SOUTH PACFIC: 65th Anniversary Blu-ray re-issue (Magna, 1958) Samuel Goldwyn Films

“Peace is not the product of a victory or a command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement. Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions. I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about the beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn't write anything without hope in it.”

– Oscar Hammerstein II

The Broadway stage, once conceived as a pantheon for bright and breezy musical revues, took on social significance with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s South Pacific (1958), an inspired tome, predicated on Hammerstein’s innate charity toward all mankind. “When I meet a man from another part of the world who is in showbiz, I feel close to him,” Hammerstein once explained, “If he’s in tryouts, I know exactly how he’s feeling. He knows I know this.”  Hammerstein, a humanist of exquisite gentility, was, perhaps, most inclined to side with the underdogs of life, as in youth, he felt something like one himself. Yet, the proof in Hammerstein’s goodness lies in far more than the outpouring of respect paid upon his death; Broadway, blacking itself out in a 3-minute homage with 5000 mourners lined from 42nd to 53rd Street, and, between 8th Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas – still considered the most reverent tribute paid to an artiste of the American theater.

In life, Oscar Hammerstein remained the singular most influential ‘book writer’ of his generation, his focus on story, elevating the musical from revue to celebrated storytelling. The daring experimentalism exhibited in Hammerstein's earlier endeavors, Show Boat and Oklahoma! has been mislaid with the passage of time. Yet, each was revolutionary in its own time – sending ripples of aspiration to somehow copycat the experience. Retrospectively, Hammerstein was oft criticized for his ‘simplistic’ adherence to ‘sweetness and light’. He once refuted this in an interview. “What’s wrong with sweetness and light? They’ve been around for an awfully long time. Not all of life is good, but I believe so much of it is, and we must never set those time aside or forget that they ever existed at all.” And also, important to note: Hammerstein was not adverse tackling the darkness and ills of humanity. This conflict between ‘sweetness’ and 'tragedy' is at the heart of South Pacific, tweaked via its source material, James A. Mitchener’s Tales of the South Pacific.

To surmise South Pacific as a milestone in American theater is an understatement. It is nothing less than a trailblazer. It may, in fact, be Rodgers and Hammerstein’s greatest stagecraft, and certainly, one of their most perennially revived. Hence, the film version would deserve no less consideration, and under Joshua Logan’s direction (also, responsible for the Broadway sensation), South Pacific – the movie – was ensured it would retain its introspective critique. The show’s central characters - mid-western Americans, Ensign Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor) and Lt. Joseph Cable (John Kerr) struggle with their ‘carefully taught’ prejudices, eager yet uncertain how to embrace the world without color barriers. Ultimately, this resolution is achieved – at least, for Nellie, via an abiding love for French planter, Emile De Becque (Rossano Brazzi), dedicating herself as a mother-figure to his half-Polynesian children from a previous marriage. In this head-on critique of the tainted American ideal, South Pacific breaks with virtually every tradition in musical theater. Never before had American stagecraft addressed, much less challenged a social anxiety, employing the expectation for heartfelt pop-u-tainment to explore politicized injustice, still – alas - plaguing the modern, ‘civilized’ world to this day.

The timelessness in the show’s social evaluation had always been at the crux of James A. Michener’s novel. Michener who, as a lieutenant in the army, was based in the south Pacific during WWII, grew very close to its indigenous peoples, keeping a diary, later reconstituted as his work of pseudo-fiction, first published in 1947. It would win Mitchener the Pulitzer one year later – the launch of his prolific writing career. Interestingly, the book was not an overnight sensation.  Arguably, if not for Broadway director, Joshua Logan, the novel might never have come to the attention of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Basking in the afterglow of two previous stage successes, Oklahoma! and Carousel, R&H launched into Allegro – a highly experimental property that miserably failed to catch on with audiences. Moderately disheartened by its colossal thud, the duo was then approached by Logan who proposed South Pacific to R&H, and ultimately Logan who would see it through to fruition on both the stage and later, big screen.

As had happened before, the subject matter just seemed to click with the composers. Buoyed by the familiar theme of love’s transformative quality, and, feeding into Rodgers and Hammerstein’s positivism, as well as their cause célèbre for social reform, South Pacific would evolve into an enduring testament against racial prejudice. However, the question remained: was the public ready to embrace such unbridled hopefulness where race relations were concerned? Lest we forget, the play and movie’s debut are both ensconced in a pre-civil rights America, imbued by starchy conservatism and a general unwillingness to examine the world through color-blind spectacles. Mercifully, Rodgers and Hammerstein had little to fear. On stage, South Pacific became an immediate sensation. In transforming Michener’s poignant tales into a show, Rodgers and Hammerstein were to fortify their own moral strength, the show, deeply appealing to Hammerstein’s sense of compassion toward all humanity. Regrettably, on film the show’s tenuous balance would become weighty, chiefly from director, Joshua Logan’s inability to reconceive it in cinematic terms, but also by Logan’s obtuse overkill deployment of color filters to ‘heighten’ the moodiness of the piece. On stage, the allure of the tropics had been largely achieved through impressionist backdrops and lighting cues. However, what works in a theater does not necessarily transfer to movies for obvious reasons.

To satisfy the medium’s demands for reality, the production team traveled to the Hawaiian Islands, Logan toiling in the heat to recreate that elusive stage magic in more tangible terms. There is little to deny South Pacific – the movie – as one of the most sumptuous visual experiences of the decade. Indeed, when projected in expansive 65mm Todd A-O, Leon Shamroy’s cinematography proves a very intoxicating elixir with the verdant hills dotted in swaying palms, the golden beaches glistening in the after-glint of late day sun filtering though storm clouds. It all looks the part. And for the ‘big reveal’ of Bali H’ai, the mythical oasis, Logan has dreamed up a kaleidoscope of color filters to exaggerate and augment what, on screen, is a somewhat woefully undernourished matte painting. Regrettably, Logan elected thereafter to ply the rest of the movie with color filters, thus minimizing the natural allure of the islands. When Nellie attends Emile at his hilltop estate for ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ the skies turn ‘canary yellow’, then, a moody, over-saturated azure for their moonlit ‘Soliloquy’.  Lt. Cable’s first trip to Bali H’ai takes place in an absurd malaise of dense smoke and hell-fire crimsons and orange color filters. His romantic pas deux with Liat (France Nuyen) is awash in turquoise and aubergine. Before long, South Pacific begins to resemble a child’s newly unearthed overindulgences with the Crayolas, rather than adopting an otherworldly exoticism.

Regardless, the picture proved a formidable success upon its release. In London, South Pacific played continuously at the Dominion Theatre for nearly five years – its’ gross intake at the box office rivaled only by The Sound of Music (1965). The English were equally as transfixed by the original cast album: 115 weeks at the top of their charts, with 70 consecutive weeks in the #1 spot.   At the time of South Pacific’s debut, Rodgers and Hammerstein were in the envious position to be calling their own shots. Artistically speaking, this presented a challenge for Hollywood - then, as now, unaccustomed to kowtowing to the dictates of industry outsiders. Yet, for Rodgers and Hammerstein, the alliance forged with Darryl F. Zanuck at 2oth Century-Fox had been, if not initially amicable (they quarreled and were miserable working under Zanuck on their one and only foray into an exclusively film-based project, 1945’s State Fair) then, at least, manageable – if for no other reason, then Zanuck had already departed the studio by 1957. Thus, no repeat performance of that awkward unpleasantness was possible…in theory. And R&H’s cache as Broadway’s leading purveyors of musical/drama, afforded the duo unprecedented bartering power in Hollywood by the time South Pacific entered talks to become a movie. As such, South Pacific would only be distributed by 2oth Century-Fox, who also partially funded the project. The rest came directly from the Magna Theatre Corporation of which both Rodgers and Hammerstein were part owners.  Interesting too, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s resurging interest in the movies came about only after the technological capacity to recreate the aura – as well as the visual splendor of a night in live theater, via newly designed widescreen/stereophonic technologies - had matured the movies to a level in which true fidelity to their source material was thought possible. If never quite on par with the live presentation, as reigning snobbery from theater aficionados and critics alike precluded this, then the movies had distinctly upped their game.

On screen, South Pacific remains more an event than a movie, and regrettably, more stage-bound to its roots. The proscenium is rarely broken. Logan interrupts the action sparingly with limited close-ups to draw the audience into the story. Mercifully, the stultification to have plagued the screen version of Oklahoma! (both in Todd A-O and Cinemascope) is not quite as transparent here, as there are other distractions to abuse the optic nerve. Of these, Logan’s misuse of color filters remains the worst transgressor. Our initial reveal of ‘Bali Ha’i’ is the most bizarre of these; the matte painting heavily diffused through fog filters, the camera lens plied with Vaseline around the edges to infer a ‘dream-like’ trance. The screen changes from violent shades of magenta to cartoon reds and pumpkin oranges, and finally, a thoroughly unattractive urine yellow. Viewing this sequence today, it remains difficult to deduce exactly what about this footage proved so gosh darn tantalizing to Logan, he would ultimately belabor under the delusion Hawaii was not exotic enough. Rather than rendering ‘Bali Ha’i’ the equivalent to a tropical Shangri-La, the filter effects transform it into a garish carnival sideshow splashed with epileptic explosions of color to make even Disney’s ink and paint department blush.

We could forgive Joshua Logan this indiscretion, had he not burdened the rest of South Pacific with as incalculably artistic travesties. The jaundice yellow tints as Nellie Forbush sweetly trills ‘A Cock-eyed Optimist’; the lurid tangerine that intrude upon ‘Some Enchanted Evening’; the unhealthy carmine and scarlet, igniting the lush tropical foliage in a sort of impressionist’s Dante’s Inferno while Liat and Joe Cable consummate their passionate affair; the midnight cobalt and amethyst tints, meant to mimic a haunting eve in the tropics for ‘This Nearly Was Mine’, and so on. With so many shifting colors, South Pacific gradually devolves into a painterly mess. It is too tempting to speculate on Logan’s motives here, either to argue in favor of his generating dramatic tension and pathos through starkly shifting hues or merely to condemn his assault on the eye as he gilds an already appropriately lurid lily. Desiring to replicate the stagecraft’s impressionist patina, Logan instead reimagines that high concept as garish DeLuxe color elephantiasis. Worse, Logan seems to have entirely forgotten motion pictures are ‘moving pictures.’ Instead, his camera remains stationary for long uninterrupted segments while the actors hit their marks. He treats each location and/or set as though it were hampered by the invisible third-wall rule of a stage-bound proscenium. The result: while South Pacific undeniable has all of the visual cache of an expensive A-list prestige pic, it lacks verisimilitude, its artifice grotesquely amplified by Todd A-O’s superior high resolution.

What remains galvanic and endearing then, is the story; also, the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs. After an exhilarating overture, with main titles breathtaking in all the natural splendors, we settle on a Seabee plane bringing Lt. Cable to paradise. In the extended roadshow cut, Cable engages pilot, Lt. Buzz Adams (Tom Laughlin) in a discussion about the tenuous nature of diplomacy and the mounting crisis looming in the South Seas. The theatrical cut expedites Cable’s arrival to the main island. Here, the Seabees serenade with the hearty strains of ‘Bloody Mary’ – their affinity for the local mercantile trader (played by Juanita Hall), who delights in tempting the more jaded Luther Billis (Ray Walston) with trinkets from Bali Ha’i. The island is strictly off limits to American sailors. The film plays up the sexual frustrations of these homesick gallants as they strut and flex on the beach, belting out a chorus or two of ‘There Is Nothing Like A Dame’. The moment gets interrupted by the arrival of nurse, Nellie Forbush who has asked Luther to do some stitch work on several of her garments.

The men chide Luther who, determined to assert his authority, plies Cable with enticements designed to broker favor in getting them both to that off-shore oasis, restricted to officers. Cable is interested, particularly when Bloody Mary refers to him as a very ‘saxy man’ She also hypnotically serenades with ‘Bali Ha’i’.  Alas, before any journey can get underway, Cable is called by his superior, Capt. Brackett (Russ Brown) to a meeting. Brackett is interested in using one of the locals, French plantation owner, Emile De Becque as a guide to establish an observation outpost on one of the more remote Japanese-occupied islands. De Becque is widowed and raising two half-Polynesian children, Ngana (Candace Lee) and Jerome (Warren Hsieh). He also harbors a darker secret, having fled France after killing a man, presumably in self-defense. De Becque has since begun a burgeoning romance with Nellie, whom Cable crudely intends to use as his spy to learn about De Becque’s political affiliations. Owing to his concerns about Nellie’s view of miscegenation, De Becque has yet to reveal his children of blended origin to her. To test his loyalties, Brackett invites De Becque in for a friendly chat with Cable and his second, Commander Harbison (Floyd Simmons) present. But the meeting is hardly enlightening. De Becque challenges the Americans by offering, “I know what you are against…what are you for?” Nellie agrees to spy on Emile. But her efforts are as transparent as they prove unsuccessful. Nevertheless, De Becque senses he has already made inroads to her heart. The two share snifters of brandy, and soliloquize their respective anxieties apart, before coming together, ‘Some Enchanted Evening’.

De Becque would prefer to be honest with Nellie. So, he confides the reason for his departure from France. Nellie dutifully relays this to Brackett who, already in possession of this information, is frankly astonished De Becque would share it with his paramour. Evidently, Brackett had hoped to use the murder as leverage to convince De Becque to accompany Cable on his mission to the Japanese-occupied outpost. Departing for the nurse’s beach, off limits to sailors, Nellie insists to her fellow cohorts she intends to promptly ‘Wash That Man Right Out of (her) Hair’. Instead, she dissolves into a blissful and euphoric daydream of love with ‘A Wonderful Guy’. Like virtually all Rodgers and Hammerstein shows, this will be the pinnacle of Nellie’s romantic flourish, her cockeyed optimism about to experience a perilous shift toward tragic disillusionment. In the meantime, Bloody Mary manages to coax Lt. Cable into visiting Bali Ha’i. Cable takes along Billis, who is intent on bringing back a boar’s tooth from the rumored savage’s ceremony. Enveloped by the tropical splendor, and surrounded by sweetly innocent native girls who encourage the men’s participation in the pleasures to be had, Cable and Billis are soon separated. Bloody Mary takes Joe high into the mountains where he is introduced to Liat, the virginal beauty with whom Mary sincerely hopes to strike a marital bargain. Cable is captivated by Liat’s ‘Younger Than Springtime’ naiveté, but learns only after the consummation of their affair Liat is Mary’s daughter. Mary’s ‘Happy Talk’ proposal encourages Cable to propose and, after the war, to remain on Bali Ha’i. As Mary is the island’s wealthiest native, Cable will want for nothing.

Cable is taken aback by this proposition. Moreover, he cannot rid himself of an innate prejudice. Liat would never be accepted back home as his wife. Struggling to purge these prejudices and anxieties from his heart and mind, Cable instead confides them to Nellie as ‘Carefully Taught’ – if utterly misguided. Nellie can definitely relate. For previously, De Beque had invited her to his home for a party. There, she met other planters and their wives. But Nellie’s effervescence was then deflated when Emile introduced her to his children. The incongruity of Nellie’s response sours her on continuing their romance. Nellie flees, leaving Emile to reconsider ‘This Nearly Was Mine’. Shortly thereafter, a bitter De Becque accepts the assignment to accompany Cable on his hazardous mission. Daily, they are faced with death from bomber and sniper attacks. De Becque keeps Brackett abreast of developments by radio contact. In his absence, Nellie diligently endeavors to befriend Emile’s children and quickly discovers how much she has come to love them – regardless of their race. Realizing Emile may never come back, forces Nellie to reconsider what really matters in life. She wisely resolves to never again question De Becque’s love for her as her love for him has genuinely matured into a color-blind thing of beauty. Alas, as the Allied Forces move in and tragedy strikes. Cable dies on the remote island. Nellie is introduced to Bloody Mary and Liat after learning this news, now to explain to them both that Lt. Cable will not be coming home. Nellie promises never again to question her own heart. Her declaration is rewarded when, while attending Ngana and Jerome at Emile’s plantation, De Becque suddenly materializes, weary – though otherwise unharmed.

South Pacific was a colossal smash, by far the most popular movie musical of 1958. Audiences flocked to see the spectacle in Todd A-O. On stage, Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza had originated the roles of Nellie Forbush and Emile De Becque. But Martin’s inability to make it as a film star, coupled with Pinza’s virtual invisibility on the radar, practically ensured neither would make the transition from stage to screen. In casting Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi in their stead, Rodgers and Hammerstein were betting on Gaynor’s recent ascendance as a popular ingénue. In retrospect, South Pacific really is the end of Gaynor’s splashy movie career - a definite step up from the featherweight roles she usually played in musical comedy, but also putting a definite period to her work in the movies thereafter. Gaynor would eventually find a temporary home on television before effectively retiring as an actress in 1963, only sporadically appearing on variety shows like Ed Sullivan thereafter. Rossano Brazzi’s film career was only slightly more distinguished. For although he had appeared, often in support, in some high-profile movies throughout the 1950’s and 60’s – mostly as the swarthy Italian lover – South Pacific remains his most prominent part. His prowess as a leading man here is never in question. However, in making these creative casting decisions, the filmmakers were forced to consider Brazzi’s rather thin voice. It was dubbed by Giorgio Tozzi. Juanita Hall, who ironically sang in the Broadway production, was also dubbed for the movie by the London stage’s Bloody Mary - Muriel Smith. Interestingly, France Nuyen and the late John Kerr would go on to have the more prolific careers as reoccurring characters in some very high-profile television dramas. 

Viewed today, South Pacific retains its intangible potency as an affecting critique of racial intolerance. Almost all of the reasons for its lithe success at exposing an unflattering truth in the American dream – accessible then, only to some – are imbedded in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s superior score, steadfast in its melodic evaluation. With such magnificent introspection, South Pacific easily soars beyond the misfires in Joshua Logan’s direction. The principal cast is competent. But rarely do they triumph above the material in ways that would earmark a single performance as a standout. Mercifully, it is the weight of the score and the story that prove an inspired counterbalance to offset this mediocrity. Reconsidering the picture on its individual merits is futile as it is the totality of the presentation, the way the pieces neatly fit together, despite certain creative frictions, the cogs still firmly affixed in this multi-spoke wheel, that continues to fortify the mind, bring enchantment to our hearts, and ultimate nourishment to the soul.

South Pacific gets reissued on Blu-ray via the Samuel Goldwyn Films banner. The previous Blu was marketed under the now defunct Fox Home Video banner. As before, we get both theatrical and extended roadshow cuts, spread across two discs. And, also as before, the reinstated roadshow footage has not been restored, appearing woefully faded, dirty and just plain subpar to the rest of the 1080p image. A bit of color correction and digital dust-busting would have sufficed. Since, most will recall South Pacific only from its theatrical engagement, we will stick to our evaluation here as a gorgeous, reference quality release worthy of your time and coin. Colors are robust. Contrast is uniformly excellent. Film grain is accurately represented.  South Pacific won an Oscar for its sound design and it’s easy to see why. The 5.1 DTS audio, identical to the Fox Blu, is robust.  Extras are all ported over: Ted Chaplin’s audio commentary on the theatrical cut and Richard Barrios’ on the road show. There’s also a brief ‘making of’ featurette and Diane Sawyer’s 60 Minutes interview with James A. Michener from the 1980’s. We also have Passion, Prejudice and South Pacific – a beautifully produced feature-length look back at the story behind the film. If you already own the previously issued Blu-ray from Fox you can pass here. Nothing new to see, folks.  

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

Theatrical Cut - 5+

Roadshow Version – 4.5

EXTRAS

4