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REMEMBERING NOEL CRUSZ ON HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY-by Avishka Mario Senewiratne Source:Tillthemountainsdisappearams It was on a sunny morning at the Colombo Airport, Ratmalana in 1956, that crowds gathered to witness some of Hollywood’s biggest stars arrive to shoot a film in Ceylon. Renowned director David Lean, Alec Guinness and a host of other stars were in the island to act for what would be the Oscar-winning Best Picture film, Bridge on the River Kwai. However, the crowds and the stars were quite surprised to see a slender, neatly dressed Catholic priest holding a H16 Bolex camera filming them. A H16 Bolex camera  This was Fr. Noel Crusz OMI. The young priest would go on to interview Lean at the Mount Lavinia Hotel and visit the film set in the outskirts of Kitulgala. He had the privilege of witnessing the famous explosion when the train goes off the bridge on the Kelani river ...