Review of The King and I (1956) by Dan G — 10 Oct 2013

An English teacher takes up residence in the King of Siam's palace.

There are some films that succumb to what I call the "D.W. Griffiths Effect." Lawrence of Arabia is the first one that pops into my mind. The film is racist in our time but isn't in its own. So the film becomes stuck in its own era, unable to transcend to the timeless. Few films are so well-made and of themselves delightful that a conscientious critic can both enjoy and abhor it at the same time. The King and I is one of the latter. Certainly subject to the D.W. Griffiths Effect, with Yul Brynner speaking in a mockery of an Asian accent and little Asian kids short-stepping about in the kind of cuteness that Westerners endow the East, The King and I is nevertheless charming, and Brynner is as charismatic and wildly sexy as ever. It's a likeable film, harmless in its simplicity and eminently hummable.

The best that can be said of Deborah Kerr is that she is able to move in a massive dress.

Overall, there are some people who argue that the D.W. Griffiths Effect is bullshit, that we should judge a film based on its own time, and they must love this film.