Customer Reviews

South Pacific (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(142)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I first saw South Pacific when it was released in 1958 at the age of 10, and remember being totally overwhelmed by the orchestrations, performances and photography. Over the years I have regularly heard the film trashed by critics and many members of the public, so I was curious to see how I would respond to it now when I recently bought the video. Well, maybe it's just me, but I found the film as thrilling and beautiful as I did forty years ago. I agree with everyone else that it was a mistake to use those colored filters in many of the sequences, but the film still packs a heck of an emotional whallop, and I think along with The King and I stands out as the most successful of the Rogers and Hammerstein shows put on film. The weakest of the cast is John Kerr, who is somewhat wooden; however, Juanita Hall is magnificent as Bloody Mary (she will never be surpassed in the role she createwd on Braodway), Rossano Brazzi is thoroghly convincing as Emille DeBeque (even if he was dubbed by Giorgio Tozzi), and Mitzi Gaynor gives an unforgettable performance as Nelly Forbrush. Of all of the criticism one hears of South Pacific, to me the most puzzling is the bashing of Mitzi Gaynor, who to me is not only excellent but perfection in the role. I realize a lot of this probably stems from anger that Mary Martin didn't get the role and is basically sour grapes, but the fact is Ms. Martin was too old to be convincing in 1958. The scenes in which Ms. Gaynor struggles with her small-town prejudices are moving and very real, and when Bloody Mary brings Liat to her to find Lieutenant Cable, who has been killed, it breaks one's heart. Anyway, the movie still knocks me out, even if that makes me, as Nelly Forbrush calls herself, a "knucklehead." The incredible photography, gorgeous music, and theme of the need to triumph over bigotry which is still so relevant even today, makes this film a 5-star winner in my book. As trite as it sounds, "They don't make 'em like that anymore!"

This brand new edition of SOUTH PACIFIC is a must for all fans of the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein classic. Based on characters and segments from James Michener's "Tales of the South Pacific", the story takes place on the islands during the tail-end of World War II. A pretty young nurse from Arkansas, Ensign Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor), falls in love with a wealthy French plantation owner Emile de Becque (Rossano Brazzi). Their relationship is tested when she discovers that he fathered two children with a now-dead Polynesian wife, and that he is wanted for the murder of a man in France. As Nellie confronts her own fears and prejudices, the handsome Lt. Joe Cable (John Kerr) falls helplessly in love with Bali Ha'i island beauty Liat (France Nuyen). Filling out the comedy in the tale are Bloody Mary (Juanita Hall), the wheeler-dealer with a heart of pure gold; and Luther Billis (Ray Walston), the tattooed leader of the beach-bound troops.

This DVD has been available for a while in the UK and Australia, and now finally gets a US release this November. The double-disc set includes two versions of the film: the original theatrical cut, and the rarely-seen Roadshow version which runs for 20 minutes longer with material that was subsequently trimmed for the film's general theatrical release. Audio commentary is provided by Ted Chapin and Gerard Alessandrini (original theatrical cut); and Richard Barrios (Roadshow version).

Extra features will include the fascinating "60 Minutes" report by Diane Sawyer with James Michener returning to the islands and reuniting with people that served as the inspirations for characters in the book...including the real Bloody Mary. Vintage performances from the "General Foods" Rodgers & Hammerstein TV tribute (original Broadway leads Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza), two MovieTone news segments and the trailer.

With the world a little shaky now, it's a real pleasure to be able to put on a DVD and take a trip down memory lane to 1958 when South Pacific was released in movie theaters. The Rogers and Hammerstein score sets the tone for this musical adaptation of the Broadway show that was based on Tales of the South Pacific" by James Mitchener.

The story is set on an island in the South Pacific during WW2. The Japanese are entrenched in a nearby island and are bombing American forces that go near, but life is sweet for the G.I.s at the naval base. Mitzi Gaynor, cast as a nurse, is beginning a romance with an older distinguished French planter played by Rossano Brazzi. John Kerr is a young lieutenant who comes to the island to convince the planter to risk his life to spy for the Americans. And Juanita hall is the older native woman who pushes her daughter, the lovely France Nuyen, at John Kerr. The music is excellent and the words of the songs really do move the story along.

The theme however, is more than a love story. It deals with racism and the tragedy of war too. And these themes are what held it all together for me. It's a great human statement surrounded by wonderful familiar melodies that I'm still humming this morning. I loved it. And I didn't even care that, with the exception of Rossano Brazzi and Ray Walston, whose role as a sailor who always has a scheme and adds some really funny comic relief to this tale of love and war, the acting in general was mediocre. Everyone else gave rather stilted performances, and Mitzi Gaynor might be pretty, but she can't quite show a wide range of emotion. Also, the songs were all dubbed and obviously so. But that was the way Hollywood did things in those days. It's also interesting to note what the standard for beauty was in 1958. With the exception of the dancers, it was youth alone and not workouts in the gym that shaped the actors' bodies. Narrow waists were in style for the women, but hips were allowed to flare naturally.

I loved South Pacific in spite of its few faults. It was great entertainment even though it didn't make me forget the prospect of war. If you've never seen this film, don't miss it. And if you've seen it before, it's certainly worth a revisit. Highly recommended.

Over the decades, I've seen this film many, many times -- on TV, on VHS, on laserdisc. Each time I saw it, I wanted it to be a bit more than it was:

-- I've always wished I could appreciate the performance of Ray
Walston as Luther Billis, because all of his scenes were pure
ham, and he nearly ruined all the scenes he was in...for me.

-- I have always wished "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"
was as complete in the film as it is on the RCA soundtrack
recording (I'll tackle this now -- the complete version never made
any final cut of the film).

-- I've always wished I could see the film as originally assembled
and premiered.

-- I have always wished Alfred Newman's scoring -- brilliant though
it is in all the cuts I'd seen of the film -- offered a bit more
Newman flair.

And now, I'm extremely gratified to say, my wishes have nearly all come true.

This restoration print is phenomenal. Yes there are some washed-out scenes, but I don't care. They are finally back where they belong. This roadshow restoration was printed from a Todd-AO master negative and is a considerably DIFFERENT film from the one most of us have been exposed to the past 49 years.

The print is magnificent, clear and in many ways looks better than most new films look today.

This roadshow version resonates for me in ways that the theatrical cut never did. Time and again, the music set my heart racing, my pulse throbbing, and my senses went into overload.

This film is a visual and aural feast. It's also now my favorite film musical EVER!

Color filters? Bah! Get over 'em! I read somewhere that cinematographer Leon Shamroy wanted them for the purpose of achieving/enhancing emotional responses to scenes. Other sources say it was director Joshua Logan who insisted on using them, primarily because he had experimented with such things in the Broadway production. I know many responses have been sheer hatred/disdain for all the filters, but I love many of them. Those I don't I ignore.

I've read/heard a lot of hoo-haw about the casting of Nellie Forbush (including the highly negative and wishy-washy commentary by Richard Barrios, a film historian whose commentary is replete with "people" have said -- "many people", "some people", "people", "a friend", "someone"...all in the negative...and always attributing his negativity to unnamed others. He seemingly owns nothing he says, but doesn't mind repeating what he has heard. This depletes him of any sort of authority on the subject. It's unfathomable to me that a studio would afflict a restoration of one of its most profitable movies with such absurd negativity...especially given the film's many admirers).

Much has been discussed about why Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza did not recreate their roles. One of the features on the second disc will show you why -- check out the numbers performed in that 1954 Rodgers and Hammerstein TV tribute (three years before filming began on the movie version). Martin looks to be somewhere in her 40s (she was 51)...and matronly plump -- and Pinza (who was 62) looks terrible (and totally unromantic-leadish). You can get away with a lot on stage, but you cannot hide such things on camera. I doubt that Martin was EVER considered for the role. And Pinza died in 1957.

Mary Martin was a great, shining star of the Broadway musical theater. She had a lightly raspy singing voice that she invested with great emotional nuance and feeling. I am a huge fan of Martin's and mean her no disrespect in my observations above.

Barrios maintains that Mitzi Gaynor's voice was not in Martin's league. I'm not sure what he means by that because to my ears, Gaynor's voice is leagues better than Martin's in quality and range. He may be saying he felt Martin's intepretation of the songs was better (and he comes off as one of those somewhat snooty theatrical drama mavens for whom nothing translated to the screen from the theater will ever be good enough, but I disagree with virtually everything that comes out of his mouth on the commentary so I won't mention him again).

There is talk that Elizabeth Taylor was a candidate. What a blessing THAT never happened.

The other great "sigh-in-the-sky" complaint is that Doris Day would have been perfect as Nellie but that she turned off Joshua Logan at a party one night when she refused to get up and sing for guests. I'd always heard she refused to audition for Richard Rodgers.

At any rate...I certainly cannot imagine Doris Day, with her all-too-familiar mannerisms, as Nellie Forbush in "South Pacific." I know she had the look, but I think Gaynor was by far the best choice of those considered for the role.

Many will strongly disagree. And many of those will be the same folks who still bemoan the loss of Frank Sinatra as Billy Bigelow in "Carousel." The visual imagery of that casting still induces giggles. That slight, skinny man wearing a barker's cap and being a rugged barker on a carousel? I think Hollywood dodged a HUGE misfire when he walked out on that film.

Watch Gaynor's performance closely in this roadshow version -- she is luminous, she is restrained, she is exuberant. She is up to the task in every scene and pulls off some incredibly difficult scenes with great dramatic effect. Her vocals are magnificent.

And the huge surprise for me: Ray Walston is wonderful as Luther Billis. They restored much footage of him ...much of what was missing was character development and nuances. In the cut version we saw only the more hyper/extreme elements of his performance. This restored Luther Billis is terrific, and Walston owns the role!

Being a film music fan of many, many decades (!), I have to say that it's always the music that counts most for me in any musical (not to mention any other kind of film), but "South Pacific" is Alfred Newman's masterpiece. He took a classic Broadway score and made it shine more gloriously than it had ever shone before. It's thrilling beyond words to have Newman's original scoring returned to the film...many glorious flourishes pop up frequently to great effect...the entire segments like Cable's walk through the jungle of Bali Ha'i with Bloody Mary -- an entire chunk of film with an entire chunk of original music restored (the Newman scoring of this chunk brings to mind the opening music in the vision sequence in "The Song of Bernadette", but with exotic colorings employed rather than religious ones). Newman's work set a standard that has never been remotely approached by anyone but Newman himself (in "Camelot").

I cannot recommend the restored roadshow version of "South Pacific" more highly. See it (and IGNORE ENTIRELY the accompanying commentary).

Beware all those South Pacific fans....the best version ever to be released on DVD is on its way. For reasons no one seems to know America is the last country in the world to see the 2 disc edition of this classic movie musical. Writing from Australia where the special 2 disc edition has been available for some time, my suggestion is to wait for the real thing --it is worth it. The early edition which is the only one available on American Amazon is and has always been poorly adapted to DVD. The new version is finally 16.9 widescreen version and, wait for it, there are two versions and the second one is superior in that it is the complete 171 minute version of the film, uncut at last with scenes just about nobody (unless you were privy to the original roadshow screenings in the fifties in the States)has seen. You will see things that always seemed peculiar to me suddenly make sense (although, strangely the uncut version of "Wash that Man" remains lost, now probably forever)But this is a real treat and add twenty minutes from the Ford Tv special starring the original Broadway casts, two expert audio commentaries on both versions and a 60 minutes special on James Michener returning to the islands one more time and you have something worth waiting for......IF it ever gets a release in the States that is..!!!!

Hauntingly beautiful motion picture of Rodgers & Hammerstein's play, based on James Michener's book `Tales of the South Pacific' is full of atmosphere and has a strange mystical quality of far away places about it. The story is almost disturbing as the beautiful images of the South Pacific are juxtaposed against the background of W.W.II. The film moves at an enjoyable and leisurely pace but the viewer is always left with an underlying feeling of uneasiness pondering what the climax will bring to the main characters. This can be attributed to the dual love stories and the guilt, prejudices and insecurities felt by the two Americans toward their foreign love interests. Mitzi Gaynor as Nurse Nellie Forbush falls in love with the mysterious French plantation owner, Emile De Becque played by Rossano Brazzi. New arrival to the island, USMC Lt. Cable played by John Kerr meets and falls in love with the beautiful native girl Liat played by France Nuyen. The Americans, out of their environment are intoxicated by the almost unnatural beauty of the island thanks to Leon Shamroy's colorful and inventive location Cinematography. For me John Kerr's performance always stood out. He always seemed distant and truly disturbed by his own feelings. "You've Got to Be Taught" was a wonderful song expressing his feelings and Bloody Mary's outrage at his rejection of her daughter matched the ugliness of his own feelings. The images in this film are indelible and the overall effect evokes many moods and emotions. The movie has been critically misjudged and neglected for years. I think this has to do with the structure of the film. It is rather unconventional and does not follow a smooth narrative flow. I call it an emotional flow. The main character definitely appears to be Nellie Forbush given Mitzi Gaynor's energetic performance. Her concerns about Emile De Becque seem a little contrived, but that is intentional because in fact it should be. Rossano Brazzi is the mysterious Frenchman because we are simply told that he is mysterious. France Nuyen as Liat is very beautiful and desirable but even the viewer knows that a meaningful relationship with Lt. Cable is impossible. So all the emotions we feel as the viewer are pent up in just as they are in Lt. Cable. And John Kerr as Lt. Cable is really the odd man out. He is the tragic figure. He must either go back home or face his catharsis. The film has no strong main male character on the surface. Both men seem introverted and it is fitting that they both team together on the perilous mission. One man wanted to return and the other couldn't. "Bali H'ai" is a fitting song expressing all our feelings for what lies beyond the beautiful horizon of life and the examination of those feelings. "Some Enchanted Evening" beautifully expresses in song what can only be felt by the heart. This is a beautiful film. I never realized how good it was until I played it again just recently. Perhaps I am now a little older and a little wiser but the images in this film still hold a bit of mystery for me.

What a classic, wow! Don't believe one negative word you hear about this film. Everyone knows that the songs are the best Rogers & Hammerstein produced for one show. The singing in the film and the renditions are fabulous. The first time I saw this film I was 10 years old and, yes, it was in 1958 in an old, classic of a movie theater where the ushers were wearing suits. I was totally entranced by this great film at that time and still am today. Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi were excellent selections-- I don't think Mary Martin would have been any better. John Kerr looked exactly like a young Marine lieutenant circa 1942. Sure, ladies, it could have been someone who was known for having knockout looks, but they would not have been as effective. And France Nuyen captures the essence of a native girl like no one else and that was good casting opposite Kerr.

To me, the greatest achievement of this film is that Joshua Logan absolutely captured everything about the early 1940s in that cast of characters. Mitzi Gaynor has a 1940s face and style, and looked exactly like a Navy nurse. The same is true for the other characters but especially so for Kerr. If you look at war footage from the Pacific theater, you'll see hundreds of Marines with frames exactly like Kerr's. No one lifted weights back then so no one had the "body cuts" of a weight lifter. He looked just like a Marine Lt from WWII should have looked-- tall, very lean, serious but a kid at the same time. He was intense in the combat scene and very light during the scenes with Nuyen. And Juanita Hall couldn't have been better; she will always be everyone's vision of Bloody Mary.

Logan manages to take you back to that time over and over again even though it was filmed 15 years later. When I watch it today I know that the smells were different, the mindset was different, the clothes were different, the cultures were different, the people were different, and life was different; perhaps simpler. Logan capture all of that for us to see over and over again. Plus, he did it in a way that makes the racial point but does it without being vulgar.

South Pacific captures the World War II era in the same way that Gone with the Wind captures the Civil War era. We can never go back to those times, but Logan helps make time stand still. Best of all was his casting. This version of South Pacific is one of my all time favorite films and no classic film library should be without it. Buy it. Watch it. Love it!

I give this film 5 stars not because it's without fault, but because it manages to convey to the audience things they appreciate, and in fact justify in their minds why they watch movies in the first place. Sounds simple, but it is simply incredible how this recipe for success seems to be forgotten, or maybe it is just disdained as tripe for bumpkins. Well, hooray for us bumpkins.

This film shares a very important trait with "Sayonara" (with Marlon Brando and Red Buttons [two Oscars]); that is, it is an adaptation of a novel by James Michener where the screenplay is superior to the novel. This is not a slam against Michener. I avidly read "Tales of the South Pacific" and its sequel, the underappreciated "Return to Paradise." I enjoy both of these books very much -- they are very well crafted.

However, I would have to agree with those, including Michener himself, who describe him as a narrator, not a master of drama or romance. The way in which these screenplays amend his stories for film is very intelligently done.

Some points made by the detractors of this film are valid (but I disagree with the complaints about casting -- I think everyone, including John Kerr is just fine); but forget about the filters, and just enjoy the film. This film gives viewers some things to connect with. The love stories of this film are more interesting because of the theme of interracial romance. While youngsters seeing this film will probably wonder what's the big deal, this subject was still sensitive enough in 1957 to justify some not-too-subtle messages that open-mindedness is good and bigotry is bad. Anyway, the audience is clearly induced to be rooting for Nellie and Emile, and Joe Cable and Liat to end up together, and it's exactly this kind of prompting that tends to make viewers connect with and enjoy a movie.

Of course the main point of any musical is to entertain, and that it does with its songs and scenes. This is my second favorite musical, behind "My Fair Lady," which in my judgement is hands-down the greatest musical ever made. Most of the songs, words and music, in "South Pacific" are truly cleverly wrought -- the kind of stuff you like to have bouncing around in your head.

Each and every time I watch this film I am left charmed and delighted.

This film has too often taken an undeserved beating, when in truth it is as good a version of SOUTH PACIFIC as can be desired. It arguably "works" much better than the film versions of CAROUSEL, OKLAHOMA, and FLOWER DRUM SONG. Several factors may be taken into account for SOUTH PACIFIC's initial lack of success: when it was released in 1958, it was some 13 years after WWII, and by then some of the themes had lost its impact. The Broadway show of 1948 followed the war by only 3 years, and it was fresh, and new, and the impact of the show's two superstars, Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, was such that they were, in the public's mind, indelibly associated with SOUTH PACIFIC. So, how could Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi stand a chance? Though it may seem sacreligious to say so, in fact Gaynor and Brazzi are worthy successors to Pinza and Martin (who were indisputably great PERSONALITIES), even unique from their own standpoint - and in many ways are probably more desirable for the believability of the characters. Mitzi Gaynor's Nellie Forbush is appealingly sincere, spunky, fresh and lively, completely convincing in her role, not least in her inner conflicts about Emile and her own attitudes. She provides the most heartbreaking moment in the film: near the end, when Nellie draws Liat close to her after learning of Cable's death, Gaynor's compassion for the distraught girl is touching and filled with tragic remorse. Set against a brilliantly hued sky, this scene alone conveys the overwhelming tragedy of the story. Gaynor is in fact more attentive to characterization and the words in her songs than Martin displayed in the cast album: also Gaynor sounds much more the young woman, while her predecessor has a huskiness to her voice that imparts a middle-aged countenance. Rossano Brazzi is a dignified, passionate Emile, and absolutely believable in his love for the younger, optimistic Nellie: we SEE why she is good for him, and we care. Brazzi was dubbed by Metropolitan Opera bass Giorgio Tozzi, and he undoubtedly brings a great deal more characterization to his songs than did Pinza. Whereas Pinza sang his music in a very stately, operatic way, Tozzi pays careful attention to the words by carefully shading them, imparting much feeling and tenderness. All in all - Gaynor and Brazzi more than hold their own, notwithstanding the sour grapes often accorded them. The only dud in the cast is Ray Walston's Luther Billis, unfunny, and an irritating presence: comedy relief does not work in this show. The only genuinely funny moment occurs when Billis receives a well-aimed dart in his derrière. John Kerr is a deeply serious Cable, a man of little joy - until he meets Liat, when he seemingly becomes reborn, and his happiness is almost painful to see. Thus it is doubly tragic when he decides that he and Liat can never be together. France Nuyen is an exquisite Liat, her fresh face full of innocent wonder. Bill Lee, dubbing for Kerr, sings a sublime "Younger Than Springtime", completely eclipsing William Tabbert's nasal, braying account on the Broadway show album. Juanita Hall, the only member from the original Broadway cast, is a shrewd, formidable Bloody Mary. Hall is a commanding actress, with an expressive, knowing face and a wonderful laugh. When Cable tells her he can't marry Liat, Hall's rage is overwhelming. It is puzzling why Hall was dubbed by Muriel Smith in the film's soundtrack, as she sang effortlessly in the Broadway show album. Perhaps by 1958 her voice was no longer up to par. All the good work of the cast is undone by the ponderous direction. The film begins disastrously with a noisy scene onboard a military plane, thus providing a very weak beginning. If the film had begun as the play had, we would have been placed immediately in the human situation of Emile and Nellie. The actors are repeatedly upstaged by long military scenes, travelogue shots, and worst of all, the use of garish tints for several scenes - in a dubious attempt to create "mood". It is as though the director, Joshua Logan (or whomever was responsible), did not trust the actors and the already gorgeous scenery to provide whatever ambience needed. Particularly during the Emile/Nellie scenes do we feel this intrusion: their conversations are engrossing, and the busy, jerky manipulations undercut the tension: if I had been Gaynor and Brazzi I'd have been furious. Fortunately, these inexcusable treasons do not mar the overall impact of the film, which still has its superb score framed most persuasively: it is the most consistently original of all the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows - served by this very worthy treatment.

If you've studied Shakespeare, you know that for the most part, films of the Bard's plays just sit there. The same can be said of the brilliant play by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. It just doesn't translate to film very well. That being said, if you're looking for a film version of "South Pacific" this is the one you need. As uneven as it may at time seem, and as jarring as the color filters may be (though not quite as bad as you may have been led to believe), this version still captures the message and spirit of the 1949 play in so many ways that the 2001 remake does not. Mitzi Gaynor plays Nellie Forbush more convincingly than anyone. Plus, she looks great in her short shorts. Rossano Brazzi (whose singing is handled by Giorgio Tozzi) gives DeBecque that charm that makes us understand what on earth a woman in her 20s would see in him. This film leaves to your imagination exactly what happened when these two characters met. The 2001 remake makes the mistake of showing us how they met. The problem is, we can't understand why the 2001 Nellie is interested in DeBecque. Here it's very clear what the messages are. This is a story about racism, yes, but also what it is that fosters those prejudices, and almost as importantly, freedom. This film, unlike the 2001 version, explains in terms of symbolism why DeBecque murdered the town bully in his past. Here (as in the play), it's because this bully (meaning fascists) was terrorizing people into submission. In the 2001 version, he killed the man because he cheated at cards! Also, John Kerr's Lt. Cable at least seems charming, which Harry Connick, Jr's version does not. The subplot between Cable and Liat is also presented in a more faithful adaptation from the play. Their relationship is doomed because booksmart Cable, no matter what he feels about Liat, can't bring himself to accept the fact that he's falling in love with someone he was raised to see as his inferior. In the 2001 remake, Cable is almost portrayed as a civil rights leader, complete with a newly created fight with a newly created character who makes fun of him for seeing an island girl. The peripheral characters here are also much more likeable and charming than those in the remake. Ray Walston plays Billis exactly as Michener described him in "Tales of the South Pacific," as a wheeler-dealer. In the 2001 remake, Robert Pastorelli tries to make us like him, but his performance is wooden and fails to give the character any charm whatsoever. Your best bet is to see a local performance of "South Pacific" on the stage. Then you'll see what a brilliant piece of work it is, comparable to anything Shakespeare ever did. Neither film really does it justice, but if you're looking for a movie version of "South Pacific," don't strain yourself as you reach for this 1958 original over the awful 2001 remake.