It's definitely a movie but it feels like a stage play - the construction, the staging, the gags. You can hear the pauses for laughs, the moments that would've worked well. Shots are set up with mid body two handers to enable the stars to do their thing.
What a down-home hit: feisty female lead, strong male opposite her, urst for the 1950s ("ooh he's got so many kids and is shirtless I can dance with him but not have sex with him because he's coloured but he still adores me" ), lots of cute kids, some sappy romance among young lovers, king expiring on stage. It scolds imperialism but still pushes the superiority of the West. Like a lot of Rogers and Hammerstein it has a plot where a woman comes along to a man of power and goes "your household is a mess here let me fix it" (South Pacific, Sound of Music). Presumably that's why they were so popular.
The art direction and colour is glorious as is the CinemaScope photography. Deborah Kerr is fine, her kid is hideous and Yul Brynner is magnificent as the King. Rita Moreno is very good as the wife in love with another guy (the actor who plays him isn't as crash hot).
I enjoyed this a lot to start off but it went on too long. Plenty to admire. Nice songs just too many of them. Brynner is perfect.
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