The King and I (1956) on Netflix
G19562h 13mBiographyDramaMusical
Anna Leonowens, a widowed teacher, reaches Bangkok with her son Louis to teach King Mongkut's children. The King houses them in the palace, not in the separate house her contract promised.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.4/1029,830 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
Anna Leonowens, a widow from Wales, comes to Bangkok with her son Louis because King Mongkut has called her to teach his many children. The prime minister, the Kralahome, meets them and brings them into the Grand Palace to live, though Anna was promised a house of her own outside its walls. She says she will leave, then stays. Mongkut brushes her complaint aside and shows her his wives, among them Lady Thiang, and then the fifteen children she will teach.
Cast
- Jadin Wongas Amazon (uncredited)
- Jean Wongas Amazon (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The King and I (1956)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The stage musical was written for Gertrude Lawrence and her contract guaranteed she would appear in the film too. She was diagnosed with cancer while playing Anna on Broadway and died during the run.
- Dinah Shore was considered for Anna and Maureen O'Hara was actually cast, until Richard Rodgers refused to agree to her. Yul Brynner then pushed for Deborah Kerr, whose singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon.
- Dorothy Dandridge was offered Tuptim under her three-picture Fox contract but let Otto Preminger talk her out of a supporting part. Rita Moreno was called in only for a test and impressed the producers enough to win the role.
- It was one of only two films shot in the new 55 mm CinemaScope 55 format, the other being Carousel. Despite the advertising it went out in ordinary 35 mm CinemaScope with four-channel sound, and the format was never used again.
- Thailand has banned the film over the way it portrays King Mongkut, and the same goes for most other screen versions of Anna and the King.
