Flower Drum Song is a 1961 American musical film directed by Henry Koster, adapted from the 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song, written by the composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, in turn based on the 1957 novel of the same name by the Chinese American author Chin Yang Lee.

The film stars Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki, Jack Soo, Benson Fong and Juanita Hall.

[4][5] 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".

[6][7] A young woman named Mei Li emigrates from China to Chinatown, San Francisco as an illegal immigrant with her father.

While asking where to find Madam Fong, Mei Li performs a flower drum song to earn money ("A Hundred Million Miracles").

Sammy is the owner of a night club, the Celestial Gardens (inspired by the actual Forbidden City nightclub) and already is romantically involved with his leading showgirl Linda Low.

When Mei Li sees Wang Ta sneaking back in after the date, she mistakes his friendly greeting as a welcome to the household and starts to warm to America ("I Am Going to Like It Here").

[8] According to David Henry Hwang, the song "Like a God" was dropped from the film because studio executives were worried it could "offend audiences in the American South".

Baker,[16][17] a white studio singer who had worked with Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, The Righteous Brothers, and Sam Cooke.

[16][17] The film soundtrack was reissued on CD by Decca Broadway on September 24, 2002, which added a bonus track of "Love, Look Away" (2:27), recorded by Rosemary Clooney around 1958.

[16][17][19] All tracks are written by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics)After the novel was released and became a bestseller, options were offered to author C.Y.

After getting drunk the night of the decision, Lee could not remember the offer he chose, but his agent congratulated him on making the right choice the next morning.

[8] San Francisco watercolorist Dong Kingman painted the opening title sequence, which traces the journey of Mei Li from Hong Kong.

[23] Principal photography began on March 20, 1961; the film was largely shot at Stage 12 of the Universal Studios Lot, on a 51,300 sq ft (4,770 m2) set built to reproduce Chinatown, including the opening scenes at Saint Mary's Square (complete with a replica of the stainless steel statue of Sun Yat-Sen sculpted by Beniamino Bufano), at a cost of $310,000.

Starring in the movie were Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Benson Fong, James Hong, Reiko Sato, Victor Sen Yung, and the original Broadway cast members Jack Soo, Miyoshi Umeki, and Juanita Hall (an African American actress who had previously played the Tonkinese Bloody Mary in the Broadway and film productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific).

For an episode of the contemporary TV show Wagon Train, white actor Arnold Stang was cast in yellowface wearing rubber eyelids.

For example, while Helen is simply left alone and broken-hearted in the musical and film versions, Ta's rejection of her prompts her to commit suicide in the novel.

In the novel, Mei Li does not arrive in Chinatown illegally, nor does she have an arranged marriage with Sammy Fong (the character was created for the musical and film).

The close-ups of Kwan and Shigeta in the car were process shots filmed at Universal Studios in Hollywood with the view from Twin Peaks projected on a screen behind them.

[22] However, Variety thought that "much of the fundamental charm, grace and novelty of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song has been overwhelmed by the sheer opulence and glamour [of the film]".

'It was kind of a guilty pleasure ... and one of the only big Hollywood films where you could see a lot of really good Asian actors onscreen, singing and dancing and cracking jokes.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment (in association with the estates of Rodgers and Hammerstein) finally released a DVD version on November 7, 2006, with extra features on the making and casting of the movie.