Bridge on the River Kwai, The
British POWs in Burma are employed by the Japanese to build a bridge; meanwhile, British agents seek to destroy it. After surrendering his unit to the Japanese. Colonel Nicholson demands his men behave by the book, and refuses to cooperate with the equally dutiful Japanese commander.
When the Japapese insist that the POWs build a bridge, they decide to build the best one possible, thereby restoring morale. But after one of the men escapes to Australia and lets the British commander there know of the operation, he is sent back to the jungle to destroy the tactically-crucial bridge that his comrades are desperately trying to complete.
Directed by
David Lean
Cast
William Holden - Shears
Alec Guinness - Colonel Nicholson
Jack Hawkins - Major Warden
Sessue Hayakawa - Colonel Saito
James Donald - Major Clipton
Geoffrey Horne - Lieutenant Joyce
Andre Morell - Colonel Green
Peter Williams - Captain Reeves
John Boxer - Major Hughes
Percy Herbert - Grogan
Harold Goodwin - Baker
Ann Sears - Nurse
Production Co.
Horizon Pictures
Produced by
Sam Spiegel
Jim Painten
Studio
Columbia Pictures
Writer
Pierre Boulle
Carl Foreman
Michael Wilson
Music
Malcolm Arnold
