Review of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) by Brandon V — 09 Feb 2009

I always hesitate with giving classics the five-star salute because it feels obligatory, but this is another one which earns it. I honestly cannot find a damn thing wrong with it. It's brilliantly acted, impressively photographed, written with grace and subtlety, and entertaining to anyone with even the shortest attention span, despite clocking in at nearly three hours. Also impressive is the fact that, like Lean's other Award-sweeping masterpiece of an epic "Lawrence of Arabia", everything you see had to be built to scale. The bridge is real, the train is real, everything is real. This was 1957. Digital technology was not around to make this sh*t easier. Producing a film like this in those days was an act of ballsy courage, and a tremendous risk for the studio, not a fifty-times-a-year given like it is today.

Its drama builds into a series of mini-climaxes before the ending, which, while unfortunately spoiled by the cover-art on the DVD case, is nevertheless pulse-pounding and agonizingly suspenseful. The film holds up perfectly in every conceivable aspect. A true, qualified, golden-age classic which cannot be lauded enough. I loved it.