The River Kwai March
Encyclopedia
Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE was an English composer and symphonist.Malcolm Arnold began his career playing trumpet professionally, but by age thirty his life was devoted to composition. He was ranked with Benjamin Britten as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain...
in 1957. It was written as an orchestral counter-march to the "Colonel Bogey March
Colonel Bogey March
The "Colonel Bogey March" is a popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts , a British army bandmaster who later became director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth...
" whistled by the soldiers entering the prisoner camp in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William...
. The Arnold march re-appears (without the "Colonel Bogey March") several times in the film and is repeated at the finale.
The two marches have been recorded together by Mitch Miller
Mitch Miller
Mitchell William "Mitch" Miller was an American musician, singer, conductor, record producer, A&R man and record company executive...
as "March from the River Kwai - Colonel Bogey". Due to this, the "Colonel Bogey March" is often mis-credited as "River Kwai March".
The Arnold march was published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. in a piano arrangement by Robert C. Haring. It also forms part of the orchestral concert suite made of the Arnold film score by Christopher Palmer published by Novello & Co.