South Pacific (1958)

South Terrific

Most people live on a lonely island
Lost in the middle of a foggy sea...

So begins the song "Bali Ha'i" as sung by Bloody Mary in "South Pacific".

I'm assuming when Mary says "most people" she means most people that she knows. For me, most people I know live smack dab in the middle of a large continent where winter snow can drive you indoors for months at a time. We often wish we lived on an island in the middle of a sea. 

"South Pacific" is the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical set in some islands in the middle of a sea. The movies stars Rossano Brazzi (singing voice dubbed by the outstanding Giorgio Tozzi) as Emile de Becque and Mitzi Gaynor as Nellie Forbush. 

The Italian Brazzi does a decent job as the "cultured Frenchman", but it is the beautiful and talented Gaynor who steals the show as the "little hick" from Little Rock. Her singing, dancing, and acting are all first rate. The supporting cast does not fare so well, with the exception being Ray Walston. He does a great job as the conniving "businessman" Luther Billis.

Lieutenant Cable is played by John Kerr. Why the producers chose this guy to play one of the heroes of the story is beyond comprehension. Kerr tries to make his character seem like a no-nonsense yet amiable and admirable tough guy. Instead he comes across as just a snarky joyless jerk. The producers certainly didn't hire Kerr for his singing prowess. His voice is as tinny and squeaky as Mr. Peepers. So, when he goes from spoken dialog to a singing voice (which is dubbed by the quite capable baritone Bill Lee), it's as jarring as if Bloody Mary had gone into a dance and demonstrated leaps, pirouettes, and pointe technique to rival Anna Pavlova.

Director Joshua Logan decided for, some reason, to shoot several scenes with colored filters. Apparently the final resulting look was harsher that what he had hoped for, but he never had time to correct it before the film's release. The resulting scenes do have a kind of dreamy quality, assuming your dream is that you're viewing the world from the inside of a giant lemon Jell-O mold. 

Besides Gaynor, the main attractions of the film are the superb songs. They don't write 'em like that anymore, right Lin-Manuel? I will grant though that the lyrics are quite dated. "There is nothin' like a dame". Indeed. Remember however that this was written in 1949.

Gaynor's performance and the terrific musical numbers more than compensate for the film's few flaws.

Rating:  8/10