The King and I (1956 film) The King and I (1956 film) The King and I is a 1956 American musical film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical "The King and I", based in turn on the novel "Anna and the King of Siam" by Margaret Landon. That novel in turn was based on memoirs written by Anna Leonowens, who became school teacher to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. Leonowens' stories were
Anna Leibbrand and Anna Schlotterbeck were released from prison early in 1956, however. Release was followed by the usual unpublicised rehabilitation and quiet readmission into the ruling SED (party). The punishment was deleted from the official record in 1957. Friedrich and Anna Schlotterbeck settled in Groß Glienicke near Potsdam, supporting themselves by writing books and radio plays. They wrote several radio plays together including "Die Memoiren der Frau Viktoria" (1962), and became close friends with fellow writers and Christa Wolf. In 1968 Anna Schlotterbeck prepared a manuscript entitled ""Hohenschönhausen, Zelle 51"", which dealt with her experiences of state detention in East Germany,