"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie onJanuary 20, 1947 with Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne reprising their film roles.
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie onMay 30, 1949 with Irene Dunne reprising her film role.
Rex Harrison's first American movie
Filming was delayed two months because Irene Dunne's husband was recovering from a heart attack. Twentieth Century Fox almost considered replacing her with Myrna Loy or Jean Arthur.
In a scene early in the film, Anna is seen walking through an open-air market. While this scene was being filmed, an airplane passed over the set, creating a low hum on the soundtrack. Composer Bernard Herrmann was instructed to compose an accompanying score that would obscure the airplane motor. He used low gongs.
In the film, Linda Darnell's character dies by being burned at the stake. This was a particularly difficult sequence for her to film, as she was terrified of fire. What makes this a double irony is the fact that, 19 years later, she was killed in a house fire.
Like the similar film Anna and the King, this film was banned in Thailand because of what the Thai government said were historical inaccuracies about the King of Siam.
Producer Darryl F. Zanuck's first choices for the part of he King were James Mason and Robert Montgomery
While most of the Caucasian actors playing Asians in this film wore dark make-up, Gale Sondergaard was allergic to the make-up being used. Instead, through several weeks of cautious sunbathing, she acquired a deep enough tan to compensate.