South Pacific

Old fashioned, beautifully shot in its namesake islands and Hawaii, Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC was one of the first musicals my parents ever showed me on the big screen.

It's still a favorite today, loaded with drama, laughs and some of the best songs ever written for the American musical theater.

If you've seen it once, you've probably seen it a dozen times. Released in 1958 after its Broadway debut in 1949, it was ahead of its time in its powerful take on racism and conflict.

Its messages land even harder after the story has introduced you to some very likeable characters that all connect in the South Pacific.

Mitzi Gaynor (Anything Goes) is fantastic as Nurse Nellie Forbush, a beautiful optimist from the middle of America who falls for wealthy local landowner and man of mystery Emilie De Becque, perfectly cast in the suave Rossano Brazzi (The Final Conflict, The Italian Job).

Ray Walston (The Sting, Fast Times at Ridgemont High) is hilarious as Luther Billis, the wily navy man who can get you whatever you want. But he struggles to get a day pass to the stunning but secretive island of Bali Hai, always looming in the distance with great music swelling up behind it.

He finds his ticket to the island in new arrival Lt. Joe Cable (John Kerr from "The Pit and the Pendulum") who's looking for both De Becque and a quick getaway to Bali Hai.

Broadway vet Juanita Hall repeats her stage role of Bloody Mary, the local woman who seems to run the island. Her songs were dubbed by Muriel Smith, who played the role in London. Her stunning daughter Liat (France Nuyan) is about to fall for Lt. Cable in a romance that predicted Chris & Kim in "Miss Saigon" decades before the Vietnam conflict.

The war looms, love blossoms and fantastic songs fill the entire film, never dragging the action down. Director Joshua Logan (Camelot, Paint Your Wagon) delivers a widescreen spectacle, making great use of the locations and his director of photography Leon Shamroy (Cleopatra, Planet of the Apes). Logan make a bold choice (that Shamroy famously hated!) in key moments of the film, wiping a colored filter across the lens to create a dream like state. It really bothered me on the early VHS and DVD transfers of the film, but in the new High-Def versions, the clarity pops and the red to yellow to purple transitions during "Bali Hai" stun.

As the songs fade and the romanticism of the moment fades, the film returns to the harsh daylight of reality.

The only Rodgers and Hammerstein film adaption to include every song from the Broadway version, it even adds "My Girl Back Home" that was unbelievably cut from the final show in NYC.

Every song is a legend of modern musical theater, including "Some Enchanted Evening", "There is Nothin' Like a Dame", "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair", "I'm In Love With a Wonderful Guy" and "This Nearly Was Mine". They are all great. "Carefully Taught" is a brilliant statement on racism that holds every bit the power today it did 60 years ago, post World War II.

After the intermission, as Lt. Cable journeys back to Bali Hai to meet with Liat, the orchestrations and photography are jaw dropping. Listen to that music and see the couple swimming underwater and you instantly escape. Did anyone ever transport the viewer with music & lyrics quite like Rodgers & Hammerstein? In my opinion, no.

Mitzi Gaynor is fantastic, offering up one of the most winning, confident and enjoyable performances of any movie musical. We see the world through her eyes, but not through rose colored glasses. Gaynor won the role over every major film actress of the day, including Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day and Audrey Hepburn.

Brazzi matches her in all the dramatic moments. His singing is voiced by Georgio Tozzi, seamlessly. Alfred Newman conducting the huge 20th Century Fox orchestra wows in the new Dolby soundtrack.

We had the great fortune of seeing the 2008 Broadway revival (Twice!) at NYC's Lincoln Center, complete with a full orchestra for the first time since its initial run. Kelli O'Hara and Tony Winner Paulo Szot, Matthew Morrison and Danny Burstein were all terrific and both nights, the orchestra received a standing ovation before they played a note. Then the Lincoln Center stage floor slid out over the orchestra and the play began. Powerful.

The film is based on James Michener's book "Tales of the South Pacific" and its strength is the ability to weave powerful war time events into the personal relationships of those stationed together against the enemy. Michener is a powerful writer and his stories are the solid core that the lyrics wrap around.

This was the top grossing film at the box office in 1958 and featured the first soundtrack to be issued on a stereo LP album!

Watch for Tom Laughlin as the pilot dropping Cable off as the film opens. He's terrific in a small part, 13 years before he broke out as Billy Jack.

Find the biggest screen you can, turn up the sound and escape to the SOUTH PACIFIC. No matter how many times you've visited this classic, it's always powerful entertainment.

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, it deservedly won Best Sound for Todd AO's Fred Hynes (Oklahoma!, Cleopatra) and wins an A from this corner. It's ultra widescreen, old fashioned spectacle at its very best.