A British colonel in a Japanese PoW camp is ordered to build a railway bridge over a river, forging a vital communications link. At first he refuses to obey, but eventually agrees to take the project on - and becomes so obsessed with the task that he creates a dilemma for an American soldier sent to destroy the structure. David Lean's Oscar-winning Second World War drama, starring Alec Guinness, William Holden and Jack Hawkins.

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.