The Bridge On The River Kwai / Guns Of Navarone / From Here To Eternity

A triple bill of classic war films. In ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ (1957) a group of British POWs are forced to build a bridge in Burma for the Japanese. Led by Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) they not only build the bridge but organise the whole building programme and are proud of the final result. However, unbeknownst to the POWs, a British commando team has been given a mission to destroy it. In ‘The Guns of Navarone’ (1961) it is 1943 and a group of mismatched Allied soldiers are sent to sabotage two powerful Nazi guns situated on a Greek island. If their mission fails, the guns will wipe out the 2,000 British soldiers who are attempting to evacuate civilians further down the coast. The mission is led by the dispassionate Captain Mallory (Gregory Peck), whose clinical approach does not find favour with explosives expert Corporal Miller (David Niven). Meanwhile, the group’s Greek patriot guide Andrea Stavros (Anthony Quinn) is nursing a grudge against Mallory for an old injustice. Finally, ‘From Here to Eternity’ (1953) is Fred Zinnemann’s classic drama about Pearl Harbor on the eve of the fateful Japanese attack. Private Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is newly arrived at the military base, and has already fallen foul of his superiors due to his refusal to box on the company team. Given the worst duties as a result, Prewitt is befriended by Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra), a young soldier who is himself persecuted by the Italian-hating Sergeant Fatso (Ernest Borgnine). Meanwhile, Sergeant Warden (Burt Lancaster), Prewitt’s superior, treads on dangerous ground when he allows himself to get caught up in affair with an officer’s wife (Deborah Kerr).