'Bridge on the River Kwai' unravelled

"I have never ceased to object to the way in which the cinematic legend has overtaken and obscured the fact of what really happened on the Burma-Siam railway..." said former prisoner of war John Sharpe about the David Lean epic Bridge on the River Kwai.

Sharpe and many of his former comrades particularly objected to the character of Colonel Nicholson, as played by Alec Guinness, seeing it as a slur on the integrity of the real colonel behind the bridge, Philip Toosey.

A new book written by Toosey's granddaughter, Julie Summers 'The Colonel of Tamarkan (Simon & Schuster), drawing on both private archives and many original interviews with POWs from the Asian theatre, has set the record straight.

The film was based on the novel written in 1952 by a Frenchman, Pierre Boulle - Le pont de la riviere Kwai about allied Prisoners of War who were working as slaves for the Japanese and forced to build a bridge for their captors. Much of the detail in the novel is accurate as Boulle had first-hand knowledge of the Far East.

Although Boulle didn't know the British Army Officer in charge of the bridge camp, Lt. Colonel Philip Toosey, he knew of him and certain stories in the book are based on stories of Toosey's experiences.

The book would probably have been assigned to the dusty upper shelves of bookshops and libraries if not for the fact that it was picked up and turned into a screenplay for one of the most famous war films of all time.

Production designer, Don Ashton, after visiting Thailand and dismissing the area around Kanchanaburi, the site of the real bridge, as being too flat and not dramatic or jungle-like, and with a bridge already in place, suggested filming in Sri Lanka. His wife's family came from Colombo and he knew the island well.

Blowing up the bridge was a major event which attracted a host of dignitaries to Kitulgalla, including SWRD and Mrs. Bandaranaike.

Summer recounts "Ashton had designed a control panel - a wooden board consisting of light bulbs set in a circle, one for each of the five cameras, two for security and one in the centre which indicated that the engine driver had reached the entry point to the bridge, and jumped from the locomotive.

Each camera position was linked to the control by field telephone. It was agreed beforehand that David Lean would not give the order to blow up the bridge until that circle of light was complete.

When Lean gave the command for the engine to start on its last journey across the bridge everyone was on edge... one by one the lights came on - all but the last.

Lean had three or four seconds to make up his mind. The fact that one camera was not working was immaterial; far more serious was the thought that the cameraman was not in his trench and might be exposed to the blast.

The dignitaries were waiting to see one of the most spectacular and expensive shots in film history. But the risk was too great... Lean shouted "Don't blow the bridge!"

In his excitement, one of the cameramen had forgotten to turn on his light.

The train, now driverless, trundled safely across the bridge and ploughed into a sandbank on the other side of the river.

According to Summers, although the film crew had appealed for help with heavy lifting equipment to move the train back on the rails, none came. On enquiring as to why the Ministry of Works in Colombo would not lend them a crane, Ashton was told: 'My wife and I were the only people not to have asked to your party.

I am very cross because I have looked after you since you have been here'. Things went according to plan the next day though - the bridge, which had been one of the most expensive movie props in history, was completely destroyed in the explosion.

When Toosey saw the film he remarked "a good piece of fiction" - he did not see that the role of Colonel Nicholson had anything to do with him. It never entered his head he was being portrayed. He knew what he had done in the Far East and the film bore no resemblance to that, recollect his daughter, Gillian.

Toosey, who died in 1975, had amongst his papers a letter from the second in command at the Japanese camp at Tamarkan, Saito: "For a long period of time I have been harbouring the wish to meet you and express my thanks to you. I specially remember in 1945 when the war ended and when our situations were completely reversed.

I was gravely shocked and delighted when you came to shake me by the hand as only the day before you were a prisoner. You exchanged friendly words with me...You are the type of man who is a real bridge over the battlefield!"