Beauty vs Beast: Anna and the King
Monday, April 13, 2015 at 12:00PM Every Monday morning I wake up excited to see what face-off Jason has challenged us with so I thank him as ever for this series. But he's out of town so I'm filling in. Let's go with a musical since he's unlikely to pitch them. A Tony-seeking revival of The King and I is currently in previews on Broadway (we're seeing it next week!) starring Kelli O'Hara, who is The Deborah Kerr of the Tonys (she always loses).
Yul Brynner or Deborah Kerr? All westerners who are funny, young lovers, and everyone else should vote. Does your vote change if we replace this with different actors in different adaptations (Chow Yun Fat & Jodie Foster, anyone?). Make this impossible choice and explain yourself in the comments. It's a puzzlement!
Last Week
Paul Rudd's Andy thanks you for your votes, all 57% percent of them over besting that task-master Beth (Janeane Garofalo) who made his eyes (and torso) roll in Wet Hot American Summmer to hilarious effect. He'll make out with you so long as you don't taste like burgers. We can't wait to see Beth and Andy again when this funny movie becomes a series... with the original cast no less.
SanFranCinema spoke for many when he said:
Paul Rudd has been the Object of My Affection for as long as I can remember. You'd have to be Clueless to vote against him. Paul, I Love You Man!
Reader Comments (23)
Come on, this was a no-brainer. Deborah Kerr can do no wrong. Yul Brynner, on the other hand... yikes. Bad accent, theatrical overacting, absolutely no redeeming qualities, a complete misunderstanding of the Bible. It took all of her acting ability to convince me that she ended up loving him. How did he win an Oscar for this? And can Ingrid Bergman give hers to Deborah?
May I suggest a Gloria (Gena Rowlands) vs. Gloria (Paulina García)?
Deborah Kerr's Anna is delightful, and should win based on that giant hoop skirt alone.
And I feel, truly feel, that this is Kelli O'Hara's year. Chita and Kristin already have their trophies, no ingenues seem destined to steal it away, Kelli O'Hara is finally going to give that speech she's been practicing for a decade...and somewhere Glenn Close is firing her agent for still not having an Oscar.
You'll always go along, defend him when he's wrong. And tell him when he's strong, he is wonderful. He'll always need your love. And so he'll get your love. A man who needs your love can be wonderful.
Still, Anna should win. LOL
Deborah Kerr is amazing, but I can't really think of any year when she was nominated that she was robbed of an Oscar.I haven't seen Edward My Son, but in all the other cases I think she was just the victim of bad timing. However, in 1958, she was so much better than Hayward. Yikes.
bookesboy has it right on which is why The King SHOULD win. Couple that with Marni Nixon singing Anna. At least Yul Brynner did his own songs. He is the one....He is the original....... There is nobody else. He won 2 TONY'S and The Oscar! I once had my parent's original 33 1/3 LP. (Does anyone know what that is anymore......... I hear vinyl is coming back)
He will not always say. What you would have him say. But now and then he'll say....Something.....Wonderful.
Leslie, this one was tough for me. I love both of them, and Yul Brynner is just terrific, and looks great in those trousers LOL. And you're right, vinyl is back!
@ brookesboy:
There was, however, one year in which she wasn't even nominated, but might have been robbed: 1947, the year of 'Black Narcissus' (which did, after all, win her a New York Film Critics Circle Award). I say 'might have been robbed' as I actually watched only two of the five nominees that year (Crawford's and McGuire's), neither of which comes close to what Kerr does in her career's best film and career's best performance. Roz Russell's nominated performance that year sounds like it might rival Kerr's, though.
Well Yul is sexy as the king and totally committed to the role but I still went with the queenly Deborah but it's a tough choice.
brookesboy-Edward, My Son is pretty dreadful and I didn't think her performance was one of her best. I didn't understand that particular nomination at all, and yet she was bypassed for The Innocents. Some of her nominations had bad timing, she definitely should have won for From Here to Eternity over Audrey Hepburn in 1953.
MrW, from the 1947 group of nominees, I've only seen McGuire and Russell. I agree McGuire is pretty pedestrian. Russell is mesmerizing, but the static nature of the film, I think, drags her down. You're right, I think Kerr is extraordinary in BN and probably should have won.
I think Kerr is awful in SEPARATE TABLES but yes she's brilliant in Black Narcissus. so of course it's one that she wasn't nominated for.
I'm voting for the king because he's actually interesting. For me Anna is too much like Eliza and Maria Von Trapp (the feisty girl in love with the bossy man) without having enough of their personality. And also because Yul Brynner makes me swoon.
joel, I know I'm in the minority, but I love Audrey's win. I probably should rewatch to see if it holds up. I adore Kerr in FHTE, but the role is a bit thin for me. But then Audrey's part is fairly made of cotton candy, so what's a movie buff to do LOL.
Nathaniel, it's been a long time since I've seen Separate Tables. I do remember being underwhelmed by Kerr. Maybe I should revisit. There's a cable TV version from 1983 with Julie Christie and Alan Bates that I've heard is smashing, but I can't track it down. Hayward is just awful in I Want To Live! The performance just does not work at all. Still can't believe she won for that. Yikes.
brookesboy-I love Audrey in Roman Holiday, she's sweet, endearing and brimming with star quality and I'm glad she received an Oscar but as you said the part's more or less cotton candy. It's nothing compared to her work in Nun's Story, Two for the Road or Wait Until Dark.
Deborah's Karen in FHTE works through far more conflict and Kerr really supplies a lot of emotional resonance to the character that probably wasn't there on the page.
1. TEAM KING of course.
2. I love Joan Crawford in Possessed!
3. Deborah Kerr was always a snooze to me, although I never disliked any of her performances. She was always serviceable at best. I guess that actor-audience chemistry was never there for us.
joel6: I don't exactly GET From Here to Eternity, though. Honestly, my perspective on Deborah Kerr is that, as far as what she's good at, she operates on similar terms as ScarJo. Not in terms of personality, but more in terms of being really good at auteur and genre fare and really bad at genuinely middle-brow stuff. (Compare the level of Kerr's work in Colonel Blimp (auteur), Separate Tables (middle-brow) and The Innocents (genre) to the level of ScarJo's work in We Bought a Zoo (middle-brow), The Avengers/Captain America: The Winter Soldier (genre) and Under the Skin (auteur).)
brookesboy-That Julie Christie/Alan Bates Separate Tables is wonderful, I saw it on its initial broadcast in the States, it was released on VHS but I don't think it's ever been released on DVD unfortunately. They do it as a two act, I'm assuming as it was done on stage, taking the roles played by Lancaster, Hayworth, Niven and Kerr.
joel, you're right about Kerr making interesting choices in her performance that gives Karen a complexity not found in the script. There's an inner life there that makes you want to know more.
Thanks for mentioning Two For the Road! As great as Audrey is in Wait Until Dark, I think she should have gotten the nomination for that film. What a year for her, that's what you want to do when you're getting ready to take a long break. TFTR is one of the best cinematic examinations of marriage ever seen. She's terrific with Albert Finney (and I guess they were great together off-screen as well LOL).
What Nathaniel said.
Deborah Kerr is lovely in the role, but I've never liked Anna much. For all her spunk, she's still DULL. The King, meanwhile, is one of cinema's greatest Divas. And come one, the look in his eyes when he takes Anna around the dance floor one more time? HOT.
With the trifecta of this film, Anastasia and The Ten Commandments, how could he lose the Oscar. What a year for Yul.
I'm maybe biased because I'm Thai but I find Yul's performance ... irritating. I don't expect accurate history or anything. It's a very lovely musical but I can't get past his overacting, silly gestures and ..that accent. He's very cartoonish. Deborah Kerr, on the other hand, is everything.
Sorry to puzzle you, Yul...but a vote against Kerr is a vote against common sense!
MY VOTE IS STILL WITH YUL. Y'all are traitors to sexy bald men.
Yul all the way. So committed and sexy. And somehow makes that costume not look silly.
I have nothing against Kerr, but she really doesn't do much for me. Very pretty, very serviceable and not repulsive. I think that sounds harsher than I mean it too.