The King and I 1956
This is a pretty famous movie, based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, with an iconic performance by Yul Brenner who would play the part for the rest of his life. However, it only features one signature song, “Getting to Know You,” and the story is mostly a fabrication loosely based on a real teacher who never had this kind of interaction with King Mongkut of Thailand. In fact, any telling of this story is banned in Thailand as disrespectful of one of their most revered kings. Still, it has some romance novel charm as the plucky single woman in an exotic location puts an arrogant king in his place. Deborah Kerr plays her part well, even though she comes off a little too insubordinate and preachy to the king. Yul Brenner is great in a part he made his own, but his character too is sometimes wise, sometimes silly. None of the primary cast is actually Thai, most aren’t even Asian, but it was neat to see real Thai words used along with what seems like authentic clothing and styles (along with a mishmash of other Asian stylings). The story is a little weak with an even weaker substory about star crossed lovers in the palace. Enjoyable enough and with any story based on a true story, it is interesting to get some of the facts about Anna as well as the king after watching.
The Blu-ray has a lot of extras, but all pretty old documentaries with a little too much focus on the boring side of producing the movie (as well as the play) instead of stuff about the true historical events or filming of the movie. One thing good about the old documentaries is they show clips of the movie that look absolutely horrible, so you know there was some amazing work done to restore it, and it does look great. Plus it is such an old movie that a lot of the people involved have passed away so if you want to hear from them, then archival footage is going to have to do.
Written: 01 Jun 2019
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital