The King and I (1956)

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Margaret Landon (book)
Oscar Hammerstein II (musical play)

Release Date:

29 June 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

More Than You've Ever Seen On The Screen!

Plot:

Musical about a widow who accepts a job as a live-in governess of the King of Siam's children.

Plot Keywords:

King | Uncle Tom's Cabin | Widow | Teacher | Ring

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Deborah Kerr	...	Anna Leonowens
Yul Brynner	...	King Mongkut of Siam
Rita Moreno	...	Tuptim
Martin Benson	...	Kralahome
Terry Saunders	...	Lady Thiang
Rex Thompson	...	Louis Leonowens
Carlos Rivas	...	Lun Tha
Patrick Adiarte	...	Prince Chulalongkorn
Alan Mowbray	...	Sir John Hay
Geoffrey Toone	...	Sir Edward Ramsay

Also Known As:

Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Thai

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm re-release)

Certification:

Iceland:L | New Zealand:G | USA:G (certificate #17864) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:G | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8 | Norway:7 | Peru:PT | Thailand:(Banned) | UK:U

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Dinah Shore, who was a singer as well as an actress, was initially considered for the role of Anna Leonowens.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Tuptim is found and the King throws the whip down, the whip is in front of the pillar. When the guards take Tuptim away, the whip has moved to the side of the pillar.

Quotes:

Kralahome: [to Anna] Why are you so blind; have you no eyes to see? King tries impossible task - wishing to be scientific man who know all modern things... He will only tear himself in two, trying to be something he can never be!
Anna: Of course he can never be, if those who are closest to him are unwilling to help him!
Kralahome: You do not know King as well as you think you do. You believe you have great influence over him. You will end up as his slave-like all the others!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Homestarrunner.com: Everything Else, Volume 2 (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Hello,Young Lovers

Wonderful, glorious colour and Brynner in his finest hour.

Brynner is so strongly identified with this role that it is difficult to remember him in anything else. He gives his all in this performance, sometimes way over the top, but it fits with this movie which is in itself over the top, offering us the Hollywood version of Siam and introducing 1955 sensibilities to the era of 1862. No matter.

The musical numbers are great and hummable, most done by Marni Nixon, who dubbed for so many in that era of endless musicals and no-voice stars.

People who protest about the insensibility and racial aspect of these musicals (Showboat and South Pacific, etc. also comes to mind)don't get it - that this is a musical, composed about an unenlightened era and is not a documentary and cannot be taken seriously.

The play within the play is truly magical, I could watch it over and over again, it is a perfect little opera.

Deborah Kerr is terrific in this and should have received an Oscar. I felt sorry for the boy who played her son - I think they appeared again together in Tea and Sympathy, but I could be wrong - there was not much to his role, he had to stand around and just be pretty and nod at his mother a lot. Very difficult.

Rita Moreno excelled as usual.

8 out of 10. Not to be missed.