The Bridges at Toko-Ri

It's 1953 and the Korean War has just ended. You're American and you're wondering if the casualties endured in such a far away country were worth it, so Hollywood makes a film like The Bridges at Toko-Ri to justify the losses. The result is a downbeat piece of war propaganda that acknowledges how things really are whilst celebrating America's triumph over communism and the need to continue the Cold War.

William Holden plays Brubaker, a lawyer and WWII veteran who is bitter at being drafted back into the naval forces for the Korean War. He's a good bomber pilot but he also misses his wife (Grace Kelly) and two daughters. When the Admiral (Fredric March) lets him know about an incredibly dangerous mission on the cards involving the bridges at Toko-Ri, Brubakers begins to get cold feet about flying.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri takes a little bit to get going due to the first half of the film being devoted to some shore leave in Japan. Shore leave sequences were always a way for golden-era war films to get some females into their pictures. In this case it gives plenty of screentime to the radiant Grace Kelly, who plays the world's most understanding wife. It actually stretches belief how supportive Nancy Brubaker is - she learns how dangerous her husband's mission is, even understands that he might die, and still lets him go quite happily. If that aint war propaganda for the wives on the home front then I don't know what is... I know the film is clearly showing the realities of being a navy wife but it also sticks in the throat a bit that it would dare suggest these women need to pretend they're okay with their husbands dying in order to support their country's war effort. Beyond this the shore leave sequence also serves a purpose in showing what Brubaker's family means to him and highlighting how much he has at stake and what he could lose.

The propaganda angle is played more strongly through the character of the Admiral. He boldly states that the Russians will take all of Asia if the Koreans aren't stopped in Korea, then going on further to say "All through history men have fought the wrong wars at the wrong time" - as if this is some kind of excuse for America fighting wars wherever they like against whoever they like. More than once the Koreans are referred to simply as 'communist' troops, driving home the Cold War subtext completely.

William Holden gives a fairly straightlaced performance as Brubaker, he tends to let the other characters do all the film's moralising. Holden instead focuses on giving a realistic depiction of how a hotshot bomber pilot with a loving family might feel when faced with the prospect of death in the line of duty. He's given competent support by Mickey Rooney as the smartmouthed Irish comic relief (complete with bright green top hat and scarf), though I have to question whether someone of Rooney's stature would meet minimum height requirements for the Navy.

Whilst The Bridges at Toko-Ri might very much be a product of it's time, it still manages to be a cracking good war film. It's biggest selling point is the aerial bombing sequence at the film's end, it still looks incredibly realistic even today and I struggle to think how it was achieved. War buffs will enjoy it.

HIGHLIGHTS: Robert Strauss brings his distinctive voice and frame to the small but memorable part of Beer-Barrel, a Navy signalman who uses golf bags to smuggle beer bottles onto the ship.

DIRECTOR: Mark Robson
WRITER/SOURCE: Screenplay by Valentine Davies, based on the book by James Michener.
KEY ACTORS: William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney, Robert Strauss, Earl Holliman

RELATED TEXTS:
- The Bridges at Toko-Ri was published as a novella by James Michener the year before the film came out, and was based on real missions flown in the Korean War.
- Director Mark Robson had previously adapted another James Michener book for the screen, Return to Paradise, starring Gary Cooper.
- The aerial sequences in The Bridges at Toko-Ri influenced the design of the Deathstar-bombing sequences for the first Star Wars film.
- Don Draper's Korean War flashbacks bare some stylistic resemblances to the Korean War ground sequences at the end of The Bridges at Toko-Ri.

AWARDS
Won the Oscar for Best Special Effects. Was also nominated for Best Editing.

Mark Robson was also nominated for a directing award by the Directors Guild of America.