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

[DFurr]

MartinP. said:
^^^

You could be thinking of the Warner Hollywood. From Los Angeles Theatres:

It's still owned by Robertson Properties, the real estate arm of Pacific Theatres. The last regular film exhibition was in 1994. It was later used as a test house for digital projection technology and, until mid-2013, for church services. It's been boarded up and vacant since the church had their rental agreement terminated in June 2013.

We flew out to LA for a few days, met up with an old friend and went to the Pacifica (Warner Bros) on Hollywood Blvd. It was a dollar house then (1993) and we saw "Candy Man". Funny part of this story is that we three were the ONLY people in that huge theatre. It was a bit strange!

 

[andersmo]

In the Sunday number when they are going in and out of the doors in the hallway it looks like it was done all in one take. How long did it take to rehearse and how many times did they have to start filming it over again due to a mistake? I never realized how amazing it is and nobody ever mentions it. One of the more remarkable stagings I've seen in a movie musical because there are no edits.

The thing that gets me is the roller skating waiter, having to serve and then pick up all those drinks with such perfect timing.

It wasn't done in one take. There's a cut at the exact moment the waiter enters on roller skates. Then the serving and picking up of the glasses takes some 15 seconds. After that, the action continues for another 40 seconds before the next cut.

I guess the critical part was the first 15 seconds with the waiter. If that didn't work as intended, they might just have aborted immediately, and started over without losing much film.

 

[andersmo]

While the roller-skating waiter turned out very well, there's another scene where a minor mishap was still kept in the film.

A friend of mine pointed out that one of the female dancers in the Grant Avenue sequence slips on her backside, but instantly recovers. On the Kino Lorber Blu-ray, it happens at 1:14:25. Don't blink, or you'll miss it!

You may very well wonder why they didn't re-shoot it.

 

[roxy1927]

You watch movies enough and you come across them. A good one is in the conga from Strike up the band where one of the guys slips and he recovers but if he hadn't with those long takes and so many people it would I imagine not have made Busby very happy. Also in This Heart of Mine one of the women about to step onto the treadmill at the far end can be seen adjusting her bustier to make herself more comfortable. Something a woman only would have done in private unless she was a dancer but then never on camera.

 

[haineshisway]

While the roller-skating waiter turned out very well, there's another scene where a minor mishap was still kept in the film.

A friend of mine pointed out that one of the female dancers in the Grant Avenue sequence slips on her backside, but instantly recovers. On the Kino Lorber Blu-ray, it happens at 1:14:25. Don't blink, or you'll miss it!

You may very well wonder why they didn't re-shoot it.

View attachment 140959

Because they didn't notice it when they shot it and there was no video assist. They "might" have noticed it in dailies the next day, but I can assure you no one gave a flying Wallenda about it.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

For my money, the best flub of all is in the number 'Is There Anyone Here for Love' from 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'.
Jane Russell is sitting at the side of the ship's swimming pool while the men from America's Olympic team sailing to Europe line up to dive over her head into the pool. The last diver miscalculates and slams into her head, flying her into pool.
The sequence looked so great it was kept .. it looked purposeful. And Jane was happy about the result. Probably happy she still had a head!

 

[MartinP.]

^^^

Anthony, there is another choreography mistake in that number that's noticeable--once you notice it! In one of the shots where Jane is in the center and the swimmers are on each side in a line, bending up and down and such, when all of the others are way down, one chorus boy misses the down and remains up before getting back in sync.

I just looked up IMDB to see if anyone else had mentioned this in the goofs section and someone has, writing: During the "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?" number, when Dorothy is walking between the two lines of athletes, one of the men on the left towards the back gets up too late and fails to do his bend in time with the others.

 

[MartinP.]

I have a friend who occasionally likes to rent a theatre for his birthday and show a movie that he likes for a few dozen invitees. Last time he did this we saw The Gang's All Here!

This past Sunday at the Music Hall Theatre in Beverly Hills he had another birthday screening and we saw, from the new Blu-Ray release, Flower Drum Song! It looked remarkably grand on the big screen. I'd never seen it in a theatre before and was really enjoying it with over 50 other people in attendance. It was pretty amazing that you can get that quality from a Blu-Ray release. It was a really nice event.

 

[KMR]

I've seen many films in theaters projected from Blu-rays, and they generally are excellent, virtually indistinguishable from DCP or film.

 

[roxy1927]

I for one would not have expected it. But I have seen digital projection of classic films and it is amazingly good. I hate admitting it.

 

[KPmusmag]

It must depend to some degree on screen size. I was at the Seattle Cinerama 70mm film festival in 2018. During The Sound of Music, the sound module went out and they switched to blu-ray for the conclusion of the movie. The blu-ray looked dreadful on that big screen.

 

[MartinP.]

Not withstanding something like the event I went to, I do feel kind of cheated if I go see a film and it's a Blu-Ray projection as it seems like if you're paying the money they charge for tickets nowadays, it shouldn't be so easy to project it. I mean, it's like I could've done the same thing at home. Heh! Know what I mean? It's why all the revival or specialty houses that show films, at least here around Los Angeles, always say what the film is being projected as, a film print and what kind, or what kind of digital projection; like Tarantino's New Beverly, and future re-opening of The Vista, The Hollywood American Legion Post 43 Theatre (and also outdoor drive-in), the Cinematheque, the Aero and AMPAS's theatres.

 

[Capt D McMars]

I love the ballets and I am glad they were retained, but I admit that the story would hold together without them. But then, Oklahoma! would hold up story-wise without its very famous ballet, but no one would dare cut it.

I think by retaining the dance numbers it helps to give the "stage" feel for the storyline. Afterall, it is a musical!!

 

[roxy1927]

It gave Hermes Pan a job. And a very good job he did too.

 

[John Maher_289910]

It gave Hermes Pan a job. And a very good job he did too.

More than one can say about LOST HORIZON.

 

[roxy1927]

That film is quite bewildering yet it seems to have a cult following selling out its Twilight Time release. It is as unwatchable today as it was in 1973 at Loew's State in Times Square. A guilty pleasure though is watching The Things I Will Not Miss on youtube.
But Pan did some very good work until '68. I believe Coppola said he made a mistake firing him from Finian's Rainbow. I wonder why Astaire even allowed it.

 

[RolandL]

That film is quite bewildering yet it seems to have a cult following selling out its Twilight Time release. It is as unwatchable today as it was in 1973 at Loew's State in Times Square. A guilty pleasure though is watching The Things I Will Not Miss on youtube.
But Pan did some very good work until '68. I believe Coppola said he made a mistake firing him from Finian's Rainbow. I wonder why Astaire even allowed it.

 

[JPCinema]

View attachment 146807

The Twilight Time blu ray is the uncut version. "Living Together, Growing Together" wilth the jaw dropping fertility dance......I know why it was cut. lol

 

[Michael1]

Well, in most cases you're probably right, but when I saw Oklahoma! in a dinner theater setting in the 1980s, the ballet was naturally excised. There was nowhere to stage it!

There are other big production numbers in OKLAHOMA! besides the ballet. If they had room to stage "Kansas City" and "The Farmer and the Cowman," they should have had room to do the ballet, even if they had to downsize it a bit. Maybe they just felt they didn't have strong enough dancers for the ballet.

 

[Michael1]

After loving the DVD for so long, I had high hopes for this blu-ray release, and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. The sound is beautiful but the upgrade in picture clarity I expected just isn't there. Color and sharpness look a little "muddy" to me. Maybe a 4k scan, instead of the 2k that was used, would have helped, just like it did with the two Twilight Time blu-ray releases of Journey to the Center of the Earth. YMMV of course!

I don't see those issues you mentioned at all.