Post by london777 on May 15, 2018 3:00:37 GMT
For Alec Guinness, the bridge is a symbol of triumph over suffering as well as a lasting symbol of British building skills under extreme conditions. Something that will last as part of the British spirit.
For the Allies, the bridge is something that must be destroyed to achieve victory over the Japanese.
I think his further objective was to raise the morale of his suffering men by giving them something to concentrate on as a team.
The film is a travesty of the novel. But that is OK because the novel is a travesty of real events. With such a good film, who cares, we judge it on its own merits. The great pity is that the William Holden part had to be written in for the American market. It is as if he has wandered in from another film. In fact he is not that different from the smart-aleck wheeler-dealer he played in Stalag 17.