Did Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner spread stereotypical images of the enlightened West and the backwards East?”
The King and I is a 1956 musical film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I, based in turn on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The plot comes from the story written by Anna Leonowens, who became school teacher to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. Leonowens’ story was autobiographical, although its objective accuracy is questioned. The film stars Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr with Rita Moreno, Terry Saunders, Martin Benson, Rex Thompson, Patrick Adiarte, Alan Mowbray and Geoffrey Toone. The cinematography was by Leon Shamroy, the art direction by John DeCuir and Lyle R. Wheeler and the costume design by Irene Sharaff.
IN THE NOVEMBER 2007 SPOTLIGHT: A DEBORAH KERR TOP 10 by Scott Sublett The Scottish-born actress Deborah Kerr died last month at 86. She had Parkinson’s. A lot of fuss should be made about her death because she was a great. Her specialty was sturdy conviction and a sort of practical nobility. In her best roles she seemed like someone who had good intentions but also could do something about them. Kerr exuded an acceptance of life – not resignation, acceptance – that was bracingly mentally healthy, and it suited her for roles of suffering. She could long-suffer without being a bore about it. Kerr was a big star, box office for much of the 1950s and even into the 1960s, but at the same time a real actress. You knew you were watching Deborah Kerr, the movie star, and never forgot that for a second, yet never for a moment did you not also believe she was completely and utterly the character. She was one with her roles yet simultaneously a personality, a paradoxical trick she shared with Be
Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner may have helped spread stereotypical images of the enlightened West and the backwards East (in this case Thailand), but still this song and dance sequence, “Shall We Dance” was a wonderful moment in the movie “The King and I.” This movie is not much liked in Thailand, however. The title of the song, “Shall We Dance,” was used as a movie title for the Japanese movie and then again for a Jennifer Lopez vehicle with Richard Gere.
