War Whistle

Once when I was little, Dad watched an old war movie and I happened to see parts of it. There is a scene in the movie where some British prisoners are marching along and whistling. The whistle stuck in my head, and for years, I would hum or sing it. I didn't know the name of the movie or what it was about, I didn't know the actors who played in it, and I didn't know anything about the scene from which the whistle was taken from. But I liked the tune and so I would sing it quite often because I can't whistle (it's sad, I know). I called it the War Whistle (to this day I still call it the War Whistle). I really wanted to know what the song was really called and what movie it came from. I searched and searched, but I never found out.
One night, Dad popped an old war movie into our dvd player. It was The Bridge on the Kwai, a movie about a British colonel in a Japanese PoW camp who cooperates with the Japanese commander to build a railway bridge (for the Japanese) whilst oblivious to a plan by the Allies to destroy it.
I sat on the couch and watched the beginning with Dad. It seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn't place it. Then, we got to the part in the movie where the British prisoners are marching and whistling my War Whistle. I was elated. This was the movie! I finally knew where the song I had been humming for years came from!
I was reminded of this yesterday, when I started humming my War Whistle. Qixi got it stuck in her head and has been singing it today. Guess what? We've listened to the song three times already. I have been subtly (at least I think) sneaking in some Scott Joplin so maybe a ragtime will get stuck in her head, but Qix wants to listen to it a fourth time.
Maybe I never should have started humming the War Whistle yesterday. On the soundtrack to the movie, my War Whistle is called Bridge on the River Kwai Theme (how appropriate). However, it is actually titled Colonel Bogey March.



This clip shows the actual whistle and then some. The whistle ends at minute 3.