A Chinese woman and her father illegally enter San Francisco. This is to fulfill a marriage promised by mail to Sammy Fong (Jack Soo). But Fong is head over heels in love with Linda Low (Nancy Kwan). He tries to pawn the girl off on Wang Ta (James Shigeta)...but HE'S in love with Linda also.
Pretty unknown Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. This almost never plays on TV and the last Broadway revival didn't do too good. Purportedly this film is accused of racism by Asian-American groups. Aside from a few stereotypical Chinese characters I didn't find this racist at all--I think anyone accusing this film of that is way off base. But it's not a good movie either.
It's colorful and the songs are not bad but, aside from "I Enjoy Being a Girl", there isn't one memorable song here. Also some of the songs just bring the film to a screeching halt and some pretty needless dances don't help. The main problem is this film is just too long. There's no need for it to go on over 2 hours.
The cast is pretty good considering they're playing stock characters. The only three that really come through are Kwan, Soo and Shigeta. So, all in all, it's an OK musical that just runs on far too long.
Pretty unknown Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. This almost never plays on TV and the last Broadway revival didn't do too good. Purportedly this film is accused of racism by Asian-American groups. Aside from a few stereotypical Chinese characters I didn't find this racist at all--I think anyone accusing this film of that is way off base. But it's not a good movie either.
It's colorful and the songs are not bad but, aside from "I Enjoy Being a Girl", there isn't one memorable song here. Also some of the songs just bring the film to a screeching halt and some pretty needless dances don't help. The main problem is this film is just too long. There's no need for it to go on over 2 hours.
The cast is pretty good considering they're playing stock characters. The only three that really come through are Kwan, Soo and Shigeta. So, all in all, it's an OK musical that just runs on far too long.