South Pacific (1958)

Commence groaning as necessary for that summary, but at least prepare to be dazzled by R&H's most amazing, underrated musical of all time.

The love story is between a spirited young Navy nurse and an older French planter who's afraid of losing anything. While that makes for some very groan-friendly moments, everything is forgiven when you peer through the weird, multi-colored lenses and pay attention to what's actually going on: a fantastic story (besides the romance) is unfolding. It's the story of a world where everything is changing, and the road down that way could not have been better.

There's lots to love here, so don't be distracted by what you can use to maul this movie. The performances are great, the songs are probably the only songs I've never minded having looped in my head that weren't written by Richard O'Brien, and the beauty of the South Pacific is something that would be amazing to behold anywhere from a majestic silver screen to a tiny little kitchen-table TV set.

As far as musicals go, this is one of my all-time favorites and should be the same for more people.

Fmovies: Although Rogers and Hammerstein wrote many great musicals, I believe that overall the score of South Pacific is the strongest, producing many 'old standards'.

"There is Nothing' Like a Dame", "Younger than Springtime", "Bali Hai", Gonna Wash that Man Right outa my Hair", and the eternal "Some Enchanted Evening" are major highlights, but many other delightful and strong songs help fill this impressive musical.

Of course there is a love story, but there is also a strong lesson of the dangers of bigotry even for people who would never imagine themselves to be so.

Many have criticized the filters used in camera shots during many songs (and a few other scenes). It was ground breaking at the time, and certainly different. Although I myself would certainly rather see the 'pure colors' of those scenes as well, I can respect the wish of the cinematographer to try something that had really seldom been done in major films, but is a staple of still photography.

Unless you just hate musicals, this is a must see film in its genre.

While I was too young to have seen the original Broadway production - and thus that might account for the previous criticism posted above - I think the fault lies with the reviewer (seeing a 1950's musical in 1990's terms).

The lighting, so criticized, added and accented the moods of the film as few films did at the time. The music, possibly without match in an American musical, fit the moods equally well - taking the viewer from the high tensions of the Young Lovers or of the eventual return of Emile. At the same time, the bawdy humorous numbers add temporary humor while the tension of the story line mounts.

Socially, the themes of race and general human cruelty are delivered to the audience without them even noticing. Something in which so many of the modern-day productions fail miserably.

Truly the most complete American musical on many levels!

South Pacific fmovies. This is my favorite R&H musical and I play the original Broadway s/t frequently because I love Pinza.

I agree with an earlier poster who commented that Mary Martin was much too old and earthy for the young innocent Nellie. Mitzi Gayner was perfect. I also love the different hues for the singing. It does give the movie a different feel to it.

Of all the R&H musicals, this one was the best to transfer to the screen (with exception of King and I). Too bad they can't find a complete reel of the latter movie.

And my favorite song from the show/movie is This Nearly Was Mine, a heartbreaking song if there ever was one. Pinza breaks my heart on the OBC recording. Tozzi is good, too, but Pinza is the peak.

And R&H were pressured to drop You've Got to be Carefully Taught and they refused. The racial prejudice runs right through the picture without hitting you over the head with it and it was way ahead of its time. But then the book was written by James Michener who had an Asian wife and who knew about prejudice.

I love this movie -- still!

This is indeed one of the classics of musical theater but the use of the colored filters during many of the musical numbers was very distracting. I have this movie on laser disc and every time I watch it I want to choke whoever was responsible for giving the go ahead to this failed experiment. There they are in one of the most beautiful places in the world to shoot a movie and they use colored filters to take out most of the color during the best moments of the film. I also felt that with certain songs (particularly Mitzi Gaynor's) that there should have been considerably more dancing. Instead she sings 70% of most of her songs directly into the camera. Why did they hire a dancer for that role in the first place if they weren't going to have her dance?

This film is due to be re-released in 70MM for limited engagements next year. A new restored DVD is also being prepared by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment which includes scenes that were cut back in 1958. Somebody commented recently about the fact that "lap-dissolves" were used between many scenes in this film and this person obviously felt that this was some kind of fault. This was a common editing technique utilized in the past and was used usually to signify the passage of time. It is rarely used these days and obviously that person has not encountered this technique before and has assumed that it is a fault, but this is not the case.

I am curious to know if the new transfer will feature the Broadway continuity(the Emile-Nellie Plantation scene before the "Bloody Mary" scene)? I hope it is an anamorphic transfer?