vs 'The King and I'

ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM: 7/10
THE KING AND I: 5/10
THE KING AND I 1999: 1/10 (could've been 0)
ANNA AND THE KING: 7/10

This is the first time I've seen this version. I loved it. I'm pretty sure the other one was a musical. That's a negative in my book so I prefer this one.


Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

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I did not feel qualified to judge between the two. So I read all the other opinions and loved them! Yes, I too loved Yul Brynner! I could swear my brother and I caught a performance of something similar to this at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion as students (admission was about what a movie cost if you had your college ID, you were let in at the last minute to take unsold seats.) back in the early to mid 1970s..... But it was called something else, as tho trying to avoid infringing anything. Brynner was amazing, charasmatic, a huge presence on stage.

But that version was a musical--we can't expect a perfect factual interpretation. We give that up for the musical numbers. Usually more than worth it. And definitely se there.

But having just watched this version, I did love it and both of the lead performances. Rex Harrison managed to overcom e a tall angular big-headed Western physicality better than I'd ever have guessed in my wildest dreams. I exjoyed Yul Brynner more because he attacked the role with such a joy and sense of magnificance (if that's a word). But I'd bet Rex Harrison was the better acting?

It's been too long since I saw the other version with YB, but I remember the one with Jodi Foster and agree with the poster who gave it a 1 of 10 or zero. LOL It was truly cringeworthy!

Finally, I have to say I found it difficult to watch the racism of this movie. Not the violent or gross racism that slaps you in the face, but the insidious racism that insults entire continents as children, less than, not equals. I may think the same of the YB version after all this time too, I don't know. Some of it was the attitude prevalent in the nineteenth century, some in the mid-twentieth century, stemming from colonial times, not so much the fault of the people born into those attitudes (they were not name-calling or directly insulting but rather displayed a patrician attitude of superiority. But some of it was gratuitous laziness. That performance to Balinese music and costumes, dance was inexcusable. Was there no Thai dance they could have located? I am sure they could have--Tyra Banks found local talent for America's Next Top Model all over the world--and she had less resources than a Hollywood Studio, a year after WWII ended... I suspect that someone did not care what the difference was...the countries are adjacent...did they think one was as good as the next? As tho cultural traditions of Norway or Iceland could be switched for those of the UK? Now people usually know better but I don't know if they did then. I would expect a choreograther to find out tho. Have that much respect... But then the flags are screwed up for the U.S., U.K., France, and the Netherlands. So it was not a priority?

I never like Rex Harrison in this movie, I grew up with the musical though.