Book or film?

Rating: 10/10 (9 June 2005)

This was one movie that I saw in its initial release. I loved the opening. My education was very British (Canadian, actually) and my Dad was a military bandsman. As a result the first thing I ever whistled as a youngster was Kenneth Alford's Colonel Bogey march. It's unfortunate that it's now known as The "River Kwai" march. The performance by Alec Guinness is matched by that of Sessue Hayakawa who my parents told me had been a well known actor when they were young. William Holden, Jack Hawkins and James Donald were also impressive. I decided to read the book. The first change was the book has "over" not "on" in the title. SPOILER AHEAD. The ending is different and shows the death of Nicholson as more of a tragic futility than does the film.