The Making of 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (2000)

Documentary about the making of the classic WWII film.

Director:

Laurent Bouzereau

Writer:

Laurent Bouzereau

Stars:

Adrian Turner, Norman Spencer, Pamela Mann

Cast

Cast overview:
Adrian Turner	...	Himself, film historian
Norman Spencer	...	Himself, associate to David Lean
Pamela Mann	...	Herself, assistant to David Lean (as Pamela Mann Francis)
William Holden	...	Himself (archive footage)
Peter Newbrook	...	Himself
Teddy Darvas	...	Himself
Alec Guinness	...	Himself (archive footage)
Donald M. Ashton	...	Himself
Keith Best	...	Himself, engineer
Jack Hildyard	...	Himself (archive footage)
Eddie Fowlie	...	Himself

Storyline

This documentary, included with the film's DVD release treats movie fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Bridge on the River Kwai, about the determination of a group of British soldiers in a Japanese POW camp to maintain their dignity and spirit, even in the face of soul-crushing adversity. Includes archived footage of the cast and crew at work, and shows much of the efforts that were requried to make this piece of film history a reality.

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Plot Keywords:

soldier | behind the scenes | employer employee relationship | prisoner of war camp | archive footage | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

53 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This documentary is featured on the Limited Edition 2-disc DVD for The Bridge on the River Kwai, released in 2000.

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Connections

References Winchester '73 (1950)

User Reviews

Decent but not exceptional.

This documentary about the making of "Bridge on the River Kwai" is included on a supplementary disc of the feature film. I've seen quite a few of these making of films and I felt very underwhelmed by this one. It isn't bad--it just isn't all that interesting or insightful. Now this can't all be blamed on this being an older film, as in some cases much older movies have superior making of featurettes (such as "Gone With the Wind"). It also didn't help that none of the actors from the film were in the documentary.

So what great insights are there in the film? Well, other than learning that Hayakawa REALLY was crying in the film as well as why, I didn't take all that much from the movie. There also was a very mildly interesting portion about the filming of the final climactic explosion. But for fans of the original film, I just didn't see enough to merit their paying for the two-disc set--the extras just weren't all that extra.