#36 The Bridge on the River Kwai

1957
Director: David Lean
Starring: Alec Guinness, William Holden, Sessue Hayakawa

Loved this movie!! It follows the story of British POW's in a Japanese work camp.  The Japanese colonel uses them to complete his task of building a bridge over the Kwai river.  Alec Guinness plays opposite Sessue Hayakawa and the two are perfect.  Guinness's character, Nicholson, insists that if they are being used to build the bridge then it will be done perfectly.  When an escapee from the camp to destroy the bridge, I was rooting for the bridge...

Trivia: The actual Major Saito, unlike the character portrayed in the film by Sessue Hayakawa, was said by some to be one of the most reasonable and humane of all of the Japanese officers, usually willing to negotiate with the POWs in return for their labor. Such was the respect between Saito and the real-life Lieutenant-Colonel Toosey that Toosey spoke up on Saito's behalf at the war-crimes tribunal after the war, saving him from the gallows. Ten years after Toosey's 1975 death, Saito made a pilgrimage to England to visit his grave.

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