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.
Can a girl from Little Rock find happiness with a mature French planter she got to know one enchanted evening away from the military hospital where she is a nurse? Or should she just wash that man out of her hair? Bloody Mary is the philosopher of the island and it's hard to believe she could be the mother of Liat who has captured the heart of Lt. Joseph Cable USMC. While waiting for action in the war in the South Pacific, sailors and nurses put on a musical comedy show. The war gets closer and the saga of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque becomes serious drama.
Written by Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>
The love scenes between characters Joe Cable and Liat were considered shocking by the still conservative standards of the late 1950s.
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Goofs
Anachronisms:
When Luther Billis is in the lifeboat being fired upon by Japanese troops, the rear of the lifeboat shows its manufacturing date as 'APR 1956'.
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Quotes
Emile de Becque:
What makes her talk like that - you and she? I do not believe it is born in you! I do not believe it! Lt. Cable:
It's not born in you - it happens after you're born! See more »
Crazy Credits
There 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.
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