South Pacific (1958) - film review

During WWII, Emile de Becque, a Frenchman in exile, runs a plantation on a South Pacific island.  The island is currently occupied by the US navy, who intend recruiting Emile for an important mission which involves spying on Japanese manoeuvres from a nearby island.  Emile refuses to cooperate, since he has fallen in love with Nellie Forbush, a nurse in the US navy.  When Nellie discovers that Emile was once married to a native of the island and has two children, she can no longer bear to see him and puts in a request for a transfer.  Heartbroken, Emile agrees to undertake his mission for the navy.  He is paired with a young lieutenant, Joseph Cable, who is also emotionally disturbed after an ill-fated romance with a local woman.    Just as Nellie realises that she still loves Emile, she learns that his life is in peril, and wonders whether she will ever see him again...

It may not be the best adaptation of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, but South Pacific still has what it takes to win over an audience, delighting with such memorable numbers as There Is Nothing Like a Dame, Some Enchanted Evening and Happy Talk.  Most of the film’s failings (notably its theatricality and uneven narrative) can be attributed to its erratic director Joshua Logan.  He directed the original 1948 stage production and seems too wedded to the original stage concepts to exploit the opportunities offered by widescreen cinema, with the result that the film feels rather like a hyperactive hamster trying to fight its way out of a matchbox.

Much criticism has been directed at the use of colour filters for several long sequences of the film, although this was a decision made not by Logan but by his superiors in Twentieth Century-Fox.  The orange and blue filters were presumably intended to bring an aura of unreality, perhaps to convey the feelings of the protagonists, or maybe just to provide a change in mood.  Unfortunately, the effect is awful and looks suspiciously like someone botched the film processing.  Any VHS or DVD release should really come with a warning of the "do not adjust your set" variety.  Heaven knows how many television sets have been thumped in vain because of this film.

The film’s other noticeable flaw is some incredibly poor lip-synching to some of the songs.  Mitzi Gaynor and Ray Walston are the only principals who get to sing their numbers; the others are all dubbed by professional singers, including (inexplicably) Juanita Hall, who had previously played her character (Bloody Mary) in the original Broadway production. 

South Pacific was shot entirely on the Hawaiian island of Kauai on a budget of around six million dollars, although it took six times that amount at the box office, making it one of the most successful film musicals of all time.  The film won an Oscar in the Best Sound category, and garnered nominations for its score and cinematography.

Although South Pacific has its failings, most of these are easily forgiven on account of its sheer entertainment value.  Ray Walston and Juanita Hall may not win many awards for their clumsy attempts at comedy, but Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor make an attractive lead couple, handling the central romance with delicacy and charm.  Perhaps the film’s strongest card is the poignant subplot in which a young US navy man (John Kerr) falls for a South Sea islander (France Nuyen), a beautifully understated romance which provides the film with its emotional heart.  The themes of racial identity and racial prejudice, which are pivotal to the plot, date the film somewhat, although the main story concept – of love won, lost and finally regained – is one that will endure, making this a film that will remain a timeless classic.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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