History Trivia / TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai

** Lean had a lengthy row with Creator/AlecGuinness over how to play Col. Nicholson - Guinness wanted to play the part with a sense of humour and sympathy, while Lean thought Nicholson should be "a bore."

* ExecutiveMeddling: While the commando plot was present in Pierre Boulle's novel, it was a minor subplot compared to the prison camp story. Hoping to boost box office appeal, producer Sam Spiegel (over David Lean's objections) beefed up this storyline. Shears, a British officer in the book, becomes an escaped American POW shanghaied into helping destroy the titular bridge. Spiegel also demanded Lean add not one but two [[TokenRomance token love interests]]: a British nurse Shears meets at a Ceylon hospital, and Siamese women who join the commando team. Spiegel's meddling certainly didn't ruin the film, though most critics consider the commando story weaker than the main plot. This was at least [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools an improvement]] over Carl Foreman's early drafts, which featured more elaborate and outlandish action scenes like a submarine battle and elephant stampedes!

* NamesTheSame: Stuntman Frankie Howard is NOT [[Creator/FrankieHowerd the British comedian of the same name]]. Despite the latter having just made ''Film/TheLadykillers1955'' with Sir Alec.

* ActingInTheDark: Sessue Hayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialogue. Hayakawa did this because his command of English had faded in his decades away from Hollywood, and he wanted to be sure that he could still speak his dialogue without another actor dubbing him. This way, he remained oblivious to the real nature of Saito's fate until filming the climax.

* ExecutiveMeddling: While the commando plot was present in Pierre Boulle's novel, it was a minor subplot compared to the prison camp story. Hoping to boost box office appeal, producer Sam Spiegel (over David Lean's objections) beefed up this storyline. Shears, a British officer in the book, becomes an escaped American POW shanghaied into helping destroy the titular bridge. Spiegel also demanded Lean add not one but two [[TokenRomance token love interests]]: a British nurse Shears meets at a Ceylon hospital, and Siamese women who join the commando team. Spiegel's meddling certainly didn't ruin the film, though most critics consider the commando story weaker than the main plot. This was at least [[TropesAreNotBad an improvement]] over Carl Foreman's early drafts, which featured more elaborate and outlandish action scenes like a submarine battle and elephant stampedes!

* ActingInTheDark: Creator/SessueHayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialogue. Hayakawa did this because his command of English had faded in his decades away from Hollywood, and he wanted to be sure that he could still speak his dialogue without another actor dubbing him. This way, he remained oblivious to the real nature of Saito's fate until filming the climax.

* ExecutiveMeddling: While the commando plot was present in Pierre Boulle's novel, it was a minor subplot compared to the prison camp story. Hoping to boost box office appeal, producer Sam Spiegel (over David Lean's objections) beefed up this storyline. Shears, a British officer in the book, becomes an escaped American POW shanghaied into helping destroy the titular bridge. Spiegel also demanded Lean add not one but two [[TokenRomance token love interests]]: a British nurse Shears meets at a Ceylon hospital, and Siamese women who join the commando team. Spiegel's meddling certainly didn't ruin the film, though most critics consider the commando story weaker than the main plot. This was at least an improvement over Carl Foreman's early drafts, which featured more elaborate and outlandish action scenes like a submarine battle and elephant stampedes!

* ActingInTheDark: Sessue Hayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialogue. Hayakawa did this because his command of English had faded in his decades away from Hollywood, and he wanted to be sure that he could still speak his dialogue without another actor dubbing him. This way, he remained oblivious to the real nature of Saito's fate until filming the climax.

* UsefulNotes/AFIS100YearsSeries:
** AFIS100Years100Movies — #13
** AFIS100Years100Thrills — #58
** AFIS100Years100Cheers — #14
** AFIS100Years100Movies10THAnniversaryEdition — #36

* UsefulNotes/BFITop100BritishFilms: #11.

* AFIS100YearsSeries:

* ActingInTheDark: Sessue Hayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialogue. Hayakawa did this because his command of English had faded in his decades away from Hollywood, and he wanted to be sure that he could still speak his dialogue without another acting dubbing him. This way, he remained oblivious to the real nature of Saito's fate until filming the climax.

* ActingInTheDark: Sessue Hayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialogue. This way, he remained oblivious to the real nature of Saito's fate.

* OneTakeWonder: The crew had only one chance to destroy the titular bridge due to how long it took to build it and how expensive the set was (it featured an actual train getting destroyed as it crossed a collapsing bridge). If they messed it up, the film was ruined. But they got it right.

* TheRedStapler: Hundreds of tourist visited Thailand to find the river in the film, but no such river existed. So the Thai government renamed a stretch of the Mae Klong river into the river Khwae. The film's river is in Sri Lanka.

* NamesTheSame: Stuntman Frankie Howard is NOT [[Creator/FrankieHowerd the British comedian of the same name]]. Despite the latter having just made ''Film/TheLadykillers'' with Sir Alec.

* PlayingAgainstType: Sessue Hayakawa had been a popular romantic lead in his younger days. Ironic that his best-remembered role is completely different.

** Creator/LaurenceOlivier was offered the part of Col. Nicholson but turned it down in order to direct ''Film/ThePrinceAndTheShowgirl'' instead. In retrospect, Olivier said that it was a sensible decision to go off and do love scenes with Creator/MarilynMonroe rather than tough it out in the jungles of Ceylon with Creator/DavidLean. Sam Spiegel tried to persuade Creator/SpencerTracy to play the part of Col. Nicholson. Tracy had read the book and told Spiegel emphatically that the part must be played by an Englishman. Creator/CharlesLaughton was announced as the star, but decided he couldn't handle the heat of Ceylon and withdrew. Among the actors considered as replacements were Creator/RonaldColman, Creator/NoelCoward, Creator/JamesMason and Creator/RayMilland.

** Creator/JohnGielgud was the first choice to play Maj. Warden but rejected the role, saying it was "anybody's part".