Cheap South Pacific (DVD) (Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr (II)) (Joshua Logan) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of South Pacific

It must be served better when seen in widescreen.
Before I begin, I just would like to correct a minor error on the part of the Amazon.com reviewer if I may. Juanita Hall actually did not sing in this movie. THough she starred and sang in the original Broadway show, she was dubbed in the movie by Muriel Smith, who played Bloody Mary in London. The dubbing, alas, in painfully obvious, since Hall's rather low speaking voice and Smith's high singing voice don't jive at all. (Everyone except for Mitzi Gaynor was dubbed, but more convincingly) And I agree that, yes, the performances and script, while pretty adequate, weren't quite as good as they could have been. But in spite of this, I don't think this film deserves the beating it's taken for years. The fact that I saw the widescreen edition of it may affect my opinion.

Despite the film's flaws, should we really care or even notice them when we have that gorgeous, wonderfully orchestrated Rodgers and Hammerstein score to more than make up for every single one of them? The songs are the real stars here, and they are performed magnificently. The lush scenery of Hawaii also helps a great deal. I wasn't even bothered very much by the infamous colored filters. They caused my eyes to water a little bit at first, but I quickly got used to them and did not mind them at all. This film looks and sounds gorgeous, and that makes it okay in my book. I didn't even think about the film's flaws until near the end. Perhaps this is best served on widescreen. I'm sure it was great on Broadway, (The OBC recording grew on me after a couple of listens; at first, I didn't like it too much) but the film is fine, too, even in glorious Multicolor!

---

Superb Restoration from original TODD-AO Negative
Hallelujah! Finally, Fox has retired the CinemaScope print versions previously used in its two video incarnations and gone back to the TODD-AO 65 mm negative to bring us the definitive edition of SOUTH PACIFIC. The THX digitally restored film (available in both pan and scan and widescreen) is impeccably beautiful. The colors are all true and rich and deep. No more grain or bleed as we had in the Scope versions, especially in the controversial color filter sequences, which now render powerful and true as they were intended (and which netted cinematographer Leon Shamroy an Oscar nom). The widescreen version is the one to get, however - the sweep and beauty of the scenery and composition of the players meld into a perfect whole. I've seen this dozens of times but was mesmerized with this print as if seeing it for the first time. Most of the controversy over the film's casting and acting and direction stem from the small screen pan and scan - you NEED the widescreen lush backgrounds to understand the story, why the natives are attracted to it and why it holds the naive Americans in its seductive sway. RUN to get a print of this while they last - a great musical (remember it ran in its TODD-AO versions for over a year in the major city roadshow releases - audiences of the day LOVED it, despite the critics' lukewarm responses). This is a true WINNER! For the record this also contains the original Overture (Some Enchanted Evening, A Wonderful Guy, Nothin Like A Dame, Younger Than Springtime); the Entr'acte (Younger Than Springtime, Gonna Wash That Man, Bloody Mary, Bali H'ai); and Exit Music (Younger Than Springtime, A Wonderful Guy, Some Enchanted Evening, Bali Ha'i) all set against travelogue vista outtakes and title card backgrounds.

---

Another Let Down
The first time I watched this I was hitting the sauce pretty hard with the result that I thought it was one of the greatest movies ever made. In the next few days I tried to re-watch it and there were some things I wasn't going for. (The interesting thing is I was drinking just as much, if not more.) Actually, there were a lot of things I wasn't going for, but I'll only mention a few of them: (1) There's some saying that the French plantation owner keeps spouting to the nurse as if it were their "little phrase" - something like "Fools never argue, wise men never agree", that's not it, but it was something that sounds profound but is actually a piece of garbage. Even if it were profound, I don't need to hear it. (2) This movie starts out making some pretense to being a realistic war movie, but the combat scenes toward the end are asinine in the extreme. (3) The nurse and the marine are both supposed to be racists who need to be straightened out, with the implication that YOU are if you're white. I'm sorry but I watch musicals to be entertained, not to get a course of "sensitivity training." -- If I ever watch this again, I'm going to cut it down to watching 2 or 3 of Mitzi Gaynor's numbers.