Flower Drum Song (1961)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Mid 1990s my girlfriend and I were three blocks away from Kearny in the downtown section of San Francisco, and it took us an hour to go one block because of Christmas traffic.I tell that story because because Kearny, which goes right through Chinatown, although it flows well, gets more crowded every year, and this film, even though it was shot on stage, does give a bit of a glimpse into early 1960s San Francisco, before the civil rights movement and before the more recent tech-revolution from the 90s up to this very day. The city was less crowded, a bit more friendlier, and certainly more affordable. The schism portrayed in this film between immigrant Chinese and those who had been here a few generations since before the gold rush, still exists somewhat, but isn't quite as pronounced as depicted here. Then again "Flower Drum Song" is a musical, and not exactly an anthropological study of immigrant race trying to meld with their new host nation.The musical numbers are enjoyable, the acting is a bit more pronounced than today's less melodrama driven so-called "method" acting, which is a bit welcome. A man gets tired of alleged "realistic" performances from talent hoping to be remembered for great performances. "Flower Drum Song", like a lot of movies coming out of Hollywood, is meant to show the positive light of Chinese Americans in a time when the world was not interconnected as it is today, and in this way is meant to hopefully enlighten non-Chinese the nation over (and beyond). The more relaxed mind will be tend to be open to the message, but my main criticism with a lot of these films is that you'll not crack the hardened bigot no matter how good a show you put on. Even so, it's a very enjoyable film, though I can guarantee you that Grant Avenue is usually packed and has an odd mix of smells of imported and freshly caught food for restaurants and stores alike. The characters are stock, borderline stereotypes at times, but otherwise much in the tradition of the film portraying the traditional old guard elders emotionally clashing with their offspring who bring who new ideas and American pop culture to the home. A collision occurs.Do young hearts know what they want? Does father know best? Are traditions the best way to go, or is the American way the best way? It's a musical from the late 50s early 60s and the proposition is portrayed in that spirit.If I had one critique it's that the DVD gets a little grainy for the few SFX shots, notably for Nancy Kwan's mirror sequence. That, and like nearly all musicals of the time, the thing is shot entirely on stage, which has always been a sore point with me.Otherwise it's a very beautiful film, and you should see it at least once. If you like the theatre, enjoy a good musical, then this will probably prove delightful.Give it a whirl.

The authenticity of "Flower Drum Song" stems, I assert, from C.Y. Lee's clever blending of Eastern and 1960s San Francisco U.S. cultural elements. In the attempt to transfer the ethereal charm of Rodgers' and Hammerstein's' musical play made from the Lee's book to the screen, the difficult obviously lay in not losing the intimacy, the almost magical details, the subtlety and humor of the musical; but at the same time it was necessary for the filmmakers, Director Henry Koster and screenwriter Joseph Fields, to "open out" what on stage had been suggested. Fields and Ross Hunter produced; and Edward Muhl of Universal made a largely successful attempt here to create an MGM style musical at his smaller studio. So many moments, numbers, physical gestures, actions, dialogs and dance numbers work very well in the film that it is hard to quarrel with the adapters' approach; the occasional sluggishness in the film, which is undoubtedly present, I suggest is due to the very real nature of what people and doing in their relationships; realism takes longer, but ultimately here, as usual, it produces a very memorable set of characters and a beautiful experience. The cast is headed by talented Jack Soo, portraying what someone has called a "Nathan Detroit" like figure; his brilliant characterization is matched by James Shigeta's as a nice but callow young student 'prince' of San Francisco's Chinatown and Miyoshi Umecki's as elfin Mei Li, the brave 'picture bride" who sneaks into the country with her father, Kam Tong, in order not to have to wait five more years to be allowed in on a quota so she can get married. Nancy Kwan as the girl whom Soo loves and who pursues Shigeta is brassy, dynamic but not quite right in her pivotal role. Others in the very well-trained cast of underemployed Oriental professionals include powerful Benson Fong, playing above his age as Shigeta's very Chinese father, charming Juanita Hall as his wisecracking sister-in-law, dancer Reiko Sato as the tragic Helen, lithe dancer Patrick Adiarte as Fong's Americanized number two son, plus Victor Sen- Yung, Madame Soo Yong, James Hong and many others. The film is also notable for Irene Sharaff's costumes, bright cinematography by Russell Mettey, inspired art direction by Alexander Golitzen and Joseph C. Wright plus unusually elaborate and difficult set decorations by Howard Bristol. Dong Kingman provided the atmospheric paintings used in the credits, and Hermes Pan was responsible for the choreographing of a series of small, medium and large-scale dance numbers including the unforgettable "Love Look Away" dream ballet, which comes after a wonderful rendition of this lovely song by Marilyn Horne. This is a woman's musical, with its emphasis on relationships, monitorings of behaviors, and the many females in the cast who are presented more powerfully than are the males. But it is surprisingly even in its pacing, and only diffuses its power a little to accommodate the many characters within its cast plus a Chinatown parade, a graduation party, a large wedding and several numbers at the Celestial Gardens Nightclub. Memorable songs include, "Sunday,", "Don't Marry Me", "Chop Suey", "The Other Generation", "A Hundred Million Miracles" , "You Are Beautiful, ""Fan Tan Fanny", I Enjoy Being a Girl", "Hliding Through My Memory" and "I Am Going to Like It Here". This I assert is an affecting and unhurried film, but one whose intimate moments work brilliantly, and whose more opulent numbers only slow the pace a little here and there.

The 1961 musical "Flower Drum Song" is a fabulous Ross Hunter [1] production (top-notch art direction, cinematography, costume design, set decoration, film editing and sound). I found myself enjoying it more and more. I do like "The King and I" "Oklahoma!" "Carousel", yet "Flower Drum Song" is culturally diverse, 'oriental USA' and very much San Franciscan. Directed by Henry Koster [2], music and lyrics from the popular pair of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 2nd, with Alfred Newman supervised & conducted the music score which included a wide spectrum from Asian 'flower drum song' tune, to jazzy rhythm, strings orchestral for ballet/dance pieces, to montage songs and cabaret show numbers / big band melodies; associate vocal music arranger Ken Darby, and simply marvelous choreography by Hermes Pan.Such a stellar cast: Nancy Kwan as Linda Low and Jack Soo as Sammy, Miyoshi Umeki as Mei Li and James Shigeta as Ta, Juanita Hall (of "South Pacific" 1958 fame) as Madam Liang / 'my wife's sister,' Benson Fong as Ta's father / 'my sister's husband,' Reiko Sato as Helen Chao (the seamstress), and what an amazing, versatile dancer Patrick Adiarte is (his debut role was in "The King and I" 1956 as the eldest prince opposite Yul Brynner). The musical numbers and songs are catchy and entertaining, matching key segments of the storyline: A Hundred Million Miracles; (What Are We Going To Do About) The Other Generation; Chop Suey; I Enjoy Being A Girl; Sunday (Sweet Sunday); Fan Tan Fannie; Grant Avenue; Love Look Away (sung by Marilyn Horne); Don't Marry Me; and more. Turning on the subtitles feature, one can see the lyrics and easy to sing along, too.Based on C.Y. Lee's novel of the same name, Joseph Fields (also associate producer) wrote an engaging screenplay, blended humor and 'coined' words of the times within the dialogs. Juanita Hall's grocery food order ("four pounds of seahorse, two pounds of dry snake meat, a box of longevity noodles") over the phone ending with "and a dozen thousand-year eggs, and be sure they're fresh" is an absolute gem. Imagine TV turned out to be a resource of solution to our heroines and their beaus romantic predicaments. Unforgettable: Mei Li said to Ta, "tomorrow we must go to Temple of Tin How and thank the Goddess of Heaven for television." Such quality produced films are rare these days. If you don't usually watch musicals, give "Flower Drum Song" a try, it's drama and humor would provide an enjoyable time.[1] Memorables produced by Ross Hunter: "The Chalk Garden" 1964 (d: Ronald Neame; Hayley Mills, Deborah Kerr, John Mills); "Pillow Talk" 1959 (with Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Thelma Ritter, Tony Randall); "Imitation of Life" 1959 (d: Douglas Sirk; Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Sandra Dee) [2] Favorites directed by Henry Koster: "Three Smart Girls" 1936 with Deanna Durbin; "The Singing Nun" 1966 with Debbie Reynolds. Highly recommend - intelligent drama with suspense (in B/W, not a musical): "No Highway in the Sky" 1951with James Stewart as an aeronautical engineer who's steadfast and persistent, Glynis Johns as the sensible and caring air hostess, and Marlene Dietrich as only Dietrich could. (VHS only as yet)

This has got to be the worst of the lot when it comes to Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musicals that made it to the screen.First of all, none of the songs have the memorable qualities one would expect from an R&H musical and certainly none compare favorably to the melodies from SOUTH PACIFIC, OKLAHOMA, CAROUSEL or THE KING AND I.Secondly, MIYOSHI YUMEKI, while a living doll, is naive and funny when she's called upon to be the innocent, but mawkish and unbearable whenever she has to draw sentimental tears. And NANCY KWAN seems phony and totally unreal, even when singing "I Enjoy Being A Girl" which is about the snappiest number in the whole musical.Thirdly, all of the characters are terrible stereotypes exploited for what little humor there is in this story of an immigrant girl looking for a good match as a husband. Neither the slight story nor the characters, all very one-dimensional and predictable, are worth caring about.For me, someone who loves a good musical, this belongs on the bottom tier of the musical genre.