 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]".David H. Lewis calls it "a bizarre pastiche of limping mediocracy".He comments that since the 1958 version of the musical was only rarely revived for decades after its initial run, the film "would in future years come to stand for the stage musical it so crassly misrepresented" and would serve as the version that academics and latter-day theatre critics would judge when they analyzed the musical.