Rating: 
Summary: Mitzi Gaynor is perfect as Nellie...
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Superb adaptation of the Broadway classic
Review: A wonderfully entertaining, well acted, even daring adaptation of the great Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway classic. If the music isn't quite up to the original, it is nevertheless outstanding, with Mitzi Gaynor delivering memorable versions of Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair and I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy, and Giorgio Tozzi, dubbing for Rosanno Brazzi, is quite good in the masterpiece Some Enchanted Evening (although he is not, nor could anyone be, as good as Ezio Pinza on Broadway). Brazzi himself is marvelous as a displaced, brooding, middle age French planter who wants no part of the U.S. war effort, Gaynor is sensational as the upbeat, All American nurse who falls for him, and the subplot involving a love affair between Lieutenant Cable and a young native girl is boldly and humanely portrayed. The ensemble number Nothing Like a Dame by the sailors who have been without women for months (with the immortal line What don't we get? You know damn well!) is a treat. All in all, a highly entertaining, first rate movie musical, among the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Gaynor? Kerr? Duh!
Review: If you can close your eyes and listen to just the music, then this VSH/DVD musical is worth the money. Even if you crack open your eyes, the technicolor is spectacular. But then you've got to watch the poor cast members who were all incredibly miscast by Josh Logan, the director. Mitzi Gaynor is so cloying and inept it's like watching someone emoting in a high school play. John Kerr is so colorless and flat, it's like he walked onto the set after doing a pimple commercial for TV. Rosanna Brazzi is gorgeous but the ravishing Rod Taylor and even Rock Hudson were also considered (yes, the unforgettably sizzling Rod Taylor of 'The Birds', 'The Time Machine.') Brazzi reportedly became enraged when the studio refused to let him use his own voice for singing. Those who heard him, said that for once, the studio proved astute because Brazzi sounded like a sick mule. The same insiders said that of all the actresses who screen tested for the femme role of Nellie Forbush, Liz Taylor was the one who knocked everyone out of their seats. She was at the peak of beauty and could actually carry a tune. Doris Day was also a knockout in her tests. Another contender, the now forgotten Joan McCracken who stole the l947 musical, "Good News" away from leads June Allyson and Peter Lawford, is also supposed to have been dynamite. But did Logan even consider them? As another reviewer pointed out, he kept muttering, "they'll have to be dubbed." Ha! He finally ened up dubbing everyone--from Rosanna to Bloody Mary to the nerdish John Kerr. Only giggly little Mitzi escaped the dubbing booth. I think the color filters were beautiful, the scenery divine, Brazzi sexy as all get out. If only the cast had been as memorable.
Rating:
Summary: Most people live on a lonely island (or a gray cube)
Review: This is an exceptional movie on many levels. The adaptation from play to screen carried without the look and feel. The music outsells the movie. They picked the best actors for EVERY part. The use of colored filters [Todd-AO (70-mm version)] and actually using a remote island (Tioman Island, Malaysia) added to the exotic feel. The social implications are still with us today. With all the cinema options today I almost forgot that I had this tape until yesterday when Ray Walston who played Luther Billis died. I keep thinking of "Honey Bun" Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Music by Richard Rodgers Performed by Mitzi Gaynor, Ray Walston, Chorus. South Pacific (1958 Film Soundtrack) [SOUNDTRACK] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] ASIN: B00004ZDXK Do not let all this dubbing or comparing to plays discourage you from a good movie. I think they should have dubbed Madonna in Evita with some one who had range and resonance. I do not want to rehash the story. However it is about haw people from different cultures are thrown together in a remote south Pacific location during WWII. And how the deal with different problems and personalities.
Rating: 
Summary: ZZZZZZZZZZ......MMMPH, WHAT? OH, SORRY, I FELL ASLEEP...
Review: What a crashing bore! After viewing it once, I wasn't sure if it was the movie or me, so I suffered through it a second time (all 150 never-ending minutes of it) and I must irrevocably conclude that it's the movie. How such an awful film was ever made is beyond comprehension! Though the casting is all wrong, the acting is passable. But the music is what's really atrocious. The lyrics are literally dripping with sap and the music is outrageously slow and drags on forever. The overdubbing is badly done (except for Gaynor who sings for herself and who proves that she's a better singer than actress) with all the men having the same baritone singing voice. "There's Nothing Like A Dame" is forced and overblown, and it literally screams with campiness (Ray Walston's outfit!) to the point where you expect the Village People to come through and drag them all off to the local YMCA. "Some Enchanted Evening" and "This Nearly Was Mine" both sound like funeral dirges; and "Happy Talk" and "I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy" are just downright embarrassing. R&H have repeatedly proven that they could do so much better, so I'll chalk these songs up to a temporary lapse of good taste and judgment, with the exception of "You've Got To Be Taught" which actually has a socially-significant message. The casting director should have been fired on the spot when he suggested that Rossano Brazzi could be passed off as a French plantation owner. Couldn't he hear Brazzi's heavy Italian accent?! Duh! And poor John Kerr looks like he hasn't gone through puberty yet, so imagining him as a lieutenant is a stretch indeed. The whole thing was badly executed, from the ultra-slow storyline to the constant use of those annoying colored filters that had to be the result of some heavy narcotic use by director Joshua Logan. The only redeeming value to this movie is its excellent choice of outdoor scenery; the Hawaiian islands look fantastic and most inviting. On the technical side, the DVD has its flaws also. The image is cleaned up very nicely, and looks fantastic in widescreen, but still has artifacts and stray lines throughout --someone take a cue from Criterion, please, and learn about proper digital remastering and cleanup. The color balance is flawed with some major color shift during those very slow-moving scenes. But the sound is what's most annoying. The dialog is incredibly low and the duets are barely audible (you'll be thankful for the subtitles), but the music and the sound effects are loud enough to burst eardrums. The bombing and machine-gun sound effects in the second half of the movie will rattle the neighborhood. You'll find yourself toying with the volume control throughout. Not fun. Finally, the DVD coding is off: too many scenes "freeze" for a split second before the DVD moves to the next scene. There are so many good classic musicals out there, spending time and money on this one is a complete waste. Save your money for something better.
Rating:
Summary: If it's true . . .
Review: that Elizabeth Taylor and Doris Day were considered for the coveted starring role, then I would have even settled for Taylor (at least she would have looked good) although I think Doris Day could have been terrific since she can really sing, dance, and not a bad actress either. As much as I like Mitzi Gaynor's work, she really is not at all good in this. Her acting is simply amateurish, like the musical show they're putting on for the sailors. John Kerr looks ridiculous as the leading man and the story was trite even then. Joshua Logan did such a wonderful job with Marilyn Monroe in "Bus Stop". What happened to him here? I understand the studio executives misled him about how the so-called color schemes for different numbers were turning out since the film was being processed on the mainland (awful idea to start with!), but didn't he have any say in who he had to direct? I'm building up a collection of movie musicals on DVD and this one, I thought, should be in my collection, but I just got rid of it -- not worth watching even some of the numbers. Seems as if someone set out to ruin every "classic" song from this show! A complete waste!
Rating:
Summary: South Pacific
Review: In the summer of '59, I took my very first girl friend to see "South Pacific". It was playing at the Oneonta Theatre off Main St. in a small town in the Catskills. I really liked this girl and I loved the movie. Ever since I remembered it with great fondness. Popping it into the DVD player last night, it was thrilling to re-experience the beautiful music, the dynamic sound (sounding even better), the lush tropical settings, and the clean-cut characters of a simpler time (the terrifically handsome Brazzi resonating in Tozzi's operatic baritone, Mitzi Gaynor, the all-American girl-next-door, Kerr's quintessential young lieutenant, the gorgeous France Nuyen, Juanita Hall's magical Bloody Mary). All these things renewed my reverence for this superb movie musical. And watching it this time, sitting on the couch with my very last girl friend, it was as romantic an event as ever I remembered.
Rating:
Summary: A WWII Rodgers/Hammerstein Classic Set in Hawaii
Review: A long time fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein I felt this was one of their best. Set in beautiful Hawaii, it depicts life as it probably was around the early 1940's. Rossano Brazzi as Emile and Mitzi Gaynor as Nellie are a compatible duo. Bloody Mary (Juanita Hall) is superb. The overtones of war and racial issues lend themselves to some great dialogue and acting. Social issues are handled well, and the military is represented rather whimsically by the songs and antics of the Sea Bees. Even after seeing this as a play more than a dozen times, I never tire of the classic on film. Thanks Rogers and Hammerstein for the songs and the memories!
Rating:
Summary: South Pacific
Review: South Pacific is a refreshing classic. Rogers & Hamerstein are brilliant. This movie has the best cast, songs, and setting. You will fall in love with John Kerr and Mitzi Gaynor (I did).
Rating:
Summary: South Pacific
Review: The DVD version of R&H South Pacific was generated from the original TODD-AO 65mm negative. For this reason alone, every serious DVD owner who wishes to demonstrate the audio and video qualities of this format should add this as a reference disk...even with the scratch, in the start of reel 8 that was not edited out in the digital stage of authoring the DVD. The producer of South Pacific was Magna Theatre Corp. The 35mm version was released by Fox. Magna was the sponsering development firm incorporated to develop Todd-AO process. Philips of Holland developed the DP-70 projection system for Todd-AO - the only moving picture machine to ever be awarded an Oscar. The DP-70 has yet to be improved upon or equaled to this day. The Todd-AO reduction prints in 35mm anamorphic (CinemaScope)have been used by AMC and others to show on TV is very sadly, what the public has seen since the end of the original roadshow engagements. The depth of field in the Todd-AO process is lost to viewers who have uncorrected stigmatisim. The audio in Dolby 5.1 is excellent. The original audio was 5 speakers behind the screen and one channel for surround on the side and rear walls of the theater. South Pacific was the third motion picture photographed in Todd-AO and the first to revert from 30 frames per second to 24 fps. ( a step backward) While I am on the subject, the first Todd-AO movie, Oklahoma! on DVD is likewise from the 65mm negative and has the same superb technical qualities. The R&H legacy of the American Musical Theater is a matter of history the stories are classic and timeless, on many levels. I know how well the Todd-AO prints looked, because I ran them as a projectionist in a Todd-AO theatre.
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