances. At first, the prisoners admire Nicholson when he bravely endures torture rather than compromise his principles for the benefit of the Japanese commandant Saito (Sessue Hayakawa). He is an honorable but arrogant man, who is slowly revealed to be a deluded obsessive. He convinces himself that the bridge is a monument to British character, but actually is a monument to himself, and his insistence on its construction becomes a subtle form of collaboration with the enemy. Unknown to him, the Allies have sent a mission into the jungle, led by Warden (Jack Hawkins) and an American, Shears (William Holden), to blow up the bridge. -------------------------------------------------- Nothing less than a masterpiece..., - 5 April 2003 About as Oscar-worthy as any film made in the '50s is David Lean's gripping BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI. Based loosely on a real-life incident, it tells the story of an imprisoned British officer (Alec Guinness) who loses sight of his mission when forced to build a bridge for the Japanese that will enable the enemy to carry supplies by train through the jungle during World War II. Guinness plays the crisp British officer to perfection, brilliant in all of his scenes but especially in his confrontations with Sessue Hayakawa. William Holden has a pivotal role as one of the prisoners who escapes and enjoys his freedom for awhile before being asked to return with a small squadron to destroy the bridge. Jack Hawkins and Geoffrey Horne have colorful roles too and all are superb under David Lean's direction. The jungle settings filmed in Ceylon add the necessary realism to the project and there is never a suspension of interest although the story runs well over two-and-a-half hours. The film builds to a tense and magnificent climax with an ending that seems to be deliberately ambiguous and thought provoking. Well worth watching, especially if shown in the restored letterbox version now being shown on TCM. Some of the best lines go to William Holden and he makes the most of a complex role--a mixture of cynicism and heroism in a character that ranks with his best anti-hero roles in films of the '50s. He brings as much conviction to his role as Alec Guinness does and deserved a Best Actor nomination that he did not get. ----------------------------------------- French En 1943, un régiment anglais interné dans un camp de prisonniers en Birmanie est affecté a la construction d'un pont en pleine jungle. Après s'être opposé à ce projet, le colonel cède aux exigences japonaises. Il ignore que les Américains préparent le dynamitage du pont...