Rodgers & Hammerstein SE's 2005 (1 Viewer)

[John Medeiros]

I am REALLY looking forward to Carousel.

John

 

[CherylWI]

What's so racist about "Flower Drum Song"? I guess certain people want to view everything from a certain era as racist. That's silly. It's one of the great Rodgers and Hammerstein movies musicals. Release it already!

 

[Thomas T]

Far from being "racist", Flower Drum Song remains one of the best examples of the generational gap of first generation emigrants and second generation American born (or raised) and the clash between preserving "old world" culture and values versus the assimilation into Western culture.

 

[Roger Rollins]

I heartily agree with Thomas T. I first saw FLOWER DRUM SONG as a very young child, and then, as in subsequent years, I was impressed with the way the film portrayed Asian-Americans as just that. Not stereotypes. Some could argue that the character played by Benson Fong leaned more toward stereotypes (which I don't agree with, I think he's fine) , it's one character among many who are portrayed as Americans in San Franscico who happen to be of Chinese ancestry.

While far from a perfect film (that ballet is excrutiating),
I really love this movie, and it certainly deserves a proper release from Universal. They had to abandon all their rights to it in a deal with Rodgers & Hammerstein in order to save home video rights. Well, gosh darn it, put the thing out already!

 

[Paul_Scott]

could have sworn i already posted to this thread, but i couldn't find any evidence of it-

anyways,
quite thrilled to see that Oklahoma! will finally be getting at the very least a decent 16:9 remaster.
that will definitely be one of the highlight releases of 2005 for me.
i'm fairly content with the current SOM set (and actually still haven't gotten around to watching the disc all the way thru) but if the concensus is that the new disc is visible improvment, will probably end up upgrading anyway- eventually.

but Oklahoma! is the biggie for me
every year i would leave the chats dumbfounded at the studios seeming lack of respect or enthusiasm for the film, but this year there seemed to be an implication of a sea change in attitude and i cant say the word comes as a big suprise anymore.

anybody want to guess on a time frame for these?
almost certainly not Q1, i would assume.

 

[RobertSiegel]

I love Flower Drum Song, I think it's an over-looked Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. I like the Columbia Broadway cast better because of its orchestrations, and my main objection to the movie, what actually ruined the film for me, was the casting of Jack Soo. He was in the original Broadway cast but only a small part, and he's an AWFUL singer and totally ruined the songs in the movie Don't Marry Me and Sunday (much better singer on the Columbia Masterworks CD). Why Rogers would approve of him in this role is beyond me when he was to sing 2 of their great songs. I mean we're talking way off key, it's sad they didn't dub him at least.

In any case, the movie does have alot of merits, and I've been waiting for it since dvd was invented, still stuck with the pan and scan laserdisc, which surprisingly for its time, has very good audio. I love the Grant Avenue number, Love Look Away, and of course anything that Miyoshi Umeki says or does is just awesome. Juanita Hall always impresses me, and Chop Suey is another great number.

Why Universal released Thoroughly Modern Millie and Sweet Charity, and has left this one behind is beyond me. They're doing the same with another of my favorites, The Pirates of Penzance.

 

[Jo_C]

Yes, I agree that there are indeed rights issues here, and some I don't mind repeating here.

You are correct that Universal has some ownership of "Flower Drum Song", but in actuality Universal owns the home video rights and the film's copyright (the copyright was renewed by Universal). The theatrical and television rights are now owned by MGM (as part of the pre-1996 Samuel Goldwyn library)--that's why during recent TV airings you saw the Samuel Goldwyn logo at the head of the telecast.

So, let's break this all down again, shall we?

SOUTH PACIFIC--MGM owns the theatrical and television rights, CBS/FOX still owns the video rights, and 20th Century-Fox now holds the film's copyright.

OKLAHOMA--Again, MGM owns the theatrical and television rights, CBS/FOX owns the video rights, and the R & H estates own the film's copyright.

(A note about CBS/FOX--even though the CBS portion is now part of Paramount [due to the network's acquisition by Viacom, also part of Paramount], the company continues to exist due to prior licensing deals for these two films).

FLOWER DRUM SONG--Universal does own the film's copyright, as well as the home video rights, but MGM now owns the theatrical and television rights

CINDERELLA (1965 TV version)--MGM now owns the rights, but subsidiary Samuel Goldwyn Company is responsible for its video release, which incidentally is available on DVD through Columbia/Tri-Star Home Entertainment. CBS, however, does hold the copyright.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE KING AND I (original 1956 version), STATE FAIR (both versions)--owned by 20th Century Fox outright. And yes, the remake of "State Fair" is on VHS, but not on DVD.

Any questions, class?

 

[RobertSiegel]

Jo-I am wondering, now that Sony has purchased MGM does that mean Sony owns the tv rights and theatrical rights to those titles? With all these mergers it's hard to keep track.

I wish Warner had gotten ahold of MGM instead. At least George Feltenstein is seeing the classics get the treatment they deserve with great editions. I have never been happy with most of Columbia's issues on the classics, hardly any extras, nopt even a good musical on Superbit (Oliver? Funny Girl), so I am worried about them owning MGM.

The only good thing is that Sony has the better HD blue ray format.

 

[Jo_C]

We will not know for sure until the deal is sealed.

 

[John Gilmore]

Though not an "official" announcement, it looks like this is more than just a rumor after all.

From the Rodgers and Hammerstein website:



http://www.rnh.com/news/Fall2004/notes.htm

 

[Robert Crawford]

I thought most of us have already accepted that it's not a rumor.





Crawdaddy

 

[TonyDale]

When I received my newsletter from the R&H Organization in the middle of last month, I had assumed the the announcement was official.
Now, if they'd include both versions of STATE FAIR on its anniversary edition. . . .

 

[Brian Kidd]

The content of the dvd is identical to the content of the ld set, minus the script and soundtrack cd. While the film was remastered for the dvd, the stills supplement look like they were taken from bad duplicates of the original ld stillframes. I wish I still had my ld to show some comparisons. I had no trouble with clarity on the ld like I did with the dvd.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Fortunately we have another hope of a good transfer this time. The dvd version was the best so far (having owned 5 different VHS releases and 3 different laserdisc editions begining with the first Magnetic Video laserdisc, then the special widescreen edition that looked like everything was red, then the box set anniversary edition) and then the dvd transfer. The dvd transfer finally took care of the color problems, but watch the opening scene before Julie sings, film grain, edge enhancement, ect. Some parts of the film look just terrific and others awful.

As for the soundtrack, we have discussed that here. Sad that it doesn't sound as good as Oklahoma, made 10 years earlier.

There are alot of different extras I hope to see, though I can't complain with what was on the dvd and laser box set. In talking to a friend who has done many commentary recordings on and some back in the laserdisc days, word is that Julie Andrews is contributing to this dvd. I do not know if it's an additional commentary, but I hope so. Also involved is Charmain Carr (Leisl).