War Film 10: The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957)

For our final podcast in the War Films series, we turn to David Lean's WWII prisoner of war drama set in Burma in 1943. Starring Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins and Sessue Hayakawa, the film was based on the novel by French author Pierre Boulle and was produced by Sam Spiegel. It won seven Oscars, four British Academy Film Awards, and three Golden Globes. Click the image below to listen to the podcast (32.7 MB, 1 hour 17 mins).

Recorded Sunday 14 February 2021, edited by Murray Ewing.

War film 1: The Guns of Navarone (1961)

After an introduction to the War Films Podcast idea, we discuss Carl Foreman's WWII adventure tour-de-force, The Guns of Navarone, based on the Alistair MacLean novel and starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn and Anthony Quayle. Click the image below to listen to the podcast (32.6MB, 1 hour 30 mins).

Recorded Friday 19 September 2014, edited by Garen Ewing.

Notes and Errata: Kurosawa's Seven Samurai was indeed 1954. Where Eagles Dare has a body count of 100 according to MovieBodyCounts.com, which places it at no. 62 in the Top 100, though well in the top 20 for its war film category. The ruins at the start of Navarone are indeed the Parthenon, while those used later in the film seem to be the temple ruins at Lindos on Rhodes.

Purchase the DVD from Amazon UK: The Guns of Navarone (1961)