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One of the best endings I have seen. David Lean delivers a masterpiece showcasing larger than life, but always believable and very human personalities. He overpowers with masterful use of dramatic irony. I had many doubts about this film, but in the end (literally, at the end of the film) I was convinced of this film's greatness. A must-see. The film does tend to unnecessarily drag on at times, but perhaps it was necessary to attain the full effect. Also, the story is inaccurate, but who cares?

One of the strongest tools in storytelling is that of putting the hero in a dilemma, but Bridge trumps that by putting the audience into a dilemma. The power play between Guinness and Hayakawa is masterful, and Holden's character adds a much needed shot in the arm to the entirety of the picture. I really cannot find a single complaint about it--the photography is truly stunning.

A rare epic that is also an absorbiing personal story. Guinness and Hayakawa are wonderful here and Holden is pretty good too.

While the scenes in the POW camp are masterful, the plot involving the commandos sent to destroy the bridge distracts, even if it does lead up to one of the greatest and most tense climaxes I've seen.

Great war flick that shows a lot of the intricacies of war and being a prisoner of war. Acting is top notch. However it drags a bit in more than a few places because David Lean likes those long drawn out sequences where not much (or nothing) is happening. I know that's his signature, but he hadn't quite perfected it yet as he does in Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago.

Greatest masterpiece of David Lean!

Great and refreshing war movie, where Alec Guinness puts down an excellent performance as a British colonel standing up to his captor to keep his pride and honor. Great film in general.

A brilliant tale about obsession and pride, and my second favourite 'whisling' movie of all time.

The finale would be a throwaway moment in any action film, but here it's tense and a huge dramatic release. The film's been building up to that moment over its intense length and it pays off in spades, especially since the audience is never tipped to root for either party. All three characters here are sympathetic, and yet all three of them are in their own way in the wrong - Nicholson with his stiff upper-lip act, Saito's war crimes and sense of honour, and Shears' cowardice and thievery.

Col. Nicholson's foolhardy, then complacent orderliness spices up a literate but otherwise ordinary "feel good" war movie script. The comparatively easy conditions in camp, tolerance and leniency shown by the Japs in the film toward resistance are an affront to history. Actual prisoner-slaving by the Japanese was atrocious. Lean (the producers' umpteenth choice to direct, with Ford, Hawks, Zinneman, Wyler etc. unattainable) and the good cast made this movie far better than it should have been.

The ego battle between Saito & Nicholson is fascinating to watch, two principled men, both as stubborn and ruthless as each other. But it's more than that, that's just the framework. There's a real sense of adventure, that builds up until the grand finale, as a third party (also British) comes to attempt to blow up the bridge. But for all the principles, and intentions of man, some getting what they want, albeit only briefly, the tradedy and nihilism of war take it all away in one fell swoop.