Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about…™ Flower Drum Song – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

From Henry Koster, one of the filmmakers who hit just about every genre during his career, came a domestic musical, based upon the Rogers & Hammerstein theatrical experience, with an almost entirely Asian cast.

This was also Mr. Koster's first outing with that new fangled anamorphic process called Panavision. CinemaScope was old hat.

Nancy Kwan - born in China of Chinese father and British mother - had made her first mark on the industry the year before co-starring with William Holden in The World of Suzie Wong.

The pleasant surprise here, viewing the film via projection, was the quality. Everything about the imagery (and audio, derived from the original 4-track magnetic source, which is extremely full and rich) had me thinking I was seeing 4k, and only by walking up to the screen, and taking a very close look at the grain structure, was I able to get my head wrapped around the fact that it was only a Blu-ray. It's that good.

The fact that it was shot by the great Russell Metty is an absolute part of that equation.

It's nice to finally have another of the R & H musicals in a more highly resolved form.

Image – 5

Audio – 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)

Pass / Fail – Pass

Upgrade from first Blu-ray – Yes

Works up-rezzed to 4k - Lovely!

Highly Recommended

RAH

 

[Capt D McMars]

many thanks, Nancy Kwan was one of my childhood crushes!! And that it recieved some upgrading is wonderful!!

 

[Thomas T]

The fact that it was shot by the great Russell Metty is an absolute part of that equation.

So glad you mentioned the great Russell Metty who so often gets overlooked. People talk about Jack Cardiff, James Wong Howe, Freddie Young, Gregg Toland and rightly so but somehow Metty is never put in their class and this is a man who shot Touch Of Evil, Spartacus, Bringing Up Baby, The Misfits and of course, his films with Douglas Sirk are in a category all by themselves.

Can't wait to get Flower Drum Song in my hands!

 

[Robert Harris]

So glad you mentioned the great Russell Metty who so often gets overlooked. People talk about Jack Cardiff, James Wong Howe, Freddie Young, Gregg Toland and rightly so but somehow Metty is never put in their class and this is a man who shot Touch Of Evil, Spartacus, Bringing Up Baby, The Misfits and of course, his films with Douglas Sirk are in a category all by themselves.

Can't wait to get Flower Drum Song in my hands!

You can add Robert Burks to that list.

 

[haineshisway]

It's clearly the new transfer I've been touting since they began streaming it - I said it then - looked amazing - and sounds like Kino got that so all is well, and so happy they changed their minds from their initial "We have no interest in Flower Drum Song."

 

[SFMike]

So great to hear as the past transfer of this dated but amazingly entertaining period musical was garbage and sad to watch. I think now only the Paramount release Lil Abner remains on my Blu-ray wish list and maybe a 4K restoration of Funny Face.

 

[Mark-P]

and so happy they changed their minds from their initial "We have no interest in Flower Drum Song."

You’re never going to let them forget that, are you Bruce?

 

[OLDTIMER]

Umbrella Entertainment are soon to release Flower Drum Song and Thoroughly Modern Millie as a double. Does anyone know if Flower Drum is from the same source as the one being reviewed here?

 

[Dick]

Nancy Kwan was one of my childhood crushes!!

Mine, too, which was the only reason I suffered through that disney/Dick Van Dyke abomination called LT. ROBIN CRUSOE, U.S.N.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Just checked the free version on Amazon Prime - ugh SD. Better get my order in.

 

[roxy1927]

This score is so underrated by Rodgers and Hammerstein's biggest fans with You Are Beautiful and Love Look Away among the most beautiful songs R and H ever composed.
It has one of the great credit sequences of all time by Dong Kingman with gorgeous playing of the overture conducted by Alfred Newman. Was very happy I got to see it on the panavision screen at Radio City.
For those interested the Radio City premiere is on you tube with Rodgers, Kwan, and Celeste Holm attending along with a very un PC Henry Youngman.

I watched as well the free version on Amazon Prime and yes it is ugh. So happy Mr. Harris likes it. I thought it might never look better than that.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

It's clearly the new transfer I've been touting since they began streaming it - I said it then - looked amazing

May I inquire as to who is “they” that are streaming such a flawless transfer? Other posters on here are saying Amazon Prime’s looks like crap.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Are they still allowed to perform “I Enjoy Being A Girl” in revivals with those original misogynistic lyrics?
Love the film and those lyrics which I find campy but can see some finding highly offensive.

 

[RetroGuy]

Just checked the free version on Amazon Prime - ugh SD. Better get my order in.

May I inquire as to who is “they” that are streaming such a flawless transfer? Other posters on here are saying Amazon Prime’s looks like crap.

Amazon had been streaming it in HD. Not sure why it's only available in SD now. Perhaps they had to pull the free HD version to not hamper sales of the new Blu-ray?

 

[DarkVader]

May I inquire as to who is “they” that are streaming such a flawless transfer? Other posters on here are saying Amazon Prime’s looks like crap.

iTunes,
Vudu Fandango

 

[roxy1927]

Mine, too, which was the only reason I suffered through that disney/Dick Van Dyke abomination called LT. ROBIN CRUSOE, U.S.N.

I so wanted to see that as a kid but somehow missed it. I guess it was just as well.

 

[andersmo]

Just checked the free version on Amazon Prime - ugh SD. Better get my order in.

I wouldn't even call it SD. It's only 640x272 pixels. Even my UK (PAL) DVD looks far better at 720x436 effective picture area, not counting the letterboxing black bars.

Edit: I also noticed that the Amazon Prime version has been vandalized by inserting one duplicate frame every four frames to make it 30fps instead of 24.

 

[Matt Hough]

May I inquire as to who is “they” that are streaming such a flawless transfer? Other posters on here are saying Amazon Prime’s looks like crap.

Vudu was for a time running it as a "Free with Ads" streaming version, and it looked wonderful.

 

[Mark-P]

Amazon had been streaming it in HD. Not sure why it's only available in SD now. Perhaps they had to pull the free HD version to not hamper sales of the new Blu-ray?

Yeah, the version there now doesn’t have the Samuel Goldwyn logo and appears to be the old DVD transfer. Was the HD version that used to stream there also available for sale? If so I would assumes those customers still have access to that version. My HD iTunes copy that I paid $5 is mine forever.

 

[KPmusmag]

My Vudu purchase is still HD.