Flower Drum Song - again! (1 Viewer)

[DeeF]

For whatever reason, the copy I got off of TCM is mono. I just checked it.

Perhaps my cable blew it, or something.

Maybe some prints were mono, some were 3ch stereo, I don't know the ultimately truth here.

But my copy, gotten off of cable, is mono.

 

[JPCinema]

My widescreen copy of "Flower Drum Song" that I recorded off of AMC in the "Golden age of AMC" was in stereo, but on TCM it has always been shown in mono only. Don't know why.

 

[DeeF]

Thank God, Ken! I thought I was losing my mind...

 

[RobertSiegel]

I have to add, that my laserdisc , though pan and scan, is true stereo, and a darn good sounding transfer at that.

 

[TedD]

IMDB is incorrect again. When I saw "Flower Drum Song" at its original release, it was at least three track stereo.

Vern

 

[DeeF]

Yeah, IMDB could be wrong. But TCM is broadcasting a mono version of the movie.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

The only time this movie was shown correctly was on AMC, where it was letterboxed AND in stereo.

The VHS and the laserdisc were stereo, but P&S.

Turner Classic Movies shows it letterboxed, but in mono.

A DVD of this is long overdue, and we're given no reason why it's not happening.

I can only conclude there's a curse on this movie.

By the way, someone above called this Rodgers and Hammerstein's final collaboration, but it wasn't. Their last show was something called "The Sound of Music" which had a rather successful movie version.

 

[Joe Caps]

I took out my two dvd -r of Flower DrumSong taped just a few months ago from tCM - they are, without a doubt, stereo.

 

[William Miller]

TCM has shown Flower Drum Song several times.

Each time it was in mono.

 

[JPCinema]

Everytime it is on TCM , I tape it...alas its always in mono.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

what would it take to get a great HD-downconverted 16x9 DVD transfer with true-discrete 3.0 DD encoding???

100 million miracles...

 

[DeeF]

Speaking of Camelot... (weren't we?)



I have recorded the high-def version off of HDNet movies, and the soundtrack does sound different than the DVD. I wouldn't swear to it, but it sounds like the soundtrack has been redone.

Anybody have this experience? or some more information?

As to Flower Drum Song, now that the revised show has opened and closed, I don't see why we couldn't see another set of Rodgers and Hammerstein titles which included this movie, even though most of their oeuvre comes from Fox, and this one is Universal. As I recall, the Kubrick set which came out twice already included Dr. Strangelove, from Columbia, along with all the others from Warner. Why couldn't a similar deal be made here?

State Fair (1945) plus a second disk State Fair (1962)
Oklahoma! (1955)
Carousel (1956)
The King And I (1956)
Flower Drum Song (1961)
The Sound of Music (1965)

I have heard tell that Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music are getting new transfers for their 50th and 40th anniversaries, which are this year.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I have heard tell that Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music are getting new transfers for their 50th and 40th anniversaries, which are this year.

!!!!!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I got out my DVD-R of "Flower Drum Song" taken from TCM and it's in mono. They've shown it a lot and I guess it's possible that they've now got it in stereo, but I doubt it.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Sounds like a good candidate to merge the PCM of the laserdisc with the widescreen video and burn a new DVD-R...

 

[DeeF]

Could you really do that, David? I don't have the laserdisc, but if somebody sent me the complete soundtrack, I could probably put it together on my Mac.

 

[Doug Bull]

In Australia there is no arguement, because TCM transmits everything here Compressed to Hell, in blury but Spectacular 4:3 and a 100% gloriously distorted MONO. :frowning:

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Could you really do that, David? I don't have the laserdisc, but if somebody sent me the complete soundtrack, I could probably put it together on my Mac.

I personally couldn't do it (don't have the gear) but I understand other folks have done stuff like this and burned custom DVD-R's done "right". I'd love to take the Hello Dolly image from the DVD and couple it with the AC-3 of the laserdisc...that would be an awesome "perfect" Hello Dolly DVD...if I had the stuff to do it.

 

[DeeF]

Flower Drum Song is on TCM right this minute, 1:00 p.m. EST.

It is mono (at least, the TCM print of it is mono).

 

[Joe Caps]

Here we go again. I just tune in to the braoadcast - full stereo music. Mei Li runs off to the right and the sound follows here to the right.
I am now watching the number Sunday, Sweet Sudnay and it's full stereo.