<Tr> <Td> Discogs </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <P> British composer Malcolm Arnold recalled that he had "ten days to write around forty - five minutes worth of music" - much less time than he was used to . He described the music for The Bridge on the River Kwai as the "worst job I ever had in my life" from the point of view of time . </P> <P> A memorable feature of the film is the tune that is whistled by the POWs--the first strain of the march "Colonel Bogey"--when they enter the camp . Gavin Young recounts meeting Donald Wise, a former prisoner of the Japanese who had worked on the Burma Railway . Young: "Donald, did anyone whistle Colonel Bogey...as they did in the film?" Wise: "I never heard it in Thailand . We hadn't much breath left for whistling . But in Bangkok I was told that David Lean, the film's director, became mad at the extras who played the prisoners--us--because they couldn't march in time . Lean shouted at them,' For God's sake, whistle a march to keep time to .' And a bloke called George Siegatz ...--an expert whistler--began to whistle Colonel Bogey, and a hit was born ." </P> <P> The march was written in 1914 by Kenneth J. Alford, a pseudonym of British Bandmaster Frederick J. Ricketts . The Colonel Bogey strain was accompanied by a counter-melody using the same chord progressions, then continued with film composer Malcolm Arnold's own composition, "The River Kwai March," played by the off - screen orchestra taking over from the whistlers, though Arnold's march was not heard in completion on the soundtrack . Mitch Miller had a hit with a recording of both marches . </P>

Bridge over the river kwai what have i done