esrosedotblog

TODAY'S MOVIE

BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957): NYTimes1176BestFilms; Directed by David Lean. Isn't it strange that, through pure chance, we are watching two Lean films back to back. Yesterday was BRIEF ENCOUNTER.

It is inevitable, then, to compare the two. Both are about tight-ass stiff upper lip types who get themselves and a lot of other people into deep trouble. KWAI, mixes an irreverant American in to create the contrasts; whereas ENCOUNTER uses the lower classes who are having much more fun.

Another take is that Lean shows the struggle between the superego (Alec Guiness) and the id (William Holden). Sessue Hayakawa is the cultural antithesis of the Guiness character, yet lives in the same world of rigid honor. Their own conflict adds an additional element of tension.

In the meantime, while we are thinking all this through, it is amazing to see how exciting and engaging this film still is. We had not seen it in (gasp) 47 years. That is nearly 50! It is in Cinemascope with a controversial restoration where they redid almost all the soundtrack over as the original tapes were lost. And so on. There I go getting all technical like again. Standing outside the cinematic experience. I am giving it a 4 out of Netflix5. It stands on its own and does not need any fluffy comment or analysis.

It is worth noting what a star William Holden was. If I walk to the front of our yard, I can see his home on the top of Southridge where he died. He fell into a glass table while on an alcoholic binge, and cut his head. Rather than have it treated, he let it go and slowly bled to death; a sad end to a great career.

Holden was a hunk before there were hunks. He started as the 'boy next door' and then evolved to the wise guy, bad boy, off-center rebel type. We see him over and over in the BestFilms list. So far, we have seen him three times: BORN YESTERDAY and SUNSET BOULEVARD (which we saw out of rotation) and KWAI. He will show up in COUNTRY GIRL, NETWORK, STALAG 17, and THE WILD BUNCH. We remember him fondly from SABRINA and PICNIC.