Featherygirl TurmutHoer Yep. When Saito slapped their CO w the treaty book and the Brit POWs reacted, Nicholson shouted “Stand fast in the ranks!” without even breaking eye contact w Saito. And they immediately returned to attention. Great way to let Saito know he was dealing w professional soldiers, not “cowards,” despite the surrender.
I always thought he portrayed the coldness of what a general in charge of a POW camp would've had. One of the more memorable scenes with him being when Guiness has a meeting with him and Saito says "You have NO SHAME."
The scene in which Saito is writing his last note to his loved ones as he prepares to commit ritual suicide is also powerful, knowing that Mr. Hayakawa was thinking back to his own attempt at suicide as a teenager.
It's a foolish scene. If a citizen of India displays the same personal dignity as displayed by the English Colonel to even lower most Indian police constable, he will be beaten up into a pulp. If he displays the same degree of same personal dignity to any other Indian government official, he will be risking in his life and liberty. English dignity is not acceptable in feudal languages. However most citizens of India do not have the personal dignity that was there in the native-English. Yet, If English dignity is displayed in front of Indian police even English men will go into Indian jail. Google search for British sailors inside Indian jail
@@daytonasixty-eight1354 Not by anyone with even a slight interest in British cinema. Typically American audiences any take notice of Hollywood productions - anything else is considered "world cinema"
Hayakawa actually struck Guinness so hard that he did, in fact, draw blood from the English actor. Ever the consummate professional, Guinness kept going with the scene, and the unaltered version was left in the final film.
Interesting to see the japanese officer wearing a pith hat, depicting the huge influence and power that the very nation from which his prisoners came from have had on the world and on him already.
pith helmets were made out of cork, and could be soaked in water to wear on the head to cool one down in the heat of say a jungle or desert. Poor Japanese never had a chance. Yamamoto called it before it even began...
I'm from the staving hard working class of English people. But now I'm older I understand why those certain individuals in war time had to lead. Things have obviously changed an awful lot. But I admire those leaders of men.
@@jimmoynahan9910 I know it's hard for you to believe, but there was a time (before the labour government and their reforms from 1945 to the 1970s ) when the British and Commonwealth and Empire working and underclass were toiling away in labor jobs while the upperclass and officers mooched off of their hard work
@@walrusArmageddonI know it's hard for you to believe, but there was a time (before the labour government and their reforms from 1945 to the 1970s ) when the British and Commonwealth and Empire working and underclass were toiling away in labor jobs while the upperclass and officers mooched off of their hard work
He was at least as good an actor as Alec Guinness, who did get an Oscar (William Holden was better-off than both of them, because he was owed a share of the gross profits: he was laughing!).
I saw this movie with my Dad when I was just a kid. He instilled in me a love of well made war movies as well as good sci-fi. I’m forever indebted to him for that. Bridge … is one of my all time favourites! 🇨🇦🖖🏻🇨🇦
Oh Sir Alec was just being patient. If he was a bit unhinged Sessue Hayakawa's arm would be the first to come off. But the Jedi are patient. Obi Wan aside, Sir Alec is one bloody brilliant jewel of an actor. Here, and as Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia and Charles III in Cromwell.
A great film sadly it's a piece of pure fiction those officers would have been shot on the spot it would have set an example for the rest of the POWs .
One of my wife's uncles worked as a slave on the Siam-Burma Railroad. He was Malay. Survived it. He worked on the real bridge. Read "The Naked Island" for the truth and the real story. Russell Braddon, 1952, Australian. One of my Aussie uncles has two best friends buried in the Australian Naval Cemetery at River Khwai Bridge, Thailand. The British Army didn't build the bridge.
@@theguywhoisaustralian1465 It blows my mind that people are more willing to believe in parallel realities or the universe spontaneously changing more than simply humans being forgetful.
Here he takes away the crop from Alec Guinness. Later when the bridge in complete you see the crop fall out of his hands and into the river, and he exclaims, "Damn" There's a lot going on here
Y@@lepetitchat123 From what I remember the warden Fellow relates To his superior what happened He fires his mortar and kills Shears and Nicholson and the other Fellow Obviously the film people had other ideas!
Another david lean gem, but the real prisoners said it was not like that at all. The most brutal conditions. Under the unforgiving, and the rising sun.
This film was a slur on British and Commonwealth POWs. It was based on a book written by a Frenchman who superimposed the collaboration by French officers in Indo-China onto the British. The writer by the way was Pierre Boulle who also wrote Planet of the Apes. This was a work of fiction, nothing else.
Couldn’t agree more! A good fictional story, the film was loved by the critics, but hated by anyone who knew what really happened. The Japanese were offended because it implied their engineers were inferior (they weren’t), POW relatives hated it because it shows the POWs collaborating (they didn’t), and POWs who survived the ordeal hated the way well fed Hollywood actors glossed over the true horrors. The History channel has a video on RUclips which is more fact based. Hard to watch in places, but a close reflection of atrocious behavior of the Japanese and Korean guards and the incredible suffering of the POWs (and the many more forced Asian laborers). And finally, the bridge was actually destroyed by the Allied air forces, by low level bombs from B24 aircraft based in India, not demolished by ground troops. Incidentally, “Kwai” means “buffalo” in Thai. It’s a mispronunciation of “Kwae” which means small River or tributary. So the title of the movie sounds like bridge on the River Buffalo, or Bridge on the River small River.
@@PK-mw7et My great uncle was one of those POWs. He absolutely despised this film and I once heard him describe David Lean as a parasite who fed off the corpses of his dead mates with no right to call himself an Englishman. The film was made just over a decade after the end of the war so it was still very raw for most of those who had lived through the hell of building the Burma railway. What possessed Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins both of whom had served as British officers during WW2, to have anything to do with it god only knows. They must have been desperate for the work. The only thing that can be said for the filmmakers was at least they agreed to state that it was a work of fiction in the credits but even that only came about after furious protests from veteran's groups.
To survive one has to be flexible you cant bite the Hand that feeds you So no doubt many did Compromise It's not a shame the so called Patriotism doesn't work in All situations!
They signed the Convention but did not ratify it in Japan. It was a costly mistake as it made the country liable for war crimes (it's treatment of captured POWs), and crimes against humanity (the Nanking Massacre, and it's treatment of conquered China and the Philippines and other countries in Asia Minor).
Another bushido apologist. Then explain those samurais doing the same things during the 16th century in Korea? That's how they've always been. There's no perversion of any code.
Sessu Hayakawa was one of the leading American heart throb actors in his 1920s heyday. Its hard to reconcile that with him as Colonel Saito 30 years later but than that is more a testamount to the marvelous actor he was rather than the sands of time.
It is in today's standard. But growing up in Japan, and being educated in an officers academy, Saito has no other understanding, other than to die for ones country is the utmost honor. So him seeing "cowards" are infuriating enough as it is, without them having the pride to refuse labor. In Germany POW's were forced to do labor, especially in the East. In the UK POWs were forced to do labor. In the Isle of man, there was a huge camp with Italian POWs. Another thing is people never mention Russian labor camps. After WW2 Russia kept hundreds of thousands of German POWs, and worked them till death. One of which was a known Jew sympathizer, his name escapes me, but he saved many families in Poland. Not all countries followed the laws, Americans often shot the Japanese on sight when surrendering. At the end of the day every single country only ever followed these laws, when it suit them.
Apparently this is a misconception, the US camps were not good by any stretch but they are pointed to often as an example of the Allies being just as bad as the Axis when this is plainly not the case, comparing a US internment camp to a Japanese POW camp or god forbid a Gulag or Concentration camp is not really a fair comparison. The Japanese whilst mistreated by the American populace were allowed to work for a decent for the time amount of money, and whilst there was undernourishment in the camps the Japanese were not starved and of the 1862 deaths in the camps over the course of the war nearly all were from either old age, preexisting illness or disease spread. That's a death rate of less than 2% over the course of 3 years which is close to the natural death rate of the civilian population in the wider US. The camps were not good by any means but they were in no way on the same level of barbarism as those found in Europe and Asia.
i found this movie because i asked freedomGPT what was the greatest war movie ever made and it game me this amazing after over 65 years still consider the greatest
Exactly my thoughts. While there ARE deeper themes of honor (and misplaced honor leading to betrayl of ones country), I can't get over the fact that the first 50 mins or so are based around an officer trying to skip hard labor.
That is way too simplistic. The officer is so consumed with honor that he even embraces death and even treason. One of the greatest performances I ever saw because he made it believable.
*+The Flayed Man* While I don't doubt that there was an underlying 'this is beneath me' mentality amongst the officers, especially from Colonel Nicholson, their insistence on refusing to work is not so much a matter of pride as it is a matter of principle. A stubborn refusal to concede to the blatant flouting of both the rules of war and established British Army codes of conduct. Also, it's not just the officers that do this but the regular soldiers as well. As seen in this scene and throughout the film, despite being prisoners of war, they continue to only obey orders given to them by their own officers as they would under normal circumstances.
It's the nature of the relationship of the officer to enlisted ranks that's at issue for Nicholson. An army with no recognized leaders is dangerously unstable, aimless, and ineffective; more like a mob than a true armed force. It lacks structure and direction -- a brain. Argue if you will with how the leaders are selected by different countries at different times -- by birth, appointment, merit, physical prowess, or some combination of these, but officers and men are always, and should be, separate. Much as they grouse about the distinction, the enlisted themselves tend to like it that way. There are many fine NCOs who might easily be made officers due to their skills and experience, but choose to remain in-ranks, whereas very few officers would care to join them there.
The officers not doing manual labour is not about not wanting to do menial work, but rather maintaining the fact that they still count as soldiers as prisoners of war, and the chain of command should be maintained. Morale is much better for PoWs if they see their officers giving the orders passed down from those detaining them.
And then they stood up all day in one spot (all bar one). In the sun. It would be hard to stand up for half an hour in one spot in the shade for the average man.
Japan was in Geneva and signed the Convention, but refused to follow it's code. Fearing some of Asia Minor being invaded by Japan, which they were, most military officers carried little booklets of Geneva Convention and it's code of conduct regarding the treatment of POWs to remind Japan of their obligation to abide by the code and to honor it. Japan refused to honor the codes of the Geneva Convention making them liable for war crimes.
Alec Guinness went against his own rules about officers not working. Late in the movie he has them working. Yes he was in a bad state of mind which at the end he realized
Because as PoWs those detaining them are permitted to order them to perform manual labour as long as they're not worked to death or ill treated, the point of the officers not being forced to work is the maintaining of the chain of command and the morale of the troops. Enlisted men loose hope otherwise but keep their unit cohesion if it's their own officers appearing to give the orders.
He is actually sparing them. By insisting his officers mutiny, the Men are not. They will not face ramifications for his act of rebellion, should there be any. What a lot of people now seem to miss is that the Noblise Oblige of the officer at war. Even in captivity to the Japanese - known now to be one of the most revolting fates to a combatant during ww2 - these officers held themselves responsible for the safety and sanctity of the men at their command, whom depended on those officers to see them through war. Prisoners, yes, but still soldiers.
anyone who is a fan of Sir Alec and likes a chuckle ,should watch, ( The Lady Killers )and (The Lavender Hill Mob ) both films from the 50 s. ,Sir Alec really was the master of disguise ,and voice ,played Fagin in Oliver Twist ,directed by David Lean
An even better one to watch is ‘Tunes of Glory” where Guinness plays a backstabbing jerk. Completely out of character from the harmless characters of his 50s comedy roles or his noble but misguided Colonel in this movie. And he really pulls it off well. It doesn’t hurt that the costar of that movie was John Mills.
What the scene is really about is two men, from two different cultures, failing to understand each other. From Saito's point of view, the British forfeited their honor by surrendering. It is incomprehensible and infuriating to him that not one Japanese would think to surrender yet here he has thousands of British who still have their stubborn pride in spite of surrendering. And it is even more infuriating to him that this Briton can stand there and lecture him. This guy arrogantly asks Saito if he can read English, thinking his language is the center of the universe, and doesn't even think for a moment that there might be something worth reading in Japanese. Masterful performance portraying Saito's reaction to the Briton's arrogance. You can see Saito just boil over at the pompous lecture as he clenches the book until finally he just has to smack the Briton across the face.
Nicholson might be arrogant and pompous, but the real world isn't a humanities faculty with its fashionable relativism. In the same position where would you stand?
Ethan Farber Yes because the Japanese were by no means arrogant and xenophobic during WW2, what was thier plan to be "center of the universe" called? "East Asia co prosperity sphere?"
He's been dehydrated, hungry, exposed to the sun for weeks. His skin is ready to crack all over by now. The fact that he and the other British soldiers still have such excellent bearing and posture in spite of their weakened state tells you something about their resolve and discipline.
It is a brilliant movie, yes it didn't depict the true horror of the British and Australian prisoners however it's quite possible that when this film was made memories were still extremely raw for those who survived Japanese captivity.
Percy Herbert, who played Pvt. Brogan, was also a technical advisor. Herbert was a prisoner of the Japanese at Changi Prison, following the British surrender of Singapore. Herbert was serving in Royal Army Ordnance at the time.
One of the more profound moments of my life...up there with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny...was watching this movie and seeing Obi-Won Kenobi portrayed as a pretentious fool.
@@ArcturusOTE the thing is Ewan's facial lines match exactly with that of Guinness. Their facial symmetry is quite same. And well he embodies it perfectly
Man, if I can break the fourth wall, I would say to Saito: The cowards code? This code is made to honour and respect the enemy. What's wrong? You cannot respect and honour the enemy? and I think Japanese people have honour in their culture. I see no honour here
It’s a rule back when most modern wars were fought in Europe. Most officers were from nobility backgrounds. Many of them were relatives and friends. Because the royalties themselves were relatives lol. So of course officers get treated better. Japan is not a European power and their officers were detached from this social norm.
We are absolved of our duty to obey you. _You are absolved of your duty to obey us_ My officers will NOT do manual labor. _Your officers will not do manual labor_ My men can go about their business _Your men can go about their business_ Move along... _Move along...move along_
And, you'd think the British would have more appreciation for him! ....After all, he shot and killed Anna May Wong, daughter of Fu Manchu, back in '31, when she was about to stab to death one of their finest graduates of their public school system. (He was pretending to be a Chinese detective assigned to help Scotland Yard find the dastardly Warner Oland before he killed again!.) ruclips.net/video/fF2F2mXsRog/видео.html .
I love the way the men don't move until Alec gives the order, and Saito is ignored. Thanks for posting!
Featherygirl TurmutHoer Yep. When Saito slapped their CO w the treaty book and the Brit POWs reacted, Nicholson shouted “Stand fast in the ranks!” without even breaking eye contact w Saito. And they immediately returned to attention. Great way to let Saito know he was dealing w professional soldiers, not “cowards,” despite the surrender.
Absolutely
Hayakawa should have won the Academy Award that year. Powerful acting. Totally believable.
I always thought he portrayed the coldness of what a general in charge of a POW camp would've had. One of the more memorable scenes with him being when Guiness has a meeting with him and Saito says "You have NO SHAME."
The scene in which Saito is writing his last note to his loved ones as he prepares to commit ritual suicide is also powerful, knowing that Mr. Hayakawa was thinking back to his own attempt at suicide as a teenager.
This movie deserved every award it won. One of the greatest of the golden age of film.
Should have gotten an Oscar for Supporting Actor too. The guy for Colonel Saito was tremendous.
It won best picture
You can't win Saito! If you shoot me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Or the prisoners might riot.
OMG I only realised it!
Or should i say darth saito
Only an agent of the sith believes in absolutes.
It's a foolish scene.
If a citizen of India displays the same personal dignity as displayed by the English Colonel to even lower most Indian police constable, he will be beaten up into a pulp.
If he displays the same degree of same personal dignity to any other Indian government official, he will be risking in his life and liberty.
English dignity is not acceptable in feudal languages.
However most citizens of India do not have the personal dignity that was there in the native-English.
Yet, If English dignity is displayed in front of Indian police even English men will go into Indian jail.
Google search for
British sailors inside Indian jail
The great legendary Sessue Hayakawa. One of the Original Stars of Hollywood’s Silent era but sadly forgotten!
Such an outstanding performance. Love colonel saito
Well, „Bridge“ has lasted and will continue to last in memory.
These aren't the officers you're looking for.
No. They aren't. Well said.
These are not the officers we're looking for. Move along.
This officer had the High Ground
Ironically there was a comic where Obi-wan was in this exact same situation with General Grievous.
Best comment on RUclips.
Superb Performance by Sir Alec Guinness....his difficult walk from the dog kennel to the Commandant's hut, Will be remembered for all time
He's only remember as Obi-Wan Kenobi now. That's why he hates star wars.
@@daytonasixty-eight1354 Not by anyone with even a slight interest in British cinema. Typically American audiences any take notice of Hollywood productions - anything else is considered "world cinema"
Hayakawa actually struck Guinness so hard that he did, in fact, draw blood from the English actor. Ever the consummate professional, Guinness kept going with the scene, and the unaltered version was left in the final film.
Also, Sir Alec Guinness said that he modeled his walk from his son's bout with Polio. And Alec said it was his best bit of acting of his life.
What dog kennel? I saw the movie yesterday, but don't remember a dog kennel
Interesting to see the japanese officer wearing a pith hat, depicting the huge influence and power that the very nation from which his prisoners came from have had on the world and on him already.
Japan was rebooted partly by a British guy called Glover, the previous century i believe.
Or it’s just a good hat.
Japan is known for being a copy-cat, the japanese use Chinese symbols in their language.. talk about lack of originality.
pith helmets were made out of cork, and could be soaked in water to wear on the head to cool one down in the heat of say a jungle or desert. Poor Japanese never had a chance. Yamamoto called it before it even began...
@@Splatterpunk_OldNewYork Poor??!!??
Only a British officer of the 'gentleman's school' could drive the Japanese commandant to tears and nearly a breakdown.
I'm from the staving hard working class of English people. But now I'm older I understand why those certain individuals in war time had to lead. Things have obviously changed an awful lot. But I admire those leaders of men.
@@anthonywright6237 Which starving class? Our obesity rate is 28%.
@@jimmoynahan9910 it's only 28%?
@@jimmoynahan9910 I know it's hard for you to believe, but there was a time (before the labour government and their reforms from 1945 to the 1970s ) when the British and Commonwealth and Empire working and underclass were toiling away in labor jobs while the upperclass and officers mooched off of their hard work
@@walrusArmageddonI know it's hard for you to believe, but there was a time (before the labour government and their reforms from 1945 to the 1970s ) when the British and Commonwealth and Empire working and underclass were toiling away in labor jobs while the upperclass and officers mooched off of their hard work
Jeremy Clarkson: “Officers won’t work.”
James May: “.........”
Top gear
@@bigchungus8136 Well done. 👍
Brilliant filmmaking. David Lean was a brilliant director....and what a cast including Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and the great William Holden.
Wow - that's some serious acting skills by both actors. Alec Guinness engulfs this character here.
They don't make them like they used to
I love the delivery, throwing the book and snapping the cane in a wobbly fit of rage 😅😂brilliant
This video was filmed in Sri Lanka 🇱🇰and I’m a Sri Lanka and I’m proud this movie 🎥 is an Oscar winner 😌
The guy who plays col. Saito is the brightest star of the movie.
He was at least as good an actor as Alec Guinness, who did get an Oscar (William Holden was better-off than both of them, because he was owed a share of the gross profits: he was laughing!).
He was The great legendary Sessue Hayakawa. One of the Original Stars of Hollywood’s Silent era but sadly forgotten!
They were all so good but you're right Saito was perfection
I saw this movie with my Dad when I was just a kid. He instilled in me a love of well made war movies as well as good sci-fi. I’m forever indebted to him for that. Bridge … is one of my all time favourites! 🇨🇦🖖🏻🇨🇦
The Japanese Officer had the High Ground
He underestimates his power
What code do you speak to me of? The Coward's Code, one of the best scenes from Bridge on the River Kwai.
The Japanese may have their's Bushido code. But the American have.... the Nuclear code.😂
у американцев есть фашизм, который они несут всему миру, называя его демократией
Lol
@@НиколайЛис-п4л из этого утверждения ясно, что вы понятия не имеете, что такое фашизм.
@@starkat70 есть определение, научное - Димитрова, так вот США гонят фашизм на экспорт, а что вам там ясно мне похер.
@@НиколайЛис-п4л
переводить фашизм
A jolly good movie.
Jolly, jolly good show.
@@pix046 If you hadn't fixed the radio we wouldn't know about the train.
Oh Sir Alec was just being patient. If he was a bit unhinged Sessue Hayakawa's arm would be the first to come off. But the Jedi are patient.
Obi Wan aside, Sir Alec is one bloody brilliant jewel of an actor. Here, and as Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia and Charles III in Cromwell.
Always with the Star Wars crap.
Even when he said civilized you can hear obi wan
This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.
my great granddad was involved with building this
A great film sadly it's a piece of pure fiction those officers would have been shot on the spot it would have set an example for the rest of the POWs .
@@chrisholland7367 not necessarily
An honor sir to be viewing the same post.
One of my wife's uncles worked as a slave on the Siam-Burma Railroad. He was Malay. Survived it. He worked on the real bridge. Read "The Naked Island" for the truth and the real story. Russell Braddon, 1952, Australian. One of my Aussie uncles has two best friends buried in the Australian Naval Cemetery at River Khwai Bridge, Thailand. The British Army didn't build the bridge.
Oh wow, my Great Grandfather was too. He died shortly after capture unfortunately.
Who remembers this movie being called bridge over the River kwai ?
awake now Yeah, me too
@@Lajos_Kelemen research the Mandela effect. There are hundreds of things that have changed in our reality.
The Book that the movie is based on is called that, so you're not technically wrong.
@@awakenow350 No, it's just people misremembering things. The power of suggestion is very...powerful
@@theguywhoisaustralian1465 It blows my mind that people are more willing to believe in parallel realities or the universe spontaneously changing more than simply humans being forgetful.
The sign of a great movie, still wonderfully watchable after 60 years. My favorite durector, david lean
Tonight.... Jeremy, James, and Richard build a bridges over a river *KOK*
This movie is so awesome. I can’t believe I never saw it until last year.
Here we see that superiority is not simply a matter of force.
Sessue Hayakawa was brilliant as G. Saito.
Great movies by David Lean one of the best directors of making the movies.
Here he takes away the crop from Alec Guinness. Later when the bridge in complete you see the crop fall out of his hands and into the river, and he exclaims, "Damn" There's a lot going on here
The crop you refer to really signifies a British officers symbol of authority his “swagger stick!”
Good to see Count Arthur Strong playing Jack Hawkins. Alex Guinness very good too.
Actually in the novel shears is british
But to sell the movie an american is needed so Holden crops up
The ending of the film differs from the novel
How does the novel end?
Y@@lepetitchat123
From what I remember the warden
Fellow relates
To his superior what happened
He fires his mortar and kills
Shears and Nicholson and the other
Fellow
Obviously the film people had other ideas!
Another david lean gem, but the real prisoners said it was not like that at all. The most brutal conditions. Under the unforgiving, and the rising sun.
This film was a slur on British and Commonwealth POWs. It was based on a book written by a Frenchman who superimposed the collaboration by French officers in Indo-China onto the British. The writer by the way was Pierre Boulle who also wrote Planet of the Apes. This was a work of fiction, nothing else.
Couldn’t agree more! A good fictional story, the film was loved by the critics, but hated by anyone who knew what really happened. The Japanese were offended because it implied their engineers were inferior (they weren’t), POW relatives hated it because it shows the POWs collaborating (they didn’t), and POWs who survived the ordeal hated the way well fed Hollywood actors glossed over the true horrors. The History channel has a video on RUclips which is more fact based. Hard to watch in places, but a close reflection of atrocious behavior of the Japanese and Korean guards and the incredible suffering of the POWs (and the many more forced Asian laborers). And finally, the bridge was actually destroyed by the Allied air forces, by low level bombs from B24 aircraft based in India, not demolished by ground troops.
Incidentally, “Kwai” means “buffalo” in Thai. It’s a mispronunciation of “Kwae” which means small River or tributary. So the title of the movie sounds like bridge on the River Buffalo, or Bridge on the River small River.
@@PK-mw7et My great uncle was one of those POWs. He absolutely despised this film and I once heard him describe David Lean as a parasite who fed off the corpses of his dead mates with no right to call himself an Englishman.
The film was made just over a decade after the end of the war so it was still very raw for most of those who had lived through the hell of building the Burma railway.
What possessed Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins both of whom had served as British officers during WW2, to have anything to do with it god only knows. They must have been desperate for the work.
The only thing that can be said for the filmmakers was at least they agreed to state that it was a work of fiction in the credits but even that only came about after furious protests from veteran's groups.
To survive one has to be flexible you cant bite the
Hand that feeds you
So no doubt many did
Compromise
It's not a shame the so called
Patriotism doesn't work in
All situations!
i heard that working for tayota is pretty good
Saito was the best character
Man goes crazy building a bridge for his foe
I have to say Col. Nicholson has serious balls he seems completely fearless. Knowing what Japanese Prison commanders were like in WW2.
My great grandad help build that bridge. he passed away this year
Upmost respect for him. Please tell your children of the man
There's still individuals out there that understand his resolve. I'm extremely proud of him.. tell your children and grandchildren about the man
British pride and resolve at it's best
He also cooperated with the enemy later and built the bridge
British collaboration at it's best.
@@Kitiwake the film is fiction. The reality was terrible.
The movie is about how “pride and resolve” nearly resulted in a major strategic victory for the enemy. Did you even watch it?
I’ll never forget this scene.
The Japanese attended but refused to sign the Geneva Convention, believing only in the Code of Bushido, the way of the warrior....!
Scott Fuller because the japanese are not cowardly like whites
@@guitarhamster102 They were brave when they put babies on spikes in Nanjing
They signed the Convention but did not ratify it in Japan. It was a costly mistake as it made the country liable for war crimes (it's treatment of captured POWs), and crimes against humanity (the Nanking Massacre, and it's treatment of conquered China and the Philippines and other countries in Asia Minor).
@@MAnuscript421 Only a few War Criminals from Japan were punished.
They were brave and warrior like alright in china nanking.
They were brave to what they did to my people in manila alright.
One of the greatest movies ever made, David lean was master movie director
Robert Mitchum said that William Holden gave a "Perfect" performance and that he didn't catch him acting once.
Funny how the Japanese state they only follow bushido, where as whatever they did in WW2 completely contrasts the Warrior's code
Another bushido apologist. Then explain those samurais doing the same things during the 16th century in Korea? That's how they've always been. There's no perversion of any code.
Sessu Hayakawa was one of the leading American heart throb actors in his 1920s heyday.
Its hard to reconcile that with him as Colonel Saito 30 years later but than that is more a testamount to the marvelous actor he was rather than the sands of time.
This is undoubtedly the best Alec Guinness movie, followed by passage to india
I don't know, I still have a soft spot for "the ladykillers" and the "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" BBC series
Pictured: me attempting to use an expired coupon
One of the Best war movies ever!!!
Its not a coward’s code, saito is wrong. Its a law of the civilized world
It is in today's standard. But growing up in Japan, and being educated in an officers academy, Saito has no other understanding, other than to die for ones country is the utmost honor.
So him seeing "cowards" are infuriating enough as it is, without them having the pride to refuse labor. In Germany POW's were forced to do labor, especially in the East. In the UK POWs were forced to do labor. In the Isle of man, there was a huge camp with Italian POWs. Another thing is people never mention Russian labor camps. After WW2 Russia kept hundreds of thousands of German POWs, and worked them till death. One of which was a known Jew sympathizer, his name escapes me, but he saved many families in Poland. Not all countries followed the laws, Americans often shot the Japanese on sight when surrendering. At the end of the day every single country only ever followed these laws, when it suit them.
Apparently this is a misconception, the US camps were not good by any stretch but they are pointed to often as an example of the Allies being just as bad as the Axis when this is plainly not the case, comparing a US internment camp to a Japanese POW camp or god forbid a Gulag or Concentration camp is not really a fair comparison. The Japanese whilst mistreated by the American populace were allowed to work for a decent for the time amount of money, and whilst there was undernourishment in the camps the Japanese were not starved and of the 1862 deaths in the camps over the course of the war nearly all were from either old age, preexisting illness or disease spread. That's a death rate of less than 2% over the course of 3 years which is close to the natural death rate of the civilian population in the wider US. The camps were not good by any means but they were in no way on the same level of barbarism as those found in Europe and Asia.
Harry Peach dont forget what was happening in China.
But Saito is right that they didn't fight in Singapore. Not their fault. Blame the politicians and generals.
War is not civilized - (General William T. Sherman)
They are soldiers not prisoners. That's the central story of the movie.
Now I can’t get the theme music out of my head
That's a brave man.
Fun Fact: This movie predicted clone Wars season Four Zygerrian arc Story where Obi-Wan was the prisoner of Zygerrian
Alex Guinness, Jedi master and convert to catholicism.
Synagogue of Satan
Imagine if this scene is being re-enacted by Kenneth Branagh and Ken Watanabe
They would ruin it.
What a wonderful British leader!
have you seen the movie
Is he brave or just full of himself?
@@sosososososo4148 full of himself
i found this movie because i asked freedomGPT what was the greatest war movie ever made and it game me this
amazing after over 65 years still consider the greatest
No chance.. Zulu
My allegiance is to Britain, to DEMOCRACY!
Isn't Britain a monarchy? 😁😁
@@Big-guy1981 From certain point of view
so this whole movie is about an officer's journey to skip out on menial work?
Exactly my thoughts. While there ARE deeper themes of honor (and misplaced honor leading to betrayl of ones country), I can't get over the fact that the first 50 mins or so are based around an officer trying to skip hard labor.
That is way too simplistic. The officer is so consumed with honor that he even embraces death and even treason. One of the greatest performances I ever saw because he made it believable.
*+The Flayed Man* While I don't doubt that there was an underlying 'this is beneath me' mentality amongst the officers, especially from Colonel Nicholson, their insistence on refusing to work is not so much a matter of pride as it is a matter of principle. A stubborn refusal to concede to the blatant flouting of both the rules of war and established British Army codes of conduct. Also, it's not just the officers that do this but the regular soldiers as well. As seen in this scene and throughout the film, despite being prisoners of war, they continue to only obey orders given to them by their own officers as they would under normal circumstances.
It's the nature of the relationship of the officer to enlisted ranks that's at issue for Nicholson. An army with no recognized leaders is dangerously unstable, aimless, and ineffective; more like a mob than a true armed force. It lacks structure and direction -- a brain. Argue if you will with how the leaders are selected by different countries at different times -- by birth, appointment, merit, physical prowess, or some combination of these, but officers and men are always, and should be, separate. Much as they grouse about the distinction, the enlisted themselves tend to like it that way. There are many fine NCOs who might easily be made officers due to their skills and experience, but choose to remain in-ranks, whereas very few officers would care to join them there.
The officers not doing manual labour is not about not wanting to do menial work, but rather maintaining the fact that they still count as soldiers as prisoners of war, and the chain of command should be maintained. Morale is much better for PoWs if they see their officers giving the orders passed down from those detaining them.
And then they stood up all day in one spot (all bar one). In the sun. It would be hard to stand up for half an hour in one spot in the shade for the average man.
i love british drill!!!
I find it funny that he carries round a copy of the Geneva Convention
Japan was in Geneva and signed the Convention, but refused to follow it's code. Fearing some of Asia Minor being invaded by Japan, which they were, most military officers carried little booklets of Geneva Convention and it's code of conduct regarding the treatment of POWs to remind Japan of their obligation to abide by the code and to honor it. Japan refused to honor the codes of the Geneva Convention making them liable for war crimes.
Alec Guinness went against his own rules about officers not working. Late in the movie he has them working. Yes he was in a bad state of mind which at the end he realized
Why is he forcing his men to work? If he allows the officers to not work he should not make sick or injured men work either!
Because as PoWs those detaining them are permitted to order them to perform manual labour as long as they're not worked to death or ill treated, the point of the officers not being forced to work is the maintaining of the chain of command and the morale of the troops. Enlisted men loose hope otherwise but keep their unit cohesion if it's their own officers appearing to give the orders.
He isn't. His men respect him and will work if he orders it. Saito is the enemy and meaningless to them.
He is actually sparing them.
By insisting his officers mutiny, the Men are not. They will not face ramifications for his act of rebellion, should there be any.
What a lot of people now seem to miss is that the Noblise Oblige of the officer at war. Even in captivity to the Japanese - known now to be one of the most revolting fates to a combatant during ww2 - these officers held themselves responsible for the safety and sanctity of the men at their command, whom depended on those officers to see them through war. Prisoners, yes, but still soldiers.
Just remember that this is Hollywood fiction. The reality was nothing like the film.
"A lean night!"
anyone who is a fan of Sir Alec and likes a chuckle ,should watch, ( The Lady Killers )and (The Lavender Hill Mob ) both films from the 50 s. ,Sir Alec really was the master of disguise ,and voice ,played Fagin in Oliver Twist ,directed by David Lean
An even better one to watch is ‘Tunes of Glory” where Guinness plays a backstabbing jerk. Completely out of character from the harmless characters of his 50s comedy roles or his noble but misguided Colonel in this movie. And he really pulls it off well. It doesn’t hurt that the costar of that movie was John Mills.
@@TheDatabaseDudetotally agree -as great as he was in Bridge -he was even better in Tunes!
What the scene is really about is two men, from two different cultures, failing to understand each other.
From Saito's point of view, the British forfeited their honor by surrendering. It is incomprehensible and infuriating to him that not one Japanese would think to surrender yet here he has thousands of British who still have their stubborn pride in spite of surrendering. And it is even more infuriating to him that this Briton can stand there and lecture him.
This guy arrogantly asks Saito if he can read English, thinking his language is the center of the universe, and doesn't even think for a moment that there might be something worth reading in Japanese.
Masterful performance portraying Saito's reaction to the Briton's arrogance. You can see Saito just boil over at the pompous lecture as he clenches the book until finally he just has to smack the Briton across the face.
Nicholson might be arrogant and pompous, but the real world isn't a humanities faculty with its fashionable relativism. In the same position where would you stand?
So what you're saying is what we have here is a failure to communicate.
"Gettin' water here, boss." "No."
Ethan Farber Yes because the Japanese were by no means arrogant and xenophobic during WW2, what was thier plan to be "center of the universe" called? "East Asia co prosperity sphere?"
Euphemism.
Great movie
0:45 mfw the server rules say "no racism, no hate speech, no bullying, no trolling, no tk, no hacking"
This scene bizzarely makes the Japanese more sympathetic.
Col. Saito is my favorite Japanese movie character of all time.
Dan Dotson, “ officers won’t work! “
For British dril try watching The Hill.
You see how our boys are about to go for it
Read "Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston." Excellent telling of the true story.
Good old movie 🎬
I cannot help thinking about some similarities to "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence"
He starts to bleed from his nose after getting hit by a paper booklet?
Brokenlikefour
To be fair it's an American booklet so it was prob solid af
He too, was made out of paper...
It was a paper cut.
Officer material
He's been dehydrated, hungry, exposed to the sun for weeks. His skin is ready to crack all over by now. The fact that he and the other British soldiers still have such excellent bearing and posture in spite of their weakened state tells you something about their resolve and discipline.
officers do not do work. thatll be right, just like churchill, roast beef dinners, brandy and a nice cigar to top it off
My father told me that the movie was inaccurate because the prisoners were reduced to human skeletons.
It is a brilliant movie, yes it didn't depict the true horror of the British and Australian prisoners however it's quite possible that when this film was made memories were still extremely raw for those who survived Japanese captivity.
mrsoft
It was supposedly hated by a lot of Japanese POWs and they couldn’t bare to watch it. They found it offensive.
Percy Herbert, who played Pvt. Brogan, was also a technical advisor. Herbert was a prisoner of the Japanese at Changi Prison, following the British surrender of Singapore. Herbert was serving in Royal Army Ordnance at the time.
So true. These chaps surrendered Singapore after a few weeks rather than fight on. Shame on them all.
One of the more profound moments of my life...up there with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny...was watching this movie and seeing Obi-Won Kenobi portrayed as a pretentious fool.
Bovice brought me here
Call me crazy, but I see some Ewan in him.
Sullyhogs Really? Well I guess McGregor kinda inherits Alec Guiness in an odd, meme-worthy but strange way
@@ArcturusOTE the thing is Ewan's facial lines match exactly with that of Guinness. Their facial symmetry is quite same. And well he embodies it perfectly
WOW!
Geneva suggestion
Man, if I can break the fourth wall, I would say to Saito:
The cowards code? This code is made to honour and respect the enemy. What's wrong? You cannot respect and honour the enemy? and I think Japanese people have honour in their culture. I see no honour here
Qué película más tediosa, me quedé en la mitad y no pude hacer más esfuerzo. Ha envejecido mal.
Officers should do no manual labour? What exactly makes them exempt?
They’re Officers. That’s why.
Wtf...?
It’s a rule back when most modern wars were fought in Europe. Most officers were from nobility backgrounds. Many of them were relatives and friends. Because the royalties themselves were relatives lol. So of course officers get treated better.
Japan is not a European power and their officers were detached from this social norm.
I love this movie.
Japanese commander Bushido
Yet later British architecture profession squeeze Japanese like a lemon.
British Code.
I love you to death brought me here lol
We are absolved of our duty to obey you.
_You are absolved of your duty to obey us_
My officers will NOT do manual labor.
_Your officers will not do manual labor_
My men can go about their business
_Your men can go about their business_
Move along...
_Move along...move along_
Theres a lot of "why's" during wartime kiddo but sometimes men become desperate and hard.
Hello, there.
British effeteness vs American individualism vs the barbarism of war as told by Hollywood.
Yes. As usual told by Hollywood. Shame it is fiction.
Well, they did surrender. Not much honor in that.
>>---------------------------------> Sessue Hayakawa (Col. Saito) makes the movie a 10!
And, you'd think the British would have more appreciation for him! ....After all, he shot and killed Anna May Wong, daughter of Fu Manchu, back in '31, when she was about to stab to death one of their finest graduates of their public school system. (He was pretending to be a Chinese detective assigned to help Scotland Yard find the dastardly Warner Oland before he killed again!.)
ruclips.net/video/fF2F2mXsRog/видео.html .
Why shouldn't the officers work? They're POW's just like the others. That Geneva code is pretty unfair to the rest of the soldiers.
Warfare has always been a matter of class. Officers are undeserving of manual labor and no decent enlisted troop would have them demeaned in that way.