Bridge On The River Kwai, The (2 Disc Set) (UK)

Before being medically retired from BP I used to work shifts and at the end of the weeks shifts I used to sit down when I came home at 22:00hrs and watch BOTRK while having a can of beer and my supper. With this in mind my wife bought me this DVD for my christmas , 2000, and since then I have watched it many times. BOTRK is my favourite movie of all time for many reasons , one being the quality of the acting of not only Alex Guinness but also William Holden and jack Hawkins along with the story itself (Not exactly historically accurate but fantastic none the less). Another reason being the sheer splendour of the natural backdrops to the movie. Some may call me sad but I have watched BOTRK over 100 times yet since I was given it on DVD I have never once viewed the extra features on the discs as the film is by far more than enough to keep me happy.

One of the all time greats, this classic POW movie is stunningly remastered and transfered onto dvd with brilliant results. The picture quality is absolutely stunning for a movie this old. I cannot stress how fabulous it is. The sound also is brilliant with the whistling tune. The movie itself is really entertaining. Im 21 and I loved it so its not just for old people. Excellent stuff with good extras.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is a great film. It is also a standard Hollywood action fare spurred up by great cinematography. To cut it short. The scenes in the first half with Alec Guinness and his company in the POW camp are some of the greatness in cinema history. The second half which focuses mostly on William Holden and his mission to destroy the bridge is standard warfare, that though enjoyable is hardly half as interesting as Guinness' scenes. Guinness holds the screen with great presence and Star Wars fans need only to look at this to see why he slept his way to a paycheck as Obi-Wan.

Video: Lean was a fantastic director and visualist. His films are usually shown in pan/scan during the festive season. But its Lean and if its not widescreen, why bother? The Bridge on the River Kwai is presented here in all its 2.55:1 widescreen glory. The film has obviously been restored and it looks great. This may be a forty-six year old film, but this transfer doesn't show it. There are defects as expected from as film of this age, particularly during sky-shots, but it is rarely distracting. The colors are fantastically represented here; the yellows of the camp, the greens of the jungle both jump off the screen. The film is split into two on one disc. At about 1hr 17 minutes, the film freezes for a second and then start the second half of the film. Whether this is to higher the bite-rate or to recreate an intermission from the original release, I don't know. In short a great transfer. The people who did this deserve the applauses.

Audio: A remastered 5.1 track. It's fine. It's not overwhelming; it's not under whelming. Most of it comes from the front with the backs used for some ambience. When I watch the film on TV, I usually have to higher the volume, the sound was so poor. Not in this case, the dialogue, music and effects are all rendered excellently here. It's a fine mix for a forty-seven years old film; just don't expect any new demo material.

Extras: A fantastic hour-long retrospective documentary is the centerpiece of the set. It's a great documentary covering nearly everything you want to know about The Bridge on the River Kwai. My only disappointment was the lack of the major players, Lean, Guinness. Holden, Hawkins etc.. Surely there were some archive interviews available? Four more interesting featurettes and the regular trailers and photos are included. If you've never seen Bridge, I recommend you don't watch the spoiler-full trailer. Also included in the case is a interesting booklet.

Overall: Great film, great transfer, great extras and fine audio make this a worthy 2-Disc "Collector's Edition". Buy it.

War is a horrible thing. Being a POW is a dreadful thing. We all know it. Still, this movie had become a masterpiece during the last 5 decades. And I ask - why? OK, the acting is very well done, the characters are nicely developed. But where is the sense of realism? Come on! POWs were NOT treated so nicely during WWII. They were tortured, humiliated and work in horrible conditions. Then comes "The Bridge On The River Kwai" an portrays an almost pastoral picture. Sorry, I`m not buying this.
The video transfer is OK. While there are no compression signs to be seen and movie must`ve been restored, there are still several occasions where the colors` saturation shifts during the scenes.
The DD 5.1 soundtrack is also OK. The surrounds are used occasionally, but this has not become a show-off movie for a home cinema setup.
The menus are nicely animated with sound.
The extras include an interactive map and game, an isolated musical soundtrack, an hour and a half long behind the scenes featurette and a picture gallery.
Bottom line - somehow overrated, this movie is a fine example how wars were NOT fought. Still, I can see why it is regarded by so many as a masterpiece, mainly due to its characters.