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Monday, May 19, 2008

FLOWER DRUM SONG (1961)

Infamously tagged "a world of woozy song" by critic Kenneth Tynan, FDS gets less respect than Rodney Dangerfield*, and the recent PC mangling by David Henry Hwang on B'way did it no favors. But even second-tier Rodgers & Hammerstein can sneak up on you. Get past the dud jokes in Joe Fields’ first act and Hermes Pan ’s de rigueur choreography and there’s a lot of charm on display. The undervalued score has 100 Million Miracles, Sunday, Don’t Marry Me, You Are Beautiful, I Enjoy Being A Girl and the remarkable I Am Going To Like It Here, in standout perfs by James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki and the great Jack Soo. And luckily, the typically over-lit lacquered look of ‘60s Universal’s color processing agrees with Irene Sharaff’s Chinatown stylings. If only megger Henry Koster had a bit more zip & flair. And why a big dream ballet for a supporting character? She even gets the great Marilyn Horne on the soundtrack dubbing for her.
*Hold that thought. FDS just got placed on the LoC 2008 film registry! Go figure.

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