The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

The Bridge on the River Kwai is an absolutely towering film and features Alec Guinness at his paranoid best, portraying one of the most fully rounded and three dimensional characters I have seen depicted in any film. The old British war classics don't come any better than this. Not only is it a rousing epic with brilliant, thrilling set-pieces but also a starkly powerful drama, studying characters through their emotional traits, rather than simply highlighting their brawn and skill in battle. It's hard to fault. The film tells the story of a group of British prisoners of war held in a Japanese PoW camp. The men are given the challenge of building a bridge over the river Kwai. Naturally, the Brits are reluctant at first, but Alec Guinness develops a strange obsession with 'his' bridge, oblivious to the allied plan to destroy the masterpiece he takes such pride in overseeing. Guinness' gave a quite spectacular performance for the ages and surely the finest of his career. David Lean's meticulous eye comes into full use in this drama of epic emotional depth and bravery that has aged extremely well, not losing any of it's original impact, refusing to become dated in any way. Stunning, masterful, and ultimately very satisfying, this is cinema at it's most audacious and riveting. Maybe even film at it's best, period.