Flower Drum Song - DVD

Special Features:

Subtitles available for Spanish, French and English for the Deaf and hearing-impaired

The DVD for the "Flower Drum Song" includes an interesting five-part documentary, primarily on the making of the movie. Each part of the documentary intersperses commentaries by movie and theater historians and professionals involved with the "Flower Drum Song," including performers from the play and movie, with scenes from the film. The documentary has clear, sharp video and sound which add to the viewing pleasure.

The first part of the documentary, "From Print to Stage to Screen," begins with Oscar Hammerstein explaining how he discovered the book by C. Y. Lee. This is followed by discussions of how the book was transformed into the play. The 2002 Broadway revival of the play is also discussed in this section of the documentary.

The second part of the documentary, "Facts of the East - Casting," focuses on the attempts of the producers of both the play and movie versions to find Asian actors and actresses for the parts. There is also a discussion of why the original story of the "Flower Drum Song" is dated and offensive to some members of the Asian-American community and why the story was changed for the 2002 Broadway version.

Part three of the documentary is focused on the songs in "Flower Drum Song" and information is provided on the background of some of the songs, including explanations for the lyrics of "A Hundred Million Miracles."

The fourth part, and final part that focuses on the "Flower Drum Song," gives background on the sets and costumes used in the movie.

"The Legacy of Rodgers and Hammerstein" is a very short segment on the 11 plays of the most successful songwriting team in the history of musicals.

My Review:

The Region 1 DVD of the "Flower Drum Song" is digitally enhanced with excellent video and sound quality. The video is clear and sharp with bright, natural colors. The sound is clear and loud for both the dialog and the music.

The "Flower Drum Song" begins with the music from "A Hundred Million Miracles" and "Love, Look Away" and the credits for the film are set on a backdrop of paintings of China, the sea and finally San Francisco. The paintings blend into reality as we see Mei Li looking out of a porthole on the ship on which she and her father have stowed away. It's an interesting and visually attractive opening to the film.

The "Flower Drum Song" is a movie that blends elements of films from the 1950s with elements of later films of the 1960s. Like earlier films, it has some music and dance numbers that are extraneous to the plot in the sense that they aren't essential for moving the plot along. The "Love, Look Away" dream sequence is particularly reminiscent of the dance dream sequence in Oklahoma ("Out of My Dreams"). Other songs, for example, "You Are Beautiful," are integral to the plot, much as the songs in many of the later movies of the 1960s are.

The dances in the "Flower Drum Song" are a mixture of traditional Broadway style dancing (for example, "Grant Avenue") and typical 1960s style dancing, as in the "Chop Suey" number.

The "Flower Drum Song" is a joyful, delightful movie musical, with wonderful music, songs and acting. The excellent quality of the DVD adds to the enjoyment of the film.