The Bridge on the River Kwai by the other prisoners. Julie Summers, in her book "The Colonel of Tamarkan", writes that Boulle, who had been a prisoner of war in Thailand, created the fictional Nicholson character as an amalgam of his memories of collaborating French officers. He strongly denied the claim that the book was anti-British, although many involved in the film itself (including Alec Guinness) felt otherwise. Ernest Gordon, a survivor of the railway construction and POW camps described in the novel/film, stated in a 1962 book, "Through the Valley of the Kwai": "In Pierre Boulle's book "The Bridge over the River Kwai" and the
BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay Kill" – Paul Dehn "The Bridge on the River Kwai" – Pierre Boulle "The Man Who Never Was" – Nigel Balchin "The Ladykillers" – William Rose "The Young Lovers" – George Tabori, Robin Estridge BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay The BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay was a British Academy Film Award from 1954 to 1967. "A Man for All Seasons" – Robert Bolt "Morgan!" – David Mercer "Darling" – Frederic Raphael "The Pumpkin Eater" – Harold Pinter "Tom Jones" – John Osborne "Lawrence of Arabia" – Robert Bolt "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" – Wolf Mankowitz and