See it here. A 10-minute documentary from 61 years ago.
[quote]
Anna…introduced Western culture, which is embraced today."
We’re talking Thai bar girls and thongs, right?
I thought that movie was about a mailman who shot people.
[quote=“carnivorousplant, post:2, topic:518977”]
The narrator was obviously unaware that The King and I was banned here for being disrespectful to the monarchy. It remains banned to this day. (They had to shoot the Jodie Foster version in Malaysia after being refused permission to film here.)
Historians agree that while Anna Leonowens really did tutor the future King Chulalongkorn, she greatly exaggerated her role and importance in her book. She would have been only one of many tutors, and it’s doubtful she ever met King Mongkut, the Yul Brynner character, in person. If she did, it would have been only for 5 minutes or less at the final interview, when, after passing muster with the underlings, he would have popped in for a quick gander and say whether she looked agreeable or not.
And her own little son, Louis? He returned to Siam as an adult and, after serving in the Siamese cavalry, started a successful trading company that exists today, although it’s Thai-owned now. Until very recently, it’s offices were in MBK Center (which is still called Mah Boonkhrong locally).
AND Anna’s grand-nephew – the grandson of her sister – was none other than William Henry Pratt, aka Boris Karloff. He emigrated to Canada from London in 1909 and eventually made his way to Hollywood.
May we have more of elephants and Bar Girls, and less of Boris Karloff, please?
Seriously, how can they ban Anna and the King of Siam and have these cute, money grubbing, virtually naked bar girls running about?
Thailand is full of paradoxes.
But in this case, it has to do with the notion of a lowly farang, and a WOMAN to boot, instructing a great king of Siam how to act.
Why a duck? Why a pair of ducks?
But they have no problem with a WOMAN telling a guy what to do with his ATM.
The part about the Monkey King rescuing Rama from the Demon king reminds one of the Ramayama and Sita Sings the Blues.
Oh yeah, not enough elephantsin this thread. 
The Thai version of the Ramayan is called the Ramakien. And the king is considered an incarnation of the god Rama, which is why all of the kings of this dynasty are known as King Rama I, Rama II etc. We’re on Rama IX now.
Are they blue?
Is there anything you can’t upstage?
Just their blood, I guess. 
How does that work? Say there is a King and his son the Prince. Can Rama incarnate in more that one guy at once, or does he move from the King when the King dies to the Prince?
I’ve wondered this, myself. Unfortunately, as I’ve learned many times over the years, logic plays no part in Thai culture.
Disclaimer: I am not the king of Thailand.
The soul transcends time, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t be able to re-enter history at a point prior to its departure. If we can accept Spock or the Doctor (Who?) meeting himself, our minds shouldn’t boggle at multiple Ramas.
So I take it Rama could be incarnated as the King and the King’s son at the same time. I would think that he would change incarnations when the king died; for example, if the prince had siblings.
If the soul transcends time though, he would know which prince would become king.
I am also not the King of Thailand (I am, however, Spartacus).
I would suggest that the term ‘soul’ may be misleading in this discussion. Thailand is a largely Buddhist country, and Buddhism explicitlydenies the existence of the soul in its usual western conception as an immutable core of personality. Buddhism has a more fluid concept of self, and of reincarnation. Note also that Rama is commonly regarded as an avatar of Vishnu, and presumably Vishnu is keeping an eye on the cosmos while Rama is doing other things.
One may perhaps draw the parallel with Jesus incarnate and indivisible with God the Father, who is nonetheless in Heaven at the same time. Or else with sock puppets talking to the puppeteer.
Sorry to hijack the film thread, just trying to help.
[quote=“Siam_Sam, post:4, topic:518977”]
Anna cut off all contact with her sister’s family, because her sister married a man (Karloff’s grandfather) who was Anglo-Indian.
"Seriously, how can they ban Anna and the King of Siam and have these cute, money grubbing, virtually naked bar girls running about? "
“Simultaneously a frantic, high tech juggernaut and a timeless Asian dream, Bangkok (and Thailand) straddles, like no other metropolis, the boundary between acrid and sweet, soft and hard, sacred and profane. It is a silk buzz saw, a lacquered jackhammer, a steel belted seduction, a digital prayer. It’s numerous temples and shrines are obscured by clouds of mephitic exhaust, it’s countless vices and crimes by smiles of tender delight. And through it all Bangkok manages to maintain the most graceful balance. A grace no less genuine for being well rehearsed and no less pure for being supported by con men and whores.” Tom Robbins, Villa Incognito
Pardon me for resurrecting this old thread, but another newsreel along this vein has come to light: