Henry Koster’s Flower Drum Song (1961) is perhaps the least known of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s stage to screen adaptations. It shouldn’t be. The overly glossy Ross Hunter production sports some fine and intelligent performances from top-billed Nancy Kwan, as Linda Low (singing voice dubbed by B.J. Baker), a showgirl at Celestial Gardens, Miyoshi Umeki – Mei Li, a mail order bride, Jack Soo, as Samuel Adams Fong, and Reiko Sato – Helen Chao (singing dubbed by Marilyn Horne), a seamstress, unrequited in her love for Wang Ta (James Shigeta). Apart from its unique casting – imagine, hiring Asian actors to play Asian characters…how progressive! – Flower Drum Songboasts a memorable score from Rodgers and Hammerstein, to include ‘A Hundred Million Miracles’, ‘I Enjoy Being a Girl’ and ‘Grand Avenue’ – the latter, lavishly staged on a mammoth set recreation of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Based on the serious novel by C.Y. Lee, the story’s social premise appealed to Broadway producer, Joseph Fields who convinced R&H to have a look at the property. Reportedly, Lee sold the story to Fields for $3000 and a percentage of the gross – a very savvy move when the Broadway show went on to become a stunning commercial success.
After the novel became a bestseller, Lee was inundated with offers, torn between a lucrative sell-off of the movie rights for $50,000, but for which he would have no control over how the material was handled, or Fields’ relatively paltry sum of $3,000, but only for the stage rights. Siding with Fields, Rodgers and Hammerstein then signed on to write the musical. Universal’s interest in the property meant that R&H would be working for the first time away from 2oth Century-Fox, the studio that had catered to virtually all their previous stage-to-screen adaptations. Fields also endeavored to write the screenplay, a first for Fields, while both Koster and Hunter were also novices in the musical genre. While this could have spelled utter disaster, and frequently had on musicals made by artists unfamiliar with its particular requirements, on Flower Drum Song, the infusion of new – untested – blood proved rewarding instead. San Francisco water-colorist, Dong Kingman augmented the main titles with traditional Asian art, and Hermes Pan was brought in to provide the spell-binding choreography. Almost all of Flower Drum Song was shot on Stage 12 at Universal, its cavernous 51,300 sq. ft. transformed into a sumptuous recreation of Chinatown, including a replica of Saint Mary's Square, built at a cost of $310,000.
Famed Asian star, Anna May Wong was slated for Madam Liang when she unexpectedly died in February 1961; the part, fulfilled by Juanita Hall – an African-American star, previously to have played Bloody Mary in Josh Logan’s big-screen adaptation of R&H’s South Pacific (1958). As for Nancy Kwan – she won the part on approval from its producer, Ross Hunter, having seen her in The World of Suzie Wong (1960). In adapting Lee’s novel for the stage – and later - the movie, some of the novel’s more sobering vignettes were lost: Helen’s suicide, and Mei Li’s illegal immigration to the U.S. To keep production costs manageable, only a few process plates and establishing shots were actually photographed in San Francisco, including the memorable scenic drive near Twin Peaks, and a few brief inserts of Frisco’s actual Chinese New Year Festival and Parade. Given that four other R&H Broadway smashes had already made the successful transition to the movies it was practically inevitable Hollywood should have come to call on Flower Drum Song. That the property proved seemingly to make the migration from stage to screen effortless was a bit more of a challenge. Billed as ‘the most romantic musical’, and well-received at the time of its release, viewed today – and comparatively, alongside R&H’s other socially conscious film musicals, Flower Drum Song has somewhat dated as just another sentimental comedy of errors that makes more stereotype than sushi of its Asian American actors.
The film stars Miyoshi Umeki as Mei Li, a Chinese refugee smuggled into San Francisco with her father (Kam Tong) aboard a freighter. Once docked in the harbor, Mei performs ‘flower drum songs’ in the street while seeking out her 'picture husband', Sammy Fong (Jack Soo). Fong is the proprietor of a ritzy nightclub, the Celestial Gardens in old Chinatown. Currently, his headline act is the sultry dancer, Linda Low (Nancy Kwan) who has been engaged to Fong for the last five years but is increasing growing impatient with the stalemate in their affair. To ease the tension and make Sammy jealous, Linda takes up with Wang Ta (James Shigeta); the eldest son of a local merchant, Wang Chi-Yang (Benson Fong) who clings to the ‘old ways’ and will not see his first born marry into crass commercialism. Meanwhile, Sammy has a plan of his own. To thwart his own marriage to Mei Li, Sammy delivers her to Wang’s home as a suitable prospect for Ta. The third wheel in Ta’s romantic life is Helen Chao (Reiko Sato), a dressmaker who seems the most ideally suited to his manner and temperament. The irony of the story is that after establishing Helen’s character as the perfect match for Ta’s affections, the plot jettisons her in favor of concocting an awkward set of events that lead Ta into Mei Li’s arms. In C.Y. Lee’s novel, Helen commits suicide after learning Ta will marry Mei – a gruesome finale averted in both the stage and screen versions by simply excising Helen from the story all together.
As with any Rodgers and Hammerstein show, the score for Flower Drum Song is first-rate. Producer, Ross Hunter delivers a fairly inviting bauble, immeasurably fleshed out by Irene Sharaff’s stunning costumes, Howard Bristol’s magnificent set design and Russell Metty’s evocative cinematography that captures all the gaudy glitz and tea-lit warmth of old Chinatown. If there is any fault in the piece, it is owed Koster’s somewhat stilted direction, creating a stagy proscenium to show off the spectacular production design. This works well during several of the dance sequences – but otherwise leaves too much ‘space’ between the audience and the actors on the screen to advance or even maintain the overall intimacy brewing between its characters. Flower Drum Song’s New York/Radio City premiere was eclipsed by the lavishly appointed San Francisco debut at the Golden Gate Theater to benefit local hospitals. This was followed by 3-days of Flower Drum revelry in the streets of Chinatown and finally, the picture's world-wide Christmas release where it doubled its initial investment, earning $10.7 million at the box office. Critical reception was mixed, with reviewers divided as to whether the opulence of the piece had swamped its gentle grace and charm. To be certain, from today’s more ‘progressive’ vantage, the representations of Asians in Flower Drum Song harks to an even more peculiar pastiche, germane and genial to the times in which it was made – perhaps, but completely lacking in authenticity for Asian culture today. This issue is compounded by the fact Shigeta and Umeki were Japanese – not Chinese. Nevertheless, Flower Drum Song is a glossy, gilded and gorgeous guilty pleasure, full of inspired performances and exhilarating dance routines. While it may not be authentic to Chinese culture, it remains a respectful and rewarding movie musical to experience on the big screen.
It is positively obscene that Universal Home Video has yet to come around on a Blu-ray transfer. Certainly, Flower Drum Songdeserves no less. The current DVD is, on the whole, adequate – though hardly without its flaws. Colors are generally bold, vibrant and nicely balanced. Stock establishing shots made in San Francisco exhibit amplified grain as do the opticals employed in the matte process trickery achieved in Kwan’s ‘I Enjoy Being A Girl’ production number. Otherwise, the visuals are consistent, with bold and vibrant colors. A bit of age-related built-in flicker is present, though nothing that will distract. But flesh tones have been accurately rendered and contrast is superb. Blacks are deep and solid. Whites almost always slightly lean to either blue or yellow. The audio has been remixed to 5.1 Dolby Digital with an uncharacteristic spread across all channels. Universal has produced a litany of informative extras. There are 5 featurettes covering virtually any and all aspects of the production with interviews from surviving cast and crew and an audio commentary by Nancy Kwan and film historian, the late Nick Redman, who paid Kwan and her career a much lengthier and more poignant tribute in the documentary, To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey (2012). Bottom line: recommended.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
3.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
3.5
EXTRAS
4
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