DVD : The Bridge on the River Kwai
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 9780767853545
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0767853547
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: November 21, 2000
Running Time: 161 minutes
Sales Rank: 2603
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1957
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Allied commandos are dispatched deep inside the burmese jungle to blow up a stategic bridge built by british pows. Special features: subtitles in english french spanish portuguese chinese korean and thai: languages in english french spanish and portugues: theatrical trailers and much more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/21/2000 Starring: William Holden Jack Hawkins Run time: 162 minutes Rating: Pg
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 widescreen version that preserves its original aspect ratio. --Sam Sutherland
Amazon.com:
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 widescreen version that preserves its original aspect ratio. --Sam Sutherland
Stills from The Bridge on the River Kwai (click for larger image)
Beyond The Bridge on the River Kwai 
The David Lean Collection | 
WWII 60th Anniversary Collection | 
The True Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai (History Channel) |
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Col. Saito, commandant of the work camp in the Burmese jungle, doesn't particularly like the English. According to him, they have dishonored themselves by surrendering, "I hate the British!" he screams.
Saito hates them but finds himself in the difficult and humiliating position of needing the stiff-necked Colonel Nicholson's assistance to build his train track and his bridge. He threatens and tries to break Nicholson, all to no available. Nicholson would literally prefer death to compromising on his principles. His principles? That officers not work along with enlisted personnel. Officers are for leadership and command not menial labor.
Without Nicholson's cooperation, Saito will fail, his bridge will not be built and he will be obliged to commit suicide. Saito blinks and gives Nicholson what he demands. Nicholson and many of his officers and men--in an effort to maintain discipline and purpose--throw themselves fully into the project and build a bridge far better than the Japanese ever would have. Nicholson has, in fact, become an unwitting collaborator with the Japanese. Nicholson is a heroic figure but his courage doesn't mitigate the fact that he is helping the enemy.
'Bridge on the River Kwai' is a terrific film. It was adapted from the book by Pierre Boulle...a man who, himself, wasn't in love with the British...as a matter of fact, he may have detested the Brits as much as his character, Saito. To Boulle, Nicholson ... Read More
Rating: -
Great W.W.2 movie. With William Holden a great actor. I sure do miss him. He puts these new actors to shame. Good movie for any war buff to add to his or hers collection.
Rating: -
"Bridge On the River Kwai" is one of those masterpiece movies. Sir Alec Guiness is a standout, as is the Japanese commander. The tension builds artfully throughout the duration of the movie as cruelties escalate and the prisoners try to outsmart their captors. Perserverence is the name of the game and William Holden perserveres and injects his own dramatic style into the bargaining. We finally get the pay off and it is a doozie. BOTRK deserves all of its academy awards and more.
Rating: -
An excellent movie. It gives all aspects of the war;those who are gung-ho,those that didn't care for the war, the captured, the japanese,and those tortured. It is a movie that makes you think and just be entertained. I can recommend this movie for everyone. There is a bit of violence but it is done with taste.
Ps.There is a book called Ship of Ghosts. It is the true story of this movie.
Rating:  -
The movie is just fantastic.
I have bought several DVD's released by Columbia. All classic movies seem to have the same problem this DVD has. The picture has a soft shake.
The movie is great but I just wish the DVD had been mastered properly.
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starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald
directed by: David Lean
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 9780767853545
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0767853547
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: November 21, 2000
Running Time: 161 minutes
Sales Rank: 2603
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1957
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