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South Pacific | Year: 1958 Classification: Musical Directed: - Joshua Logan Actors/Actresses: - Rossano Brazzi - Mitzi Gaynor - John Kerr (II) Mitzi Gaynor is perfect as Nellie... I'm surprised at much of the negative criticism, especially Leonard Matlin's commentary reproduced above. Contrary to some reviewers I thought Mitzi Gaynor performance and "looks" were perfect for the role of Ensign Nellie Forbush. Her romantic interest, Rossano Brazzi, is sophisticated and handsome, but their age difference is a bit wide. Ray Walston (Luther Billis)steals each of his many scenes. I agree with those who view John Kerr (Lt. Joe Cable) as the weakest member of the cast. It's a shame color filters were used during some of the musical's major songs. The blurring-off color effect takes away from the performances. Early in the 21st century, the musical theme, interracial romance/marriage, doesn't carry the impact it undoubtedly had back 1949 when the show opened on Broadway. "South Pacific," released to theaters some 43 years ago, remains an excellent adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway hit. It belongs in any collection of the American musical theater. 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. It's simply the best... 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! Buy South Pacific at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on South Pacific Search with the Priority Search Engine on South Pacific This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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