Hailed as the greatest war film and distinguished by a visual and narrative sweep rare in modern cinema, David Lean’s masterpiece combines a relentless battle of wills with unparalleled action and spectacle. Based on Pierre Boulle’s best seller and starring Alec Guinness, William Holden and Jack Hawkins, this is the gripping tale of British POWs, captured by the Japanese in World War II and ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam Railway. Honoured with 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Alec Guinness) and Best Director, this film continues to be one of the most memorable cinematic experiences. The bridge demolition scene remains a brilliant piece of stunt photography.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
314340
Languages
Arabic
Bulgarian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
English
English
Finnish
French
French
German
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Norwegian
Polish
Swedish
Turkish
Audience classification
PG
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Academy awards (Motion pictures)
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Motion picture trailers
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Motion pictures - Awards
Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → Burma-Siam Railway
Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → Prisoners of war
Feature films → Feature films - Great Britain
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
DVD; Access Print (Section 1)