Blu-ray Review Flower Drum Song Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[AnthonyClarke]

From memory, the lovely Marilyn Horne was singing as a soprano at the time of 'Carmen Jones'.
What a movie that was! I was about 14 when I saw it. Left the theatre and headed into an empty telephone box so no-one could see me cry. Other movies around that time which made me cry included La Strada and Carousel. Such an emotional wreck I was. And still am.

 

[Matt Hough]

It's kind of hard to understand how Otto Preminger could do such a great job directing the operatic Carmen Jones and yet do such a stiff and unimaginative job with Porgy and Bess. I wonder if he was intimidated with the significance of the material he was working with in the latter case.

 

[roxy1927]

Goldwyn mucked up P and B as he did G and D.

 

[Matt Hough]

Goldwyn mucked up P and B as he did G and D.

Ah! That makes more sense now.

 

[TJPC]

I was a toddler, and my mother and I were shopping downtown. For some completely unwise reason, she decided to take in a"Carmen Jones" matinee with me as she passed the downtown theatre. It was my first movie, and I actually have memories of the experience and Carmens death scene. Her memory was always of a whinny little boy who wanted to run around the almost empty Capital theatre and sit in every seat! It was always one of those family stories she told.

 

[roxy1927]

Which city was this? Would love to know which Capitol. I imagine it's no longer there.

 

[TJPC]

This was downtown Windsor Ontario. I know the venue was divided into the Capitol 6 later, and then was a dinner theatre. I think it is torn down now.

 

[roxy1927]

Will check it out thank you.

 

[noel aguirre]

Juanita Hall was acting a role.

--acting
definition; Merriam-Webster
the art or practice of representing a character on a stage or before cameras

Too many people nowadays confuse acting with being.

So true, so true.

Yeah, I'm sure the offended don't watch Mr. Brynner and Ms. Rita Moreno in The King and I without the heads exploding.

No they just remake classic movies cause Natalie Wood and George Chakiris had them appalled for years with their casting in West Side Story.
I personally have no problem w Marlon Brando or Mickey Rooney as Japanese no more than British actors playing MLK and Harriet Tubman or Jonathan Price and Madonna as Argentinians! Acting is either good or bad for all the above mentioned.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

The main problem with Mickey Rooney's take was that he was so HAMMY. Excruciating. Yul being Yul was brilliant. Marlon was ok, but not as good as in his greatest of all roles, as Jor-el.

 

[haineshisway]

I'm baffled by the fact that this Blu-ray, which officially comes out Tuesday, isn't on Amazon at all. Unless you have to search it under Gone With the Wind or Titles Kino had No Interest In But Have Done Anyway. Anyone find it?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm baffled by the fact that this Blu-ray, which officially comes out Tuesday, isn't on Amazon at all. Unless you have to search it under Gone With the Wind or Titles Kino had No Interest In But Have Done Anyway. Anyone find it?

Bruce,

Here you go. Next time, access that Pre-Order Amazon link I have in my signature.

Amazon product

 

[haineshisway]

Bruce,

Here you go. Next time, access that Pre-Order Amazon link I have in my signature.

Amazon product

The question is, why doesn't it show up when you type in, I don't know, Flower Drum Song or Flower Drum Song Blu-ray or Flower Drum Song Kino? Hence, bafflement. I ordered earlier directly through Kino although I'd have preferred Amazon.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The question is, why doesn't it show up when you type in, I don't know, Flower Drum Song or Flower Drum Song Blu-ray or Flower Drum Song Kino? Hence, bafflement. I ordered earlier directly through Kino although I'd have preferred Amazon.

Bruce,

I just type in Flower Drum Song on Amazon's site and the following page immediately came up with the Kino Blu-ray listed second on the page.

Amazon.com : flower drum song

 

[roxy1927]

Anybody else get delivery of June 1 rather than May 24 on Amazon?

 

[Matt Hough]

Bruce,

Here you go. Next time, access that Pre-Order Amazon link I have in my signature.

Amazon product

OR use the link at the bottom of my review. I put a link at the bottom of EVERY review.

 

[roxy1927]

Canceled other order and I ordered on above tab, now Thurs or Fri.

 

[lionel59]

I love the Carousel ballet but find it jarring when it obviously switches to a naturalistic set that should be more abstract like Oklahoma’s or FDS’s rather than trying to look real . I wish it would have been filmed either on location like the rest of the movie or on a more dream-like set.

I wrote to Susan Luckey before she passed away. She told me in her response that they had planned to film the ballet on a real beach but it had proved too difficult. She also confirmed to me that all of the dialogue in CAROUSEL had to be looped as the refashioned Grandeur cameras (originally used in the early sound era for films such as THE BIG TRAIL) were so noisy.
I love the orchestrations in the (generally) surreal, psychological ballets of R&H, but they do remind viewers they are viewing a film version of a Broadway play. The one which I think transferred best to the screen was the "play-within-a-film" 'Small House of Uncle Thomas' in THE KING AND I.
I love the Newman orchestrations in FLOWER DRUM and saw it once on the big screen in Melbourne. It contained a brief scene with Patrick Adiarte playing baseball which I have never seen before or since. I speculate it was a preview print. I find the Sunday ballet a bit irritatingly silly and the Love Look Away ballet a bit unnecessary as she is a minor character. Great song though. In the novel, her character suicides and Linda Low is far less pleasant and-I believe - run out of town! R&H obviously sanitised the material, possibly because PIPE DREAM, with more adult themes (eg a brothel) had failed. It's a fun show with a good score, but not in the same league with CAROUSEL, KING & SOUTH PACIFIC.

 

[roxy1927]

So who received FDS today?

 

[TJPC]

I wrote to Susan Luckey before she passed away. She told me in her response that they had planned to film the ballet on a real beach but it had proved too difficult. She also confirmed to me that all of the dialogue in CAROUSEL had to be looped as the refashioned Grandeur cameras (originally used in the early sound era for films such as THE BIG TRAIL) were so noisy.
I love the orchestrations in the (generally) surreal, psychological ballets of R&H, but they do remind viewers they are viewing a film version of a Broadway play. The one which I think transferred best to the screen was the "play-within-a-film" 'Small House of Uncle Thomas' in THE KING AND I.
I love the Newman orchestrations in FLOWER DRUM and saw it once on the big screen in Melbourne. It contained a brief scene with Patrick Adiarte playing baseball which I have never seen before or since. I speculate it was a preview print. I find the Sunday ballet a bit irritatingly silly and the Love Look Away ballet a bit unnecessary as she is a minor character. Great song though. In the novel, her character suicides and Linda Low is far less pleasant and-I believe - run out of town! R&H obviously sanitised the material, possibly because PIPE DREAM, with more adult themes (eg a brothel) had failed. It's a fun show with a good score, but not in the same league with CAROUSEL, KING & SOUTH PACIFIC.

I always loved the “Sunday” number after seeing it as a child and drove everyone crazy playing the track over and over. I never realized until now that it was a ballet.