In austere black & white 'scope Hammer Films demonstrated how much nastier than the most lurid horror film in colour a realistic war film could be. Despite the presence of familiar faces like Marne Maitland, Ronald Radd and Lee Montague under heavy 'Japanese' makeup that renders it slightly comical sixty years later, it nevertheless still packs a punch wholly lacking in 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'. (The plot device that the news of Japan's surrender has to be kept from the commandant or he will kill all the prisoners is an ingenious one; although one would have thought that channels existed through which the news would have reached him other than just one defective radio receiver.)
In place of Sessue Hayakawa's noble commandant in Lean's film, the Japanese are here portrayed as utter, brutalised sadists (with their own men as well as the prisoners), which caused controversy when this film originally came out but didn't hurt it at the box office.
In place of Sessue Hayakawa's noble commandant in Lean's film, the Japanese are here portrayed as utter, brutalised sadists (with their own men as well as the prisoners), which caused controversy when this film originally came out but didn't hurt it at the box office.