- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,374
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
I presume that few need background regarding Sir David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai.
It is, and has been, an accepted multiple Academy Award winning masterpiece for over fifty years. Primarily photographed in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, by Jack Hilyard (who was a Technicolor camera operator in the late 1930s, and became a cinematographer, or "lighting cameraman" with the 1945 Caesar and Cleopatra, sharing credit with some of the best in the business, Jack Cardiff, Robert Krasker, and Freddie Young).
He went on to photograph several of David Lean's projects, inclusive of Breaking the Sound Barrier, Hobson's Choice, and Summertime. He was offered Lawrence, but the deal fell apart because of what was perceived as an extraordinarily high sum demanded by his representatives.
Enter Freddie Young, and the rest was history.
I use quite a few words discussing Mr. Hilyard, as the shoot, much like Lawrence was defined by problems on location, as well as equipment with early adapter lenses to create the CinemaScope image. It was a struggle.
Originally planned for stereo, production photography was set at full aperture, 2.66:1, which would have been projected at 2.55. Changes during post finalized monaural prints, and to make room for the track, the image was standardized at 2.35:1.
The problem was that during preparation of the printing matrices, the left side of the image was cropped as opposed to centering, with the track overlaid. It remained in this format until the 1990s, when it was expanded to the proper 2.55.
Prepared for release c. 1991, and fitted with a new stereo soundtrack, the film looked good, but not perfect.
Finally, under the steady hand of Columbia's Grover Crisp, Kwai has been brought back to its early glory with pitch perfect color, densities, grain structure and shadow detail all in their proper places. The track is now in a new stereo 5.1, which eliminates much of the "circus" atmosphere of the early previous version. The music, which was recorded mono, is nicely centered, with occasional effects and dialogue using the stereo proscenium.
All of this has been done with a delicate hand. So much so, that as discussions were held in 1991 to create a stereo track to add a bit of dimensionality, I believe that DL would have approved this track. His precise instructions were "Don't make a circus out of it." This track is absolutely not a circus, it's simply a bit more enveloping. That said, I do wish that the original mono track had been included on the new Blu-ray.
Sony's release of Columbia's 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai, is a gorgeous disc. There are no negatives aside from the missing original track.
As a film, BotRK has stood the test of time, and is as powerful a film and message today as it was half a century ago.
One of the greatest films ever made.
Extremely Highly Recommended.
RAH
It is, and has been, an accepted multiple Academy Award winning masterpiece for over fifty years. Primarily photographed in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, by Jack Hilyard (who was a Technicolor camera operator in the late 1930s, and became a cinematographer, or "lighting cameraman" with the 1945 Caesar and Cleopatra, sharing credit with some of the best in the business, Jack Cardiff, Robert Krasker, and Freddie Young).
He went on to photograph several of David Lean's projects, inclusive of Breaking the Sound Barrier, Hobson's Choice, and Summertime. He was offered Lawrence, but the deal fell apart because of what was perceived as an extraordinarily high sum demanded by his representatives.
Enter Freddie Young, and the rest was history.
I use quite a few words discussing Mr. Hilyard, as the shoot, much like Lawrence was defined by problems on location, as well as equipment with early adapter lenses to create the CinemaScope image. It was a struggle.
Originally planned for stereo, production photography was set at full aperture, 2.66:1, which would have been projected at 2.55. Changes during post finalized monaural prints, and to make room for the track, the image was standardized at 2.35:1.
The problem was that during preparation of the printing matrices, the left side of the image was cropped as opposed to centering, with the track overlaid. It remained in this format until the 1990s, when it was expanded to the proper 2.55.
Prepared for release c. 1991, and fitted with a new stereo soundtrack, the film looked good, but not perfect.
Finally, under the steady hand of Columbia's Grover Crisp, Kwai has been brought back to its early glory with pitch perfect color, densities, grain structure and shadow detail all in their proper places. The track is now in a new stereo 5.1, which eliminates much of the "circus" atmosphere of the early previous version. The music, which was recorded mono, is nicely centered, with occasional effects and dialogue using the stereo proscenium.
All of this has been done with a delicate hand. So much so, that as discussions were held in 1991 to create a stereo track to add a bit of dimensionality, I believe that DL would have approved this track. His precise instructions were "Don't make a circus out of it." This track is absolutely not a circus, it's simply a bit more enveloping. That said, I do wish that the original mono track had been included on the new Blu-ray.
Sony's release of Columbia's 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai, is a gorgeous disc. There are no negatives aside from the missing original track.
As a film, BotRK has stood the test of time, and is as powerful a film and message today as it was half a century ago.
One of the greatest films ever made.
Extremely Highly Recommended.
RAH
