Based on true story of English teacher who comes in Siam in mid of 19th century to teach king's children. Clash of two cultures causes many troubles, but also causes many changes in the king's way of thinking and understanding and mostly influence king's oldest son who when he inherits the throne, reforms country, abolish slavery and reforms judiciary.Great acting, very emotional story and just enough of action make two hours of movie simply whiz through you and leave you with tears in your eyes....................................................

I have seen "Anna and the King of Siam" with Irene Dunne and Rex Harrison and loved it! Totally recommend it to classic movie fans! I was never a huge fan of "The King and I" though it is lovely to look at and I love Deborah Kerr. I've intended to watch "Anna and the King" for some time, and it happened to come on HDNET movies this weekend. Thankfully, I recorded it. On the first watch, it quickly became one of my most romantic films of all time! I know it's much more fiction than fact, but good movies usually are to me. This was lavish, beautifully photographed, had a lovely score, had enough action to build suspense, and, wow, did Jodie Foster and Yung-Fat Chow (they've reversed his name) have palpable chemistry. Loved everything about it! I've watched it again several times already. I rarely do that. I also rarely give a film a 10, especially right away, but this one gets one for all the reasons above and more. I recommend it to anyone who loves period pieces, especially romantic ones.

first of all as I was born and raise in Thailand. this movie is extremely disturbing and inaccurate in every mannor. the thai language had been spoken in this movie by the Chinese actors and actresses almost incorrect and can't be understand and the 2nd, Lady Tabtim according to the thai history stated to be very attractive woman of that time because she has south Asian (Indian descent) large eyes and curl hair - that is the ideal of beauty of thai people in old time which influenced by the Indian literatures -Beiling the Chinese actress as lady tabtim is a very poor choice and 3 rd, there is no thai princess names fa ying - this word means princess.

The King and I was a great adaptation of the true story based on the lead female character's diaries, and then there's more realistic version from director Andy Tennant (Hitch). Basically, set in the 1890's, English school teacher Anna Leonowens (Jodie Foster), with her son Louis (Harry Potter's Tom Felton), is summoned to the palace of Siam by King Mongkut (Crouching Tiger's Chow Yun-Fat) to teach his fifty-eight children. It takes quite a while for Anna and the King to get to used to each other, but she wins over the royal children, especially Princess Fa-Ying (Melissa Campbell), very easily. Throughout the story, Anna tries to help the King get the respect of the English, but instead a war is started, she tries to avoid a forbidden romance being found out, and she cannot be near him when he has someone executed. Obviously their hate is not all the way through, it is obvious they grow stronger feelings for each other, though you never see anything happen, you get the idea. Also starring Ling Bai as Tuptim, Syed Alwi as The Kralahome - Prime Minister, Randall Duk Kim as General Alak, Kay Siu Lim as Prince Chowfa, King Mongkut's Brother, Keith Chin as Prince Chulalongkorn, Mano Maniam as Leonowens' Indian Servant Moonshee and Geoffrey Palmer as Lord John Bradley. Foster sports an impeccable English accent, Yun-Fat is alright at being mostly sweet-natured with a little majestic attitude, if the film wasn't so long and political it might be a little better, so I much prefer and recommend The King and I. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Original Score for George Fenton and Best Original Song for "How Can I Not Love You". Okay!