South Pacific (Widescreen Edition)

For this reason alone, every serious DVD owner who wishes to demonstrate the audio and video qualities of this format should add this as a reference disk...even with the scratch, in the start of reel 8 that was not edited out in the digital stage of authoring the DVD.

The producer of South Pacific was Magna Theatre Corp. The 35mm version was released by Fox. Magna was the sponsering development firm incorporated to develop Todd-AO process.

Philips of Holland developed the DP-70 projection system for Todd-AO - the only moving picture machine to ever be awarded an Oscar. The DP-70 has yet to be improved upon or equaled to this day.

The Todd-AO reduction prints in 35mm anamorphic (CinemaScope)have been used by AMC and others to show on TV is very sadly, what the public has seen since the end of the original roadshow engagements.

The depth of field in the Todd-AO process is lost to viewers who have uncorrected stigmatisim.

The audio in Dolby 5.1 is excellent. The original audio was 5 speakers behind the screen and one channel for surround on the side and rear walls of the theater.

South Pacific was the third motion picture photographed in Todd-AO and the first to revert from 30 frames per second to 24 fps. ( a step backward)

While I am on the subject, the first Todd-AO movie, Oklahoma! on DVD is likewise from the 65mm negative and has the same superb technical qualities.

The R&H legacy of the American Musical Theater is a matter of history the stories are classic and timeless, on many levels.

I know how well the Todd-AO prints looked, because I ran them as a projectionist in a Todd-AO theatre.


A Hauntingly Beautiful Film   March 27, 2001
gobirds2 (New England)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

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.


Vastly superior to the 2001 remake   September 24, 2001
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

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.


It's simply the best...   May 6, 2004
Hopelessly Romantic (Wilmington, DE USA)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

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!


Underrated film version of R&H show   July 17, 1999
Niel Rishoi (Ann Arbor, MI USA)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

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 derriere. 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.