There's really no way to do it, short of throwing the entire book out. It's quite problematic by today's standards, and in fact the 1956 movie, by its very staginess, aptly puts the whole thing inside a proscenium, as if to say "Here's a record of a very classic stage piece. Enjoy it for what it was."
Between the pidgin-English for the Siamese, the childish temper-tantrums of the King, and the impression that a young governess with zero political experience can decide matters of policy better than a royal leader trained from birth and surrounded by advisors, there's just no way to make a movie out of this material that would appeal the the general moviegoer. Theater, by its stylized nature, is different. Onstage, it's a version of Siam we don't have to believe ever existed. It's a Siam that exists within the boundaries of the stage space. Movies ask us to take something as real, to believe in the actuality of what we are seeing.
I'm not knocking the show. It is a classic. I am aware how it will read to most contemporary film audiences.
Updated On: 3/30/20 at 06:46 PM