That failing would be Deborah Kerr. She's been in so many fabulous films, so many wonderful roles, and yet she continues to annoy me endlessly. Aside from her cackling singing voice, her melodramatic over-acting, and her attempting to out-act everyone else in every film she does, she's not half bad;)
Yul Brynner, on the other hand, is absolutely wonderful. Deserving every inch of the Oscar he won, he steals the show here. Every scene he's in is better for it. And the fact that he actually has *some* Asian stock in him, and was raised there, helps a lot (as Hollywood hadn't really acknowledged the existence of acting Asians at that time...)
This film won 5 academy awards, and aside from Brynner's, the others were all to do with production. And the production is simply marvelous. Gorgeous, lavish sets, brilliant costumes, wonderful sound. It's one of the best-looking musicals I've ever seen; on par with Oliver! and Singin' in the Rain in terms of just being magical to look at. And that helps to overcome some of the faults.
What are the faults? Aside from the irksome performance of Kerr, the film is too long. It's very hard to sustain a musical for 2h15, and about 1h45 into the film it started to *draaaaaaag*. As Anna prepared to leave for the twenty billionth time, I just couldn't stand another sob scene with children and wives all pleading and begging for her to stay. I had to sponge the melodrama from my tv screen at least two or three times. And the cheezy, anti-climactic death scene didn't help to save my lunch much either.
On the other hand, some of the scenes were absolutely wonderful; especially the marvelously clever 'Siamese' Uncle Tom's Cabin scene, with interesting reverbrations and allusions to her own plight (except the one moment where she tries to whine her way to the king, Rita Moreno was *really* good, better than Kerr even...), and I quite liked the dancing scene as well.
Overall: This film could easily have rated an eight or nine in my books, but the ending and Kerr's performance just didn't cut it. It's still a wonderful film, however, a classic in every sense of the word. And Brynner's performance is worth the whole film. 7/10.
Yul Brynner, on the other hand, is absolutely wonderful. Deserving every inch of the Oscar he won, he steals the show here. Every scene he's in is better for it. And the fact that he actually has *some* Asian stock in him, and was raised there, helps a lot (as Hollywood hadn't really acknowledged the existence of acting Asians at that time...)
This film won 5 academy awards, and aside from Brynner's, the others were all to do with production. And the production is simply marvelous. Gorgeous, lavish sets, brilliant costumes, wonderful sound. It's one of the best-looking musicals I've ever seen; on par with Oliver! and Singin' in the Rain in terms of just being magical to look at. And that helps to overcome some of the faults.
What are the faults? Aside from the irksome performance of Kerr, the film is too long. It's very hard to sustain a musical for 2h15, and about 1h45 into the film it started to *draaaaaaag*. As Anna prepared to leave for the twenty billionth time, I just couldn't stand another sob scene with children and wives all pleading and begging for her to stay. I had to sponge the melodrama from my tv screen at least two or three times. And the cheezy, anti-climactic death scene didn't help to save my lunch much either.
On the other hand, some of the scenes were absolutely wonderful; especially the marvelously clever 'Siamese' Uncle Tom's Cabin scene, with interesting reverbrations and allusions to her own plight (except the one moment where she tries to whine her way to the king, Rita Moreno was *really* good, better than Kerr even...), and I quite liked the dancing scene as well.
Overall: This film could easily have rated an eight or nine in my books, but the ending and Kerr's performance just didn't cut it. It's still a wonderful film, however, a classic in every sense of the word. And Brynner's performance is worth the whole film. 7/10.