The King and I 1956 - The much-loved family classic

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IMDB Rating: 7,5

Director: Walter Lang
Main Cast: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson, Terry Saunders, Rex Thompson

"The King and I, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's 1951 Broadway musical hit, was based on Margaret Landon's book Anna and the King of Siam. Since 20th-Century-Fox had made a film version of the Landon book in 1946, that studio had first dibs on the movie adaptation of The King and I. It typifies the elaborate Broadway musical adaptations with which Hollywood studios often tried to fight the advance of television of 1950s. In general, The King and I tends to be somewhat stagey, with the notable exception of the matchless 'Small House of Uncle Thomas' ballet, which utilizes the Cinemascope 55 format to best advantage (the process also does a nice job of 'handling' Deborah Kerr's voluminous hoopskirts) to counter the smallness of the TV screen, offering equally grand set design, costumes, and cinematography. Most of the Broadway version's best songs ('Getting to Know You', 'Whistle a Happy Tune', 'A Puzzlement', 'Shall We Dance' etc.) are retained. None of the omissions are particularly regrettable, save for Anna's solo 'Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?' This feisty attack on the King's chauvinism was specially written to suit the talents of Gertrude Lawrence, who played Anna in the original production; the song was cut from the film because it made Deborah Kerr seem 'too bitchy' (Kerr's singing, incidentally, is dubbed for the most part by the ubiquitous Marni Nixon - who had been responsible for Natalie Wood's singing voice in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn's in My Fair Lady). So the songs and performances are equally impressive: Yul Brynner - being the main attraction of the movie - won an Oscar for his career-best performance as the King of Siam, the role that made him a star and with which he will forever be identified." - www.allmovie.com

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The Ten Commandments 1956 - The epic masterpiece of the 50s

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IMDB Rating: 7,9

Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Main Cast: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, John Derek, Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, Martha Scott, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, John Carradine

"The Ten Commandments was the final film in the five-decade career of legendary producer/director Cecil B. DeMille and, despite its flaws, it remains a primary example of combining high production values and epic scope for a box-office blockbuster. Expanded from one of the segments in DeMille's 1923 silent film of the same name (though not exactly a remake of that film as is often claimed - the earlier version took place mostly in modern times), it benefits greatly from Charlton Heston's star-making performance as Moses, and from a veteran supporting cast that includes Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, and Vincent Price. The acting, though, is secondary to DeMille's visually expansive storytelling. The production design has an appropriate sense of grandeur, and the parting of the Red Sea is among the most famous scenes in any film from the 1950s. DeMille's directing style is straightforward, maintaining a clean, brisk pace throughout the film's 220 minutes. The Ten Commandments was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning for John Fulton's special effects." - www.allmovie.com

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