I saw "The King and I" today and I think it is best described as 'guilty pleasure'... The plot fails to interest (when it is best) and the acting is very 'intense' whereas the songs are just plain bad.The setup seems to be an excuse to show off Yul Brynner in revealing outfits but one begins to wonder after a while if it really is that warm in Siam-wintertime included... It is true that Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner seem to have a good time when in each others company and this saves the movie from being plain horrible but the fact remains that the movie only is better than bad when Brynner charms the camera. And he is not at his most charming in this film!
I think the movie is worth seeing because it shows what a great actor Yul Brynner could be: speaking with a phoney accent (it sounded German a lot of the time), (almost) wearing weird outfits and playing the part of a tyrant with 106 children (not counting the ones he has with the wifes he doesn't like), Brynner through bad songs and a worse dialogue convinces everybody watching the film that his character is likeable and that he is the man every woman dreams of. Sadly enough as soon as he disapears from the screen reality returns and you realize you've been tricked. So the conclusion is: a bad film but a very nice trick performed by a sculptural Yul Brynner (the dancing scene was good- but it was interrupted when the King had to punish the slavegirl who ran away with her lover...).
Check the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PlnzCl5x-8 if you want to see the 2 minutes (yes, of the whole movie) during which Brynner and Kerr charm the film to the level of a classic movie.
I won't comment on the "noble savage"-thing in the movie because it is very bad and there is not much more to say about it.
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