On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 10 nominations total
Giorgio Tozzi
- Emile De Becque
- (singing voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJuanita Hall, who had played Bloody Mary in the original Broadway production, obviously sang her own songs onstage, but was dubbed in the film version at the request of composer Richard Rodgers. Rodgers and musical director Alfred Newman brought in Muriel Smith (who had played Bloody Mary in London).
- GoofsThe appearance of African Americans as Seabees is not an error. Over 12,000 such sailors served in the Construction Brigades, despite segregation in other parts of the WWII military.
- Quotes
Emile de Becque: When all you care about is here, this is a good place to be.
- Crazy creditsThere are probably more dubbed singing voices in this film than in any other screen version of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, but the only one which actually receives screen credit is that of Giorgio Tozzi, who dubs the singing voice of Emile de Becque (Rosanno Brazzi). This is because Tozzi was a renowned bass-baritone with the Metropolitan Opera.
- Alternate versionsThe 1999 DVD contains some scenes where the color filters are either more subtle or completely removed compared to previous versions. However, the filters were reinstated for the 2006 DVD and 2009 Blu-Ray.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siege (1983)
- SoundtracksSouth Pacific Overture
(1949) (uncredited)
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Performed by the 20th Century-Fox Studio Orchestra Conducted by Alfred Newman
Featured review
Josh Logan's colour-filter paradise
This slush-fest version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's famous musical suffers on the small screen because of its constant use of colour filters during the songs. On a big screen, this looks great, but just looks odd on TV.
This aside, though, this film of 'South Pacific' has much to enjoy. Mitzi Gaynor is a bubbly personality and is clearly enjoying herself as Nellie Forbush, 'washing that man out of her hair' and so on. Rossano Brazzi is charming as Emile (the singing is expertly done by Giorgio Tozzi); we can have a pang of regret that Ezio Pinza was seen to be too old to play the role by the time the film appeared - his work with Mary Martin in the original cast survives in cast recordings - but Brazzi looks the part.
John Kerr is a bit of a wet fish as Lt. Cable, while Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary is excellent, and Ray Walston as Luther, and France Nuyen as Liat, make an impression in smaller roles. The musical numbers are done extremely well - 'Bali Ha'i', 'I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy', 'Some Enchanted Evening', 'Younger Than Springtime', and 'Happy Talk' and the rest.
Where the film does flag is in the sequences where Emile and Cable go to the island to report on the Japanese invaders. This was handled rather better in the 1990s remake, and also moves along better in the stage version. Here, it clashes a bit with the romantic overtones of the rest of the production.
This aside, though, this film of 'South Pacific' has much to enjoy. Mitzi Gaynor is a bubbly personality and is clearly enjoying herself as Nellie Forbush, 'washing that man out of her hair' and so on. Rossano Brazzi is charming as Emile (the singing is expertly done by Giorgio Tozzi); we can have a pang of regret that Ezio Pinza was seen to be too old to play the role by the time the film appeared - his work with Mary Martin in the original cast survives in cast recordings - but Brazzi looks the part.
John Kerr is a bit of a wet fish as Lt. Cable, while Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary is excellent, and Ray Walston as Luther, and France Nuyen as Liat, make an impression in smaller roles. The musical numbers are done extremely well - 'Bali Ha'i', 'I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy', 'Some Enchanted Evening', 'Younger Than Springtime', and 'Happy Talk' and the rest.
Where the film does flag is in the sequences where Emile and Cable go to the island to report on the Japanese invaders. This was handled rather better in the 1990s remake, and also moves along better in the stage version. Here, it clashes a bit with the romantic overtones of the rest of the production.
- How long is South Pacific?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $458,000
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $258,350
- Aug 26, 2018
- Gross worldwide
- $476,564
- Runtime2 hours 37 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.20 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content