Cherylene Lee Movies
- 1967
World-renowned humanitarian Juliet Sinclair (Ruth Roman) has arrived in America to deliver a cute Chinese orphan girl named Linh (Cherylene Lee) to loving couple named Kenyon (Gene Hackman, Phyllis Love). What the general public doesn't know is that Juliet is also a Communist courier, and that her American contacts are none other than Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon. Unfortunately, Linh has learned the truth about her benefactor--and unless Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) can act quickly, the Kenyons will follow orders and silence the girl permanently. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1962
When a passenger seems to develop small pox, she and five fellow travellers are kicked off a stagecoach and stranded in the desert. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
The only Rodgers and Hammerstein cinemadaptation to be produced by Universal Pictures, Flower Drum Song was, alas, also the only Rogers and Hammerstein film to lose money at the box office. It looks far better now than it did back in 1961, if only because of the paucity of musical films in the 1990s. Essentially a comedy about the culture clash between old-world Chinese and assimilated Chinese-Americans, the film begins when Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) and her grandfather (Kam Tong) smuggle themselves into San Francisco. It seems that Mei Li has arrived to honor an arranged marriage between herself and Runyonesque nightclub owner Sammy Fong (the incomparable Jack Soo). This might prove delicate, since Sammy is in love with flashy cabaret entertainer Linda Low (Nancy Kwan). Meanwhile, Linda is romancing Wang Ta (James Shigeta), the son of a wealthy Chinatown merchant (Benson Fong). Soon, however, Mei Li and Wang Ta have fallen in love.......It's a complex plot, to be sure, but comedy and music manage to predominate. The songs include "I Enjoy Being a Girl" (a tour de force for the special effects department, and for Nancy Kwan), "A Hundred Million Miracles," "The Other Generation," "Love Look Away," "I Am Going to Like It Here," "Don't Marry Me," "You Are Beautiful," "Grant Avenue" and "Chop Suey." Flower Drum Song is attractively produced and consummately acted; while no classic along the lines of King and I or Sound of Music, it deserves a second look. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, (more)
- 1956
Adapted from the autobiography of Helen Doss, this 90-minute TV version of The Family Nobody Wanted stars Nanette Fabray as Helen and Lew Ayres as her clergyman husband, Carl Doss. Unable to have children of their own, Helen and Carl contact virtually every adoption agency in the country, only to be told that they haven't enough money to support a "proper" family. But a local social worker comes up with solution: why not adopt the children of various races and creeds who have already been rejected by other potential adoptive families. Beginning with the "misfit" Donny (Tim Hovey), that is just what Helen and Carl do, ultimately providing a warm and loving home for twelve children that would otherwise have been permanent wards of the state. Originally aired live as a presentation of Playhouse 90, The Family Nobody Wanted was remade as a TV movie in 1975, with Shirley Jones and James Olson as Helen and Carl Doss. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
