10pm PST – Bridge On The River Kwai, The (1957) – The Japanese Army forces World War II POWs to build a strategic bridge in Burma. Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa Dir: David Lean C-162 mins, TV-PG
Every time I re-watch David Lean’s Best Picture winner, the film’s cynicism always surprises. It shouldn’t. After all, William Holden carried cynicism as comfortably as an overcoat, but the film’s theme is duty and Shears (Holden) wants no part of his, in a fit of pride, Col. Nicholson (Alec Guinness), loses complete sight of his, and in order to do his, Col. Saito — the Japanese P.O.W. camp commander – must forfeit his own pride.
Cynical. At least until the end. That’s not a complaint. Every minute of the story is brilliant and compelling, and the scene where the smug Shears is outwitted at every turn trying to weasel out of returning to the camp he escaped from is not only one of the film’s highlights (and one of Holden’s best screen moments) but a nice answer to the anti-hero mentality that was just starting to gain a cinematic foothold.
The other thing that surprises is the majesty of the production. In-between a screening of one of these old widescreen epics you may see all kinds of newer films heavy with CGI, and so it’s easy to forget how different an epic looks and feels without special effects. Special effects have their place and some are good enough you don’t notice them, but there’s just something about these pre-CGI epics that can’t be recreated in a computer.
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