# "King and I" with alternate ending **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534 "2010-05-24T03:07:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/1 "2010-05-24T03:07:09Z")
For decades I’ve been searching for the right place to ask this question. This may very well be that place. Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away I saw the movie “The King and I” with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. The movie came out in 1956. I don’t know what year I saw it, but it was probably right around that time… I was about eight. The movie was in black and white. Here’s the crazy part. If there is a living human person who has not seen this movie, spoilers follow. I have a very clear memory that the king did not die at the end. When he’s lying on his deathbed and he gives Anna his ring and everyone is so sad, he jumps up and says he was kidding and he’s fine. I can picture this scene sooooo clearly. When I saw the movie again several years later (or possibly many years later), I kept expecting the king to jump up at the end and be okay, and I was STUNNED when he died. I’ve since seen the movie many times and doggone it if he doesn’t die every single time. Did I imagine that the king lived at the end of the movie? How could I have imagined this so clearly? Has anyone else ever heard of this? Also, I know the movie is in color now. Was it colorized? (I guess it must have been…) This is a very strange thing to have rattling around inside my head. Any help appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/2 "2010-05-24T03:18:42Z")
I haven’t seen it, so I can’t vouch that the ending matches your memory’s, but my best guess is that you saw the 1946 _Anna and the King of Siam_: > **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=anna-and-the-king-of-siam-film)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/3 "2010-05-24T03:35:24Z")
Sam, thank you for not calling me a raving lunatic. 🙂 I have seen Anna and the King of Siam with Rex Harrison, but that’s not the movie I’m remembering (if remembering is the right word). The alternate ending was to the Yul Brynner version. The scene at the end where he’s lying on the bench and all his kids and the prince, Anna and her son are all around… ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/4 "2010-05-24T04:41:52Z")
There was also a 1970s [television series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_and_the_King_(TV_series)) with Yul Brunner (but not Deborah Kerr). Perhaps you saw some of that and you’re mixing up elements of it with the original film? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/5 "2010-05-24T05:14:49Z")
The king did die in the 1956 movie. The whole point of his death was that the prince was able to immediately change some of his policies. He couldn’t have done that if he father were still alive. If you were only 8 when you saw it . . . is it possible that you dreamed the alternate ending? ---
**Author:** ![Meme\_Chose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Meme\_Chose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meme_Chose)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/6 "2010-05-24T05:26:15Z")
I didn’t think this movie had a colorized look, so i checked it out. [http://www.filmsite.org/kingi.html](http://www.filmsite.org/kingi.html) “It was nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Walter Lang), Best Actress and **Best Color Cinematography** (Leon Shamroy)” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/7 "2010-05-24T12:11:10Z")
The movie wasn’t in black and white, but your TV set was. The movie also had the same ending as the play; in both the king died. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/8 "2010-05-24T12:17:41Z")
Thanks for the comments. Re the color of the movie- on IMDB there are black and white stills of Yul and Deborah. What are those from? I know the king dies at the end 'cause I’ve seen the movie a dozen times. I’m forced to conclude that my 8-year old brain imagined that scene. Very weird. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/9 "2010-05-24T12:18:33Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I have a very clear memory that the king did not die at the end. When he’s lying on his deathbed and he gives Anna his ring and everyone is so sad, he jumps up and says he was kidding and he’s fine. I can picture this scene sooooo clearly. That’s what [confabulation](http://www.skepdic.com/confab.html) does to memory. > [@](#): > > A confabulation is a fantasy that has unconsciously emerged as a factual account in memory. A confabulation may be based partly on fact or be a complete construction of the imagination. My dog didn’t die, but went to live with some people in the country, where he could run and jump and chase rabbits all day. At that’s what my parents told me, and I can see it now, sooooo clearly. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/10 "2010-05-24T12:22:50Z")
Well, since we’re asking… I saw the Yul Brenner version (on TV) and I had a distinct memory of Anna’s son being killed in an accident. Then I saw it recently on TV and Anna’s son was alive at the end! Was there a different ending or did I mix up some movies together? ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/11 "2010-05-24T12:34:23Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thanks for the comments. Re the color of the movie- on IMDB there are black and white stills of Yul and Deborah. What are those from? > > I know the king dies at the end 'cause I’ve seen the movie a dozen times. I’m forced to conclude that my 8-year old brain imagined that scene. Very weird. I wonder if the movie distressed you and your mother (or anyone else) made up the happier ending to comfort you? And then your brain filed it incorrectly as being the actual ending of the film? This kind of thing is pretty common in all of us, as Musicat’s link indicates. Here’s [Dick Cavett in the New York times](http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/when-that-guy-died-on-my-show/?apage=5)describing how he regularly gets stopped by people who remember ‘seeing’ a famous incident on his chat show in which a guest died in the chair which never aired. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/12 "2010-05-24T12:38:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thanks for the comments. Re the color of the movie- on IMDB there are black and white stills of Yul and Deborah. What are those from? Production stills. Newspapers and many magazines only printed black and white, so B&W photos were routinely made and distributed. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/13 "2010-05-24T12:57:37Z")
Back in 1976 my mother took me to see a version of that movie and before we went I asked her if anyone would die in it. She said no. Later I told her “You lied! The king died in the movie.” She just told me she’d forgotten about that part. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/14 "2010-05-24T12:59:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Production stills. Newspapers and many magazines only printed black and white, so B&W photos were routinely made and distributed. This went on until surprisingly recently- many newspapers weren’t printing full-colour until the mid-late 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/15 "2010-05-24T13:23:27Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Well, since we’re asking… > > I saw the Yul Brenner version (on TV) and I had a distinct memory of Anna’s son being killed in an accident. Then I saw it recently on TV and Anna’s son was alive at the end! > > Was there a different ending or did I mix up some movies together? In the earlier “Anna and the King of Siam” with Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne, I think Anna’s son does die, but I if I’m not mistaken it’s from a disease of some kind. In Anna Leonowens’s [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Leonowens), it says that Anna wasn’t even in Siam when the king died, and her son was also still alive at the time ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/16 "2010-05-24T13:30:31Z")
These are some good comments. Geez… And I wonder why I feel I never have a firm grasp on reality. I do remember when that guy died on the Dick Cavett Show, but I don’t remember actually seeing it. Thank goodness. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/17 "2010-05-24T17:27:58Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > There was also a 1970s [television series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_and_the_King_(TV_series)) with Yul Brynner (but not Deborah Kerr). Perhaps you saw some of that and you’re mixing up elements of it with the original film? This is my guess. The series was a sitcom complete with laugh track, and while I’ve never seen an episode this sounds like something from a sitcom that would be deliberately tweaking the nose of the source material. [Opening credits of series.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-IpYez9Nbs&translated=1) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/18 "2010-05-24T17:55:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The king did die in the 1956 movie. The whole point of his death was that the prince was able to immediately change some of his policies. He couldn’t have done that if he father were still alive. > > If you were only 8 when you saw it . . . is it possible that you dreamed the alternate ending? The real prince was 15 when his father died and he was elected\* king. A regent was appointed and the young king didn’t take power, per se, until 1973, although he did visit other countries with the intent of learning which reforms to make before then. Much of the stuff of Anna’s stories is obviously fabricated or greatly embellished to make her seem more important than she actually was. \*King Mongkut did not appoint a successor but asked that his senior officials decide who should next become king. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/19 "2010-05-24T19:03:48Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > In the earlier “Anna and the King of Siam” with Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne, I think Anna’s son does die, but I if I’m not mistaken it’s from a disease of some kind. He fell off a horse (not conflating that with Bonnie Blue Butler in _Gone with the Wind_ or Mercedes McCambridge in _Giant_) In the B&W non-musical, Linda Darnell plays the same character as Rita Moreno in the musical. The king has her burned alive: coincidentally the same death that Linda Darnell suffered in real life. (You know the scen in _The Producers_ where the audience’s mouths are hanging open at _Springtime for Hitler_? That’s how I look watching the \*Uncle Tom’s Cabin \*sequence.) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534/20 "2010-05-25T01:42:15Z")
This scene was also cut from the final version: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QitQrNRw6rE/hqdefault.jpg "The Magic Christian") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QitQrNRw6rE) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-and-i-with-alternate-ending/540534.md?page=2)