YMMV / Anna and the King

• Awesome Music: The whole soundtrack by George Fenton, but special mention to the theme when Anna returns to the palace.
• Complete Monster: General Alak causes havoc in Siam's countryside by leading Burmese troops to brutally murder civilians. When King Mongkut sends his brother with Alak to investigate the crimes, Alak fatally poisons everyone with him and escapes to rouse an army from Burma. In his desire to become king, Alak knows Mongkut has to die, but his true cruelty extends even further: Alak intends to kill all of King Mongkut's young children, who number in the dozens, so there are no obstacles to the throne. When Mongkut ends up besting Alak, he decides to spare his treacherous former adviser so Alak will know the shame of his betrayal forever. Alak simply attempts to shoot Mongkut In the Back, blinded by hatred, greed and rage.
• Nightmare Fuel: Tuptim's trial, and the reason it can't be appealed.^note Tuptim was real, but the incident depicted in Anna's Romance of the Harem, the Margaret Langdon book, and all three films, did not happen. Anna admitted much later that she'd written a fantasy based on "a few bits of palace gossip". In fact, Princess Vudhichalerm Vudhijaya◊ (left, green dress), the sister of the late King Bhumibol, is a descendant of the real Tuptim.
• The Woobie:
  • Princess Fa-Ying, the king's beloved young daughter, who becomes sick and tragically dies from cholera. ^note Princess Chandrmondol's story is unfortunately quite real.
  • Lady Tuptim, who yearns to be with her loved one, and shortly after joining the monastery to be with him, is put on trial and eventually beheaded. ^note  As mentioned above, this did not happen in real life. Even if it had happened, Tuptim would simply have been dismissed. In any event, Mongkut's father had established a rule that any wife or concubine who wasn't happy could return to her family as long as she didn't have kids. All she'd have had to do was submit a petition.

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