الحرب العالمية الثانية

British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson (a fabulous Alec Guinness), the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans. Although credited to screenwriter Carl Foreman, the script was actually written by blacklisted writer Michael Wilson. The film garnered seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Guinness). The climax is one of the great finales in film history.

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1997. Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, stood in for Burma (now known as Myanmar).