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
The Bridge on the River Kwai was said to give a solid characterization and was "easy, credible and always likeable in a role that is the pivot point of the story". Balu Mahendra, the Tamil film director, saw the shooting of this film at Kitulgala, Sri Lanka during his school trip and was inspired to become a film director. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The British Film Institute placed "The Bridge on the River Kwai" as the 11th greatest British film. The 167-minute film was first telecast, uncut, by ABC-TV in color on the evening of 25