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Anna and the King of Siam
The 1946 melodrama Anna and the King of Siam is a sumptuously mounted, fact-based story of politics and clashing cultures that engages the viewer and stirs emotions with a darker tone than the Broadway musical it became six years later, but still provides solid entertainment.
Based on a book by Margaret Landon, this is the story of a widowed English schoolteacher named Anna Owens who travels halfway across the world with her young son to the Asian country of Siam (which is now Thailand) to tutor the King's wives and children and finds herself in a constant battle of wills with the stubborn and tyrannical king.
The Oscar nominated screenplay by Talbot Jennings and Sally Benson is a surprisingly serious look at 19th century politics outside of the United States blended with a dual character study of two people from completely different worlds learning to co-exist and trust each other. There is an immediate tone of sexism in the story as Mrs. Owens is informed by everyone she meets prior to the King that her opinion on most subjects is meaningless because she's a woman. What's fun about the relationship is that the King almost immediately realizes that Mrs. Anna is his intellectual superior but has no intention of letting her know.
Of course, this story reached the Broadway stage as a musical in 1951 as The King and I starring Gertrude Lawrence as Anna and as the King, in the role that would pretty much define his career, Yul Brynner as the King, with a score by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical came to the screen in 1956 with Brynner and Deborah Kerr and earned a Best Picture nomination. I don't want to spoil this movie for viewers who have only seen the musical, but I will say that one of my favorite things about the 1956 film version of the musical that is absent here is the romantic tension between the lead characters. A feeling of mutual respect is definitely achieved in this film, but I never got a sense of romantic feelings between Anna and the King in this film.
Director John Cromwell has mounted a beautifully looking film that features Oscar winning art direction/set direction and cinematography. Irene Dunne is nothing short of enchanting in her Oscar-worthy performance as Anna that should have earned her a nomination. As competent as Rex Harrison is as the King, it was hard for me to get the picture of Yul Brynner out of my head because his performance has become the gold standard for this role. Gale Sondergaard, the first Best Supporting Actress winner for Anthony Adverse, received another nomination for her performance as the King's #1 wife, but for me, Lee J. Cobb seemed miscast as the Kralahome. For fans and non-fans of the musical, a rich and warm melodrama with the just the right dash of humor that will warm the heart and possibly produce a tear or two.
The 1946 melodrama Anna and the King of Siam is a sumptuously mounted, fact-based story of politics and clashing cultures that engages the viewer and stirs emotions with a darker tone than the Broadway musical it became six years later, but still provides solid entertainment.
Based on a book by Margaret Landon, this is the story of a widowed English schoolteacher named Anna Owens who travels halfway across the world with her young son to the Asian country of Siam (which is now Thailand) to tutor the King's wives and children and finds herself in a constant battle of wills with the stubborn and tyrannical king.
The Oscar nominated screenplay by Talbot Jennings and Sally Benson is a surprisingly serious look at 19th century politics outside of the United States blended with a dual character study of two people from completely different worlds learning to co-exist and trust each other. There is an immediate tone of sexism in the story as Mrs. Owens is informed by everyone she meets prior to the King that her opinion on most subjects is meaningless because she's a woman. What's fun about the relationship is that the King almost immediately realizes that Mrs. Anna is his intellectual superior but has no intention of letting her know.
Of course, this story reached the Broadway stage as a musical in 1951 as The King and I starring Gertrude Lawrence as Anna and as the King, in the role that would pretty much define his career, Yul Brynner as the King, with a score by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical came to the screen in 1956 with Brynner and Deborah Kerr and earned a Best Picture nomination. I don't want to spoil this movie for viewers who have only seen the musical, but I will say that one of my favorite things about the 1956 film version of the musical that is absent here is the romantic tension between the lead characters. A feeling of mutual respect is definitely achieved in this film, but I never got a sense of romantic feelings between Anna and the King in this film.
Director John Cromwell has mounted a beautifully looking film that features Oscar winning art direction/set direction and cinematography. Irene Dunne is nothing short of enchanting in her Oscar-worthy performance as Anna that should have earned her a nomination. As competent as Rex Harrison is as the King, it was hard for me to get the picture of Yul Brynner out of my head because his performance has become the gold standard for this role. Gale Sondergaard, the first Best Supporting Actress winner for Anthony Adverse, received another nomination for her performance as the King's #1 wife, but for me, Lee J. Cobb seemed miscast as the Kralahome. For fans and non-fans of the musical, a rich and warm melodrama with the just the right dash of humor that will warm the heart and possibly produce a tear or two.