Return to the River Kwai

Unlike this book, which had received relatively little attention after its initial success, Pierre Boulle’s 1952 novel Bridge over the River Kwai and David Lean’s ubiquitous film adaptation (1957) of the same title captured the public imagination. John, and many other former POWs, were deeply offended by the inaccuracies of the novel and film. John had a strong sense that the true story of the railway needed to be reasserted. By the 1960s, he had good contacts in the media and entertainment industries. Ever the pioneer, John contacted David Attenborough and Richard Cawston at the BBC and pitched the idea for a film documenting his return to the site of the railway, interviewing both former prisoners and their captors and—crucially— attempting to ‘set the record straight’ about what had really happened in the camps. The idea was positively received and offered a slot on the BBC documentary series One Pair of Eyes. Letters to the commissioners reveal that John was initially sceptical about this format, as he thought it should give multiple perspectives rather than just that of his own (BBC Written Archives Centre T56/203/1, Letter to Cawston, 14 March 1968). However, the finished film, Return to the River Kwai— directed by Anthony de Lotbinière and first broadcast on BBC1 on 15 March 1969—portrayed a wide and delicately balanced range of viewpoints. It also received the highest viewing and audience satisfaction figures of the year, an achievement for which John received a personal letter of congratulation from Sir David Attenborough.

Copies of the documentary are held at the BBC film archives, as well as the holdings of the Imperial War Museum. Alongside Return to the River Kwai John was also working on a couple of other documentary projects about the musical culture of Indonesia with David Attenborough. John’s documentary received very favourable reviews, sometimes in contrast with Lean’s film. He sent the following clipping (provenance unknown, from a second broadcast at Christmas 1974) to his long standing companion Laura Rosenberg:

‘The Bridge on the River Kwai (BBC1) was the season’s Distinguished Film. As nobody should ever have needed telling, this picture is a load of high-toned codswallop. It was depressing to see various people in the preview business recommending its thoughtfulness. Providentially a relevant documentary (Return to the River Kwai, BBC2) turned up to give the viewing audience an idea of what things were really like. John Coast, an ex-POW, had the unstudied eloquence which made the film’s expensive footage look like tat,’ adding that: ‘My enclosed clipping pleased my vanity and even more satisfied me as being evidence of what I wanted my film to achieve . . . God knows how many people saw it this time, but I’ve had quite a fan mail and most people thought I was too British fair to the cunning Nips—as we used to call them.’