Our festival last year ended on such an upbeat note with a screening of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical THE SOUND OF MUSIC; we decided to try the same formula again as a closing attraction, picking another prize-winning R&H musical that's wall-to-wall with great, hummable songs (in this case, “Getting to Know You,” “Hello, Young Lovers,” “Shall We Dance,” “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” among them) and, like SOUND, a musical with a strong book about real people and based on a long running Broadway success that is acted out by an attractive, talented cast and all done up in beautiful color.

True, not many musicals can match the qualifications (or the magic) of that do-re-me saga from the 1960s about the Von Trapp clan but THE KING AND I definitely does, with an added plus: it’s size, scope and lavish splendor make it an ideal subject for the Classic Center's super-wide screen.  The genesis of THE KING AND I all started as a diary by Anna Leonowen, an English schoolteacher of the 1860s who'd spent time in Siam looking after the numerous children of that country's monarch King Mongkut. That diary was later turned into a best-selling novel ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM by  Margaret Landon which became the basis of a 1946 20th Century-Fox film starring Irene Dunne (as Anna), Rex Harrison (as the King) and Linda Darnell (as one of the King's many wives).

After that came the musicalized stage adaptation, which Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II did at the urging of musical star Gertrude Lawrence who saw it as an ideal vehicle for her. (She wasn't wrong; it became her greatest stage triumph, and her last one; she died during a leave of absence from the Broadway run.)  Many who created the original stage production also contributed to this movie dazzler: Yul Brynner who plays the King brilliantly (and won the Best Actor Academy Award for it), choreographer Jerome Robbins and costume designer Irene Sharaff. Many actresses, including Maureen O'Hara, actively campaigned to be the screen's musical Anna, with Deborah Kerr ultimately winning the role (and using Marni Nixon's singing voice). It couldn't have been put in better hands.  Brynner, who'd already played the roles hundreds of times, and would continue to do so for years after the film version came out, did his own vocals, of course, while many of the others in the cast  received vocal assists from others. No matter. The finished film is what counts and few have ever been better or stood the test of time better than this one. And, most amazingly, it was primarily done - not on location -- but on a studio soundstage.

1956. 133 minutes. CinemScope 55, DeLuxe Color. Producer: Charles Brackett. Director: Walter Lang. Screenplay: Ernest Lehman, from the musical play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II which was based on “Anna and the King of Siam” by Margaret Landon.  Cinematography: Leon Shamroy.  Choreography: Jerome Robbins. Editor: Robert Simpson. Music: Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II. Costumes: Irene Sharaff. Cast: DEBORAH KERR, YUL BRYNNER, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson, Terry Saunders, Rex Thompson, Carlos Rivas, Alan Mowbray, Geoffrey Toone. From 20th Century-Fox.