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

[Mike Frezon]

BTW, I should note that Flower Drum Song is actually priced $19.99 at Best Buy. I incorrectly reported $24.99 in the Weekly RoundUp. However, Carousel, South Pacific, and the King & I are alll regularly marked at $24.99.

No respect for FDS!

 

[RobertSiegel]

Mike Frezon said: Frankly, I'm surprised Rodgers didn't insist on his favorite, Marni Nixon, to dub Soo's songs.

Mike, Marni Nixon would have been an improvement lol.

 

[Shawn Cornwell]

Just finished watching Flower with my cousin, who's been anxiously waiting for this one on DVD. I have the Broadway cast album on vinyl and CD, and think the renditions found therein surpass the singing (and dubbing) in the movie; however, the fine Rogers and Hammerstein score survives virtually intact in this 1961 stage-to-screen adaptation (the lively "I Enjoy Being a Girl" and the beautiful, melancholic "Love, Look Away" are perhaps the best-known numbers), while the florid color, those Ross Hunter-driven production values, and the luscious, charismatic Nancy Kwan provide a few other glorious reasons to see the film anew in this great DVD transfer.

And, hey, I like Jack Soo- he made his somewhat sneaky character very likable without being too "cute" about it, and I didn't find his singing that distracting, as I thought he still 'sold' the songs (the dubbing of some of his costars bothered me a bit, although the dancing in some of these numbers offered compensation, and was a lot of fun to watch).

 

[RobertSiegel]

Shawn, I am surprised that owning the broadway version on cd, which has wonderful (and properly sung) versions of Don't Marry Me and Sunday..that you didn't find Jack Soo's versions of the two songs that bad. To each his own I guess.

 

[AlanP]

Costco in NORTH MIAMI BEACH, has "FLOWER DRUM SONG" on sale $16.99.
Did not see the FOX series, though...........

 

[DeeF]

Hilarious moment on the disk: ..last night, watching the documentary on the songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein on the Flower Drum Song DVD.

Bruce Pomahac says something like "the songs themselves are the ground zero of emotional realism," and some cunning film editor has made this voiceover for the shot of Helen Chao sliding backwards down the slide in her id dream, right on those words "ground zero."

Trust me, it's HILARIOUS — I laughed really hard, twice.

 

[Shawn Cornwell]

As I mentioned, I think the singing on the Broadway Cast Album/CD outshines the film's vocals; with Soo, for me it's a question of whether or not he manages to put the songs over in believable fashion, and I think he does a good job 'selling' his songs in character without actually possessing the strongest singing voice; if he'd been dubbed by a professional singer, I don't think this would have fit Soo's interpretation of his role.

 

[JohnMor]

Shawn, I agree. I find Jack Soo's vocals quite charming.

I prefer the arrangements and vocals on the Original Broadway Cast album, but aside from some VERY poor dubbing on the first verse of "I Enjoy Being A Girl," the film's tracks are just fine.

 

[DeeF]

On my system, some of the songs/dubbing are out of synch with the actors. It isn't true of the TCM copy, so something has been altered for the DVD.

It isn't too bad, and it only happens in some early scenes.

 

[AlanP]

I just watched a few of the extras. GORGEOUS TRANSFER, well worth THE TEN YEAR WAIT (THE ADVENT OF DVD). I wish James Shigeta would have been interviewed !!!!!! This is ONE OF MY FAVORITE MUSICALS, from childhood. I remember seeing it on the BIG SCREEN as a child. I am thrilled with it !!!!!!! Stunning !!!!!!

 

[Mark B]

The sync issue is more pronounced on the 5.1 track than it is on the 2.0.

 

[MarkA]

I hava a sync problem too, especially noticable in "I Enjoy Being A Girl"

 

[Chuck Pennington]

Wow, I'm glad I signed on here and found I wasn't the only person seeing that the picture and sound for some scenes is noticably off, ESPECIALLY "I Enjoy Being a Girl." It looks like the sound is maybe 5 or 6 frames faster than the video - VERY ANNOYING! :-(

 

[Joe Lugoff]

As I predicted months ago, SOMETHING would go wrong with this DVD. There's always been a curse on "Flower Drum Song" on home video.

 

[DeeF]

Some of the synch problems of "I Enjoy Being A Girl" are clearly Nancy Kwan's own inability to lipsynch to another singer. It's a combination of both Nancy and the new 5.1 soundtrack.

 

[AlanP]

From yesterdays NY TIMES, a RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN DVD REVIEW OF THE WHOLE COLLECTION FROM UNIVERSAL AND FOX.........
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/movies/14dvd.html

 

[Mike Frezon]

...those darn Nazis! "Bialystock and Bloom sing Edelweiss!"

 

[RobertSiegel]

I very much liked The Sound of Music, the 40th anniversary edition. The film on that edition looks as close to the 70mm version that I saw than any video transfer since the first VHS copy, and believe me I have owned them all. Compared to the awful laserdiscs and VHS releases, and the first dvd, I am quite happy with it. My only complaint is a little oversaturation in the skin tones.

 

[Ethan Riley]

"Performing “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” a showstopper ripe for postfeminist revival, Ms. Kwan is like an Asian Ann-Margret, an overripe American teenager ready to pluck and be plucked."

Oh, honestly! Is this the sort of trash the New York Times publishes these days???

But it was funny.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

I disagree that Nancy Kwan is to blame for the sync error on the DVD of FLOWER DRUM SONG. Every other release I've ever seen of the film was right on in the sync of the pre-recording and her performance. "I Enjoy Being a Girl" is the one scene where the sound is way ahead of the video and it is very distracting, though "A Hundred Million Miracles" looks a bit off to me as well.

This isn't the first time a musical has had sync issues. Compare the previous video editions to the DVD of HELLO, DOLLY! and tell me the audio isn't ahead of the video in the first reel, the reel with "Dancing", and the last reel. Go ahead, try it. Put in an old VHS or one of the several Laserdisc releases. Watch her lips and listen to the sound. Except in DOLLY, the entire reel is off and not just some isolated musical numbers.

Sad.