Flower Drum Song (film)
Flower Drum Song is a 1961 American musical film directed by Henry Koster, adapted from the 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song. The film stars Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki, Jack Soo, Benson Fong, and Juanita Hall. It was nominated for five Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
About Flower Drum Song (film) in brief
Flower Drum Song is a 1961 American musical film directed by Henry Koster, adapted from the 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song. The film stars Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki, Jack Soo, Benson Fong, and Juanita Hall. It was nominated for five Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. It became the first major Hollywood feature film to have a majority Asian cast in a contemporary Asian-American story. It would be the last film to do so for more than 30 years, until The Joy Luck Club. In 2008, Flower Drum song was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” The film is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by the Chinese American author Chin Yang Lee. It is about a young woman named Mei Li who emigrates from China to Chinatown, San Francisco as an illegal immigrant with her father. Mei Li has been promised in an arranged marriage to Sammy Fong. Sammy is the owner of a night club, the Celestial Gardens, and is already romantically involved with his leading showgirl, Linda Low. Sammy does his best to dissuade Mei Li from marrying him, introducing her to Madame Liang, the sister-in-law of Master Wang. Master Wang is persuaded by Madame Liang to allow Mei Li to fall in love naturally with Master Wang’s eldest son, Wang Ta.
But Wang Ta is dazzled by the charms of Linda, who flirts with him. He asks her to go on a date, and she convinces him to give her his fraternity pin to symbolize they are “going steady” during the date. MeiLi and Wang Ta fall inLove. But Linda plans to use Wang Ta to force a real commitment from Sammy out of jealousy, but Sammy gets wind of her scheme. At the New Year’s Parade, Linda rides on a float and sings about Grant Avenue, Chinatown’s \”western street with eastern manners\”. Sammy invites Wang Ta and his family to Celestial Gardens to see Frankie Wing recall girls he has known and Linda’s nightclub act. Wang Ta leaves, distraught, accompanied by his friend since childhood, the seamstress Helen Chao. In the morning, Mei Li comes to deliver a burned coat for Helen to mend, and becomes distressed when she discovers Wang Ta’s clothing in Helen’s kitchen. When Wang Ta wakes up, he still does not notice Helen’s affections, even as she pleads for him to stay. He goes to speak with Mei Li, only to have Mei Li realize that she is a better match for him than Linda. She leaves him, saying that she once loved him, but not anymore anymore. She and her father pursue the marriage between Mei Li and Sammy. Sammy has already proposed to Linda, but now that Mei Li is pursuing life, he is about to marry her again, and he goes to break the contract.
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