52 BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, THE
Plot Summary
In early 1943, World War II British captives are brought to a Japa nese POW camp
in Burma. The man in charge, Col. Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), tells the captives that
they will be constructing a rail bridge over the River Kwai in order to link Bang-
kok with Rangoon. The head British official, Lt. Col. Nicholson (Alec Guinness),
tries to avoid the manual labor by citing examples from the Geneva Conventions,
but the next morning, all enlisted soldiers are forced to report to work. Nicholson
tells his own officers to stay behind in protest, and Saito warns that he will have
the men executed should they refuse their work orders. Nicholson does not budge.
Major Clipton ( James Donald), a British medical officer, steps in, threatening Saito
by saying that he can’t kill an entire group of officers with so many witnesses. Furi-
ous, Saito punishes the men by leaving them to stand outside for the day, amidst
the unbearable heat. When night falls, the disobedient officers are confined to a
punishment hut and Nicholson is confined to a locked iron box. In the meantime,
U.S. Navy Commander Shears (William Holden) breaks free from the camp. Despite
his injuries, he finds a nearby village whose residents help him to escape via boat.
Back at the camp, the POWs work as slowly and in effec tively as pos si ble in order
to undermine the Japa nese captors, knowing that if Saito is unable to build the
bridge by his assigned deadline, he will be forced to commit ritual suicide. In a
play to save his own life, Saito creates an excuse for the delay by proclaiming a
general amnesty to celebrate the Japa nese victories in the Russo- Japanese War,
which releases the British soldiers from their work. Nicholson uses the reprieve to
look over his men’s work and is appalled to find that they have been doing such a
poor job. While some of his fellow squad members rail against him, Nicholson
works with Capt. Reeves (Peter Williams) and Major Hughes ( John Boxer) to plan
and execute the creation of a sturdy, working bridge in order to bolster his unit’s
confidence and morale. The men choose a better site for the bridge downstream.
Meanwhile, the escaped Shears recuperates in a hospital bed, cared for by a stead-
fast nurse (Ann Sears), when British Major Warden ( Jack Hawkins) arrives and tells
him that the United States Navy has commissioned him to join three other British
soldiers to obliterate the bridge being built by his comrades before they can com-
plete construction. Shears is hesitant at first, but upon hearing that he can retain
an officer’s title, eventually agrees to “volunteer” for the mission. Back at the river,
Nicholson encourages his unit to complete the construction of the bridge by their
intended deadline to prove the dedication and hard work of the British Army. Three
paratroopers survive the jump and arrive at the drop point, and Warden, Shears,
and Canadian Lt. Joyce (Geoffrey Horne) get to the river before the bridge is put
into active use. In the dark, Shears and Joyce rig the bridge towers with explosives
beneath the water line. The men then wait to blow up the bridge until the next
day, when a train full of enemy soldiers and dignitaries are scheduled to cross it
by train. The next morning, the three soldiers panic when they notice that the water
level has gone down, leaving the wires from their explosives in plain sight. Nich-
olson sees the exposed wire and tells Saito, and the two run down to the bridge to
examine it. Joyce, who stands by the detonator, runs out and brutally kills Saito
with a knife. In shock, Nicholson calls for backup and wrestles Joyce to the ground