The Bridge on the River Kwai: 65th Anniversary Limited Edition Steelbook - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Bridge on the River Kwai: 65th Anniversary Limited Edition Steelbook



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Back a scant 5 years before David Lean became a household name with Lawrence of Arabia, he made another gigantic war epic that is NEARLY as good as his Arabian masterpiece. That is, the fantastic war epic The Bridge on the River Kwai. Like Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai was released by Sony back in 2017, but not a part of the giant Columbia Classics boxset. Instead it was released in a single disc release, but like Lawrence, I wasn’t able to review it back then. Fast forward 5 more years and Sony re-releases the amazing flick with a classic steelbook packaging and (Just like Lawrence of Arabia) with a new Dolby Vision encode for good measure.

The Bridge on the River Kwai was met with near universal acclaim back in 1957, catapulting the British director from lower grade films into the spotlight overnight. Before Bridge David Lean’s biggest achievements were probably Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, but after 1957 he pretty much became one of the big go to directors for massive 1960s epics. The year is 1943, and the Japanese forces are using captured POW’s in the final year of the war as slave labor to push their war machine further. American Naval officer Shears (Wlilliam Holden) is one of only two prisoners of war to have survived the camps, and is privy to a restock of British prisoners under the command of the cruel Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), along with proud British Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness). Together they are tasked with building a bridge over the river Kwai that will allow Japanese supply trains to cut of the front of the line, supplying the Japanese with an advantage that very well may help them win the war.

Despite the Geneva convention expressly forbidding slave labor in their camps, Saito spits in the face of war tradition and forces the men to slowly build up the bridge and connect Rankoon to Bangkod. Nicholson refuses to obey the orders of his captors, putting up one of the most stalwart fights of the entire movie. Tortured, abused, and cajoled, Nicholson holds out until he can’t hold off any further. Simultaneously Shears is able to escape the camp under night, and relays the information back to command where Shears agrees to return and blow the bridge sky high before the Japanese get it finished.

The Bridge on the River Kwai isn’t your typical war movie. Much like Lawrence of Arabia, it’s a character study of both Shears and (more importantly) Nicholson. The film’s action sequences are few and far between, but the final bridge sequence is pure nail biting chilling. But that being said, this is a story about what it takes to crack a man, and how two different men crack in differing ways. Shears as the tough as nails Naval officer who gives in to hatred and revenge, and Nicholson. The man who is so indomitable. So powerful at face value, but who just can’t hold up under the weigh of the Japanese cruelty over time. It’s fascinating, and makes the 2 hours and 45 minutes just fly by. Alec Guinness is by far the single actor that you can’t take your eyes off of the entire time. Nicholson’s rise and fall mirrors that of T.E. Lawrence in some ways, but in reverse. Instead of starting meek and rising high, Nicholson starts out as the best of them, only to whither and weaken into a shell of a man whose mind has been completely wiped by the sheer pain and torture that he’s endured.

Years have gone by since I’ve seen The Bridge on the River Kwai, and it still holds up today just as well as it did 65 years ago. Outside of minor things like “day for night” shots, or some weak action choreography (compared to modern day war movies), it is a true masterpiece that not only put David Lean on the map, but almost rivals Lawrence of Arabia, for a skilled war time character study. It’s flawlessly directed, and flawlessly acted with a stunning score.




Rating:

Rated PG for mild war violence.




4K Video: Video:

Comparing the 2017 release to this one I’d have to say that I give the SLIGHTEST edge to the Dolby Vision addition in some of the darker shots, but the differences are VERY subtle. If you aren’t comparing the two releases side by side you’d never notice the difference in my personal opinion. That means it’s still a STUNNING 4K UHD encode struck from a newer 4K master. The film is incredibly grainy and consistent, with no major spikes that I could see (outside of the first few seconds of chapter 5). Fine details are simply superb, with every bit of sweat dripping down faces to be scene, as well picture perfect details even in the day to night shots (that are always problematic). The colors really get a hefty boost, as the tropical reds and greens stand out against the grimy and brownish dirt’s of the concentration camp. The feast on Saito’s table is especially shocking, with deep reds of fruits, and blues and other shades of silk. Black levels are deep and inky and with the heavy natural grain, showcases some superb night shots. All in all, this is still an incredible top notch 4K UHD encode from Sony.



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Audio:

Like with Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai is given a nice new Atmos mix, as well as keeps the original 5.1 DTS-HD MA track from the Blu-ray and a DTS-HD MA Mono track for originalists. The Atmos track is surprisingly my favorite of the mix, with the expanded sound stage really elevating the mix above the 5.1 track. There’s an aural sense of shifting and directionality that can’t be replicated with 6 channel audio, especially with the train whistling in the background, or the thunder storm that shifts over head and to the rears during the center of the film. Footsteps can also go straight overhead when walking above prisoners in cages as well. The bass has never been massive in this film, and the Atmos ability doesn’t overly boost it either. It’s there for the thunder and the final explosion, but it won’t shake and vibrate the room like one would expect of a modern flick.











Extras:

4K UHD Disc

• PREVIOUSLY RESTORED IN 4K FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE BY SONY PICTURES
• DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM


Blu-ray Disc

• 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
• 5.1 audio
• Crossing the Bridge: Picture-in-Picture Graphics Track
• Making of The Bridge on the River Kwai
• The Steve Allen Show with William Holden & Alec Guinness
• The Bridge on the River Kwai Premiere Narrated by William Holden
• "Rise and Fall of a Jungle Giant" Featurette
• USC Short Film Introduced by William Holden
• An Appreciation by Filmmaker John Milius
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailers

Final Score: ​

The Bridge on the River Kwai is still one of my “can’t put down” war movie epics and for good reason. David Lean really hit his stride with this film and it catapulted him to the top. After having pulled out my 4K UHD release and compared to the new Dolby Vision encode to the older HDR10 encode (both taken from the same master) I’d say the difference is EXTREMELY minimal, so if you have the previous release it will really be a whether you want the Steelbook or not. Visually speaking these discs are near identical. But if you haven’t grabbed that release, this is a classy steelbook with an (albeit) minor video upgrade in the form of Dolby Vision and a classy new package. Great movie, great encode, amazing package.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Directed by: David Lean
Written by: Pierre Boulle (novel), Carl Foreman (screenplay), Michael Wilson (screenplay)
Aspect Ratio: 2.55:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish (Latin), Spanish (Castilian), Czech DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG
Runtime: 161 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 7th, 2022

Recommendation: Amazing Buy

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I agree, this is an awesome movie to have/own.. A must own, I should say.

 

[NBPK402]

A great classic movie and it looks great!