South Pacific (1958)

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.

Director:

Joshua Logan

Writers:

Paul Osborn (screenplay), Richard Rodgers (adapted from the play "South Pacific")

Stars:

Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr

Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rossano Brazzi	...	Emile De Becque
Mitzi Gaynor	...	Ensign Nellie Forbush, USN
John Kerr	...	Lt. Joseph Cable, USMC
Ray Walston	...	Luther Billis
Juanita Hall	...	Bloody Mary
France Nuyen	...	Liat
Russ Brown	...	Capt. Brackett, USN
Jack Mullaney	...	The Professor
Ken Clark	...	Stewpot
Floyd Simmons	...	Commander Harbison, USN
Candace Lee	...	Ngana - Emile's Child
Warren Hsieh	...	Jerome - Emile's Child
Tom Laughlin	...	Lt. Buzz Adams
Giorgio Tozzi	...	Emile De Becque (singing voice)
Archie Savage	...	Chief - Boar's Tooth Ceremonial Dancer / Ceremonial Dance Chief

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

u.s. navy | singing | based on stage musical | tony award source | polynesia | 

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Taglines:

The one... the only... the original! [1964 USA re-release]

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Genres:

Musical | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

14 April 1958 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Al sur del Pacífico

Filming Locations:

Kaua'i, Hawaii, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$36,800,000, 31 December 1958

Company Credits

Production Co:

Magna Theatre Corporation,South Pacific Enterprises,Rodgers & Hammerstein Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

157 min 171 min (roadshow)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm mag-optical prints) Mono (35 mm optical prints) 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The soundtrack album for the film was the first Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II film soundtrack to be issued in stereo, the same year that the mono version was issued. (Because stereo LP's were not possible until 1958, the movie soundtrack albums of Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956) and The King and I (1956) were issued in mono between 1955 and 1956, the stereo versions in 1958.)

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Goofs

In the beginning of the film, the controls of the pilot and co-pilot are not really linked. It's obvious that the pilot is turning the wheel but the co-pilots is not in sync. It's turned by an unseen hand.

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Quotes

Luther Billis: That darn Bali Hai. Why does it have to be off-limits? You can get everything over there... shrunken heads, bracelets.

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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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Alternate Versions

The UK cut of the film begins with the first scene of Nellie and Emile at the plantation, and then the first Seabees scene, as was done originally on Broadway. US distributor 20th Century Fox decided to rearrange the two sequences, thus opening the film with "Bloody Mary".

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Connections

Referenced in The Wonder Years: Just Between Me and You and Kirk and Paul and Carla and Becky (1989)

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Soundtracks

My Girl Back Home
(1949) (uncredited)
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers
Performed by John Kerr (dubbed by Bill Lee) and Mitzi Gaynor

User Reviews

In Love With A Wonderful Guy

Though it is only the second longest running of Rodgers&Hammerstein's musical shows, South Pacific I believe contains the best score with The King and I running a close second. On Broadway it opened in 1949 and closed 1925 shows later in 1954. It gave Mary Martin her career role on Broadway and made a pop star out of Metropolitan Opera basso Ezio Pinza.

Opening on Broadway only four years after VE Day, South Pacific found a ready made audience with the American public who believed in the rightness of the cause just fought for. The show is based on two short stories from an anthology of stories entitled Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener. The success of South Pacific boosted Michener's reputation as a novelist in no small way.

It's only too bad that South Pacific was not made with the original Broadway leads because it took so long to come to the screen. Ezio Pinza had died in 1956. He had done a couple of films in Hollywood that didn't do that good, but Pinza scored another great success on Broadway in Fanny. Too bad he didn't get to do that film either.

Mary Martin was also getting a bit long in the tooth by 1958 to be playing young Ensign Nellie Forbush. Also in a previous sojourn in Hollywood she hadn't done that good for some inexplicable reason. Mitzi Gaynor stepped very nicely into Mary's shoes and being more of a dancer than Martin, Gaynor's part had more dancing than on Broadway. Check the routine she has when she sings and dances about that wonderful guy she's just fell in love with. It's a shame that Mitzi Gaynor did not come along when musicals were at their height. How great she would have been in some Busby Berkeley epics.

Pinch hitting for Pinza is Rossano Brazzi and for Pinza's voice, Giorgio Tozzi. The big hit of South Pacific, probably the greatest hit from Rodgers&Hammerstein is Some Enchanted Evening. The popularity of that song made the South Pacific original cast album a big seller. And a whole slew of singers recorded it. Bing Crosby and Perry Como had big selling records in 1949 and Al Jolson as well.

The comedy is supplied by Ray Walston who was fresh from Broadway and Hollywood playing Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees. He plays Luther Billis, sailor and conman extraordinaire. On Broadway the part was done by Myron McCormick.

In fact Walston's big scene is a reminder of how film can do things that on stage you can only imagine. He accidentally falls out of a plane with a parachute fortunately just off a Japanese held island. He's thrown a rubber life raft and has to paddle like mad to get out of range of the enemy weapons. And then sits back and enjoys the show as a whole slew of fighters pound the Japanese on that island. It's described on stage, but here you can enjoy it first hand.

The primary story is the romance between nurse Nellie Forbush from Little Rock, Arkansas and French expatriate planter Emile DeBecque, Brazzi's character. The secondary story line concerns marine lieutenant Joseph Cable, nicely played by John Kerr with dubbed singing voice. Juanita Hall who is from the original cast is Bloody Mary is trying to match Cable with her daughter Liat played by France Nuyen in one of her first screen roles. She's quite the operator herself, Bloody Mary and more than a match for Walston.

Three young players who made it big later and had bit parts in South Pacific were James Stacy, Doug McClure and featured prominently is Tom Laughlin, the future Billy Jack.

It's too bad that we don't have a nice technicolor version of Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, but this is a pretty good group of players who worked hard and made a wonderful movie.