Universal preps 'Flower Drum Song' for November (1 Viewer)

[RobertSiegel]

...

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Guys,

Knock it off, please!

This tit-for-tat banter is going to cease immediately or this
thread will be closed. Let's respect each other's opinions and
move forward.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Has anyone seen any of the films by Miyoshi Umeki? I've only seen Sayonara and Flower Drum, and don't remember the tv series Courtship of Eddie's Father. Unfortunately, some of the films listed for her on IMDB are not available on dvd and out of print on VHS. I'd definately love to see the THIS IS YOUR LIFE episode with her.

Here's a great photo of her with with Alfred Hitchcock:

http://us.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1075...eki,%20Miyoshi

 

[Greg_M]

Just watched the DVD (with the audio Commentary) so I'm don't know about the sync issues, but the image is beautiful, very well done! This may be R&H's most colorful film. Audio commentary was good too.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Greg, I got a chance to see the first 20 minutes of the commentrary and thought it was very entertaining. Do they talk more about the movie production? Much of the first 20 minutes seemed to be mostly about Nancy (of course that's why she was there, but wondering if they talked more about the movie and specific scenes later on).

 

[Greg_M]

Most of the commentary is about Nancy and Asia actors working in films. There is some mention of the other actors (Jack Soo) and a lot of compliments also a bit the rehearsal of the film and the "World of Suzie Wong"

 

[Drew Salzan]

I just received my copy today. It's true that the color timing is varied, but I'm not sure whether it was intentional or whether it's just due to the condition of the surviving elements and the degree of restoration that was done. At any rate, I am quite pleased with the presentation. The remixed soundtrack is amazing, as are the supplements. It's good to finally have this piece on DVD.

The music and underscoring of Alfred Newman is of his usual beauty and lushness. I wonder if the original session masters still exist. An expanded and complete soundtrack recording would be a great thing. The reissue on CD of the original LP soundtrack leaves a lot to be desired; incomplete and full of reverb. Yuch!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

It has always mildly aggravated me to read or hear this:Even Robert Osborne said it on Turner Classic Movies. We all know it isn't true, due to Juanita Hall. But I naively thought I wouldn't hear it on the DVD commentary. I thought they'd set the record straight. Oh, well. The legend continues. (It does prove how well Juanita Hall played her part!)

 

[RobertSiegel]

Drew, I agree with you, the soundtrack cd is terrible, obviously an LP source not a session master. The same is true for most of those soundtracks on Decca and MCA, Thoroughly Modern Millie is the worst, as is Sweet Charity. I wish Universal would start releasing their soundtracks again, this time from good sources. Look at the great job Capitol did with their Rodgers and Hammerstein soundtracks. Even later soundtracks on Decca/Universal/Mca, like the one for Jesus Christ Superstar, stink!

 

[Drew Salzan]

AMEN!

 

[Drew Salzan]

AMEN!

 

[AlanP]

Universal could have included this and it would have made this a TWO-DISC
set, like FOX. At least we have the DVD. However, this could have easily been a legacy series. It was certainly worth it. I think this THREAD proves it was a well loved and popular film. Besides, it enjoyed a nice revival in LA and NYC. I was lucky enough to see the revival on BROADWAY and LOVED IT !!!!!!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Finally got my opportunity to give this disc a spin this weekend. It was my first chance to see this film in its entirety since I was very young.

Despite its rather lame ending (why do so many movies suffer so in the last 15 minutes?) it was a very enjoyable story and film with a number of great songs and performances and some not-so-great songs and performances.

Interesting to see some of the pronounced differences in the male/female dynamic from 1961 to 2006 (particularly as it played to the Kwan/Shigeta relationship). I actually thought Jack Soo was terrific in his role as the nightclub owner--especially after some of the comments earlier in the thread. Was Soo a great crooner? No. Most definitely not. But he pulled-off most of the material he was given with a nice comedic flair. A big for Miyoshi Umeki...and much of the rest of the cast.

I am also always intrigued by how a song with a purposefully Asian influence like "One Hundred Million Miracles" can still come off "sounding" like a Rodgers and Hammerstein song.

Just terrific.

I cannot get caught up in the discussions here about whether this should have been a two-disc SE or a "Legacy" edition. I'm just glad to have the opportunity to see the film. (I am especially envious of those who got to see the great Lea Salonga in the recent revival.)

 

[AlanP]

Lea Salonga and the rest of the cast were nothing short of MAGNIFICENT.
The revival got so so reviews. I LOVED IT !!!!! They changed the story somewhat and updated it. I wish more musicals made their way to film.
It is a shame so many have not been move into film !!!!

 

[Mike Frezon]

One thing I forgot to mention in my earlier remarks after having seen the DVD...

I cannot believe they put the layer change where they did. The pause comes just as Reiko Sato (Helen) leans in to kiss a passed-out Wang Ta (James Shigeta) after his night of revelry. It seems an awkward time to place the layer change when there are so many other transitions (even some fades-to-black) in the film.

As so many have mentioned, I cannot believe it's because the disc is so chock-full of extras and high bit-rate that they "needed" to put the layer change right there.

I'd be curious to hear from some DVD producers about why and how that particular decision is made for different DVDs/films.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Mike, I noticed that ... and I wondered why they would put a layer break at an emotional moment like that, it is quick but for a split second, takes you away from the emotional moment. Not well planned that's for sure.

As for the revival, I saw it and did not like it, though it was a trhill to finally see the show live (or what was left of the original story). I had been in love with the movie and the broadway cast album on Columbia for many years...., and I thought many of the changes were uncalled for, even though I was aware of what they were doing and why. In my opinion, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the story as they did for many reasons, I don't agree with the tampering. Lea was fantastic though. I actually took my trip to New York to coincide with this show to be able to see it. I thought the set design and lighting were fantastic, but I really disliked the orchestrations...there will never be another Robert Russell Bennett (orchestrator of the original).

Someone said above that he felt Jack Soo did a great job "compared to what others said earlier in the thread." For myself...I was only unhappy with his singing voice compared to the two songs on the original Broadway cast CD, but I felt he did a good job acting in the role.

 

[John Skoda]

Some of these may sound as good as they ever will. I've read interviews with Ken Darby who said he and Alfred Newman were pretty stunned at the horrible sound of Universal's music recording stages when they went there to do FLOWER DRUM SONG. They did the best they could, but, compared to what they were used to working at Fox for all those years, the Universal sound stages were a large step down in recording quality. The music on the new DVD sounds better than the CD and LP, though, for sure.

I'm pretty sure I read that for MILLIE the filmmakers rented Fox's music recording stages rather than use Universal's.

 

[RobertSiegel]

John, that's interesting to know, and one can tell the difference between the Fox recordings and the Universal of the era. From the sound quality itself, MILLIE doesn't sound anywhere near as good as Fox's recordings, it sounds to me like the general quality of Flower Drum, especially in the dialogue part of the music.

 

[AlanP]

Well, here we go.............
What other musicals are from UNIVERSAL.
I loved "SWEET CHARITY" !!!!!!
I can't believe the shoddy treatment they gave their three big musicals.
"FLOWER DRUM SONG" the best treatment of the three. But, not what it should have been
"SWEET CHARITY" was mediocre at best. And "MILLIE" was awful.
FOX CAN YOU HELP OUT !!!!!!!!!!
And show them how to do a decent DVD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Greg_M]

How quickly we forget about the FOX transfer of the TODD-AO version of "Oklahoma"