Flower Drum Song Added to National Film Registry

The film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song is among the 25 films that Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has announced will be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

The selected films are chosen not because they are deemed “best,” but because they are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.

The 1961 film version of Flower Drum Song marked the first Hollywood studio film featuring performances by a mostly Asian cast, a break from past practice of “yellow face” casting. The cast included Nancy Kwan as Linda Low, James Shigeta as Wang Ta, Miyoshi Umeki as Mei Li, Jack Soo as Sammy Fong, and Juanita Hall as Madame Liang.

Additional films named to be added to the registry include The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Deliverance (1972), Disneyland Dream (1956), A Face in the Crowd (1957), Foolish Wives (1922), Free Radicals (1979), Hallelujah (1929), In Cold Blood (1967), The Invisible Man (1933), Johnny Guitar (1954), The Killers (1946), The March (1964), No Lies (1973), On the Bowery (1957), One Week (1920), The Pawnbroker (1965), The Perils of Pauline (1914), Sergeant York (1941), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), So’s Your Old Man (1926), George Stevens World War II Footage (1943-46), The Terminator (1984), Water and Power (1989), and White Fawn’s Devotion (1910).