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Now you can wash that DVD right out of your hair for
“South Pacific”. 20th Century Fox has released a terrific
Blu-ray of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical which
gained popularity in the late 50’s and is still performed
by high schools across the nation. The difficulty with a
perennial like “South Pacific” is that we appreciate it
less with time because we are familiar with every nuance.
This sparkling Blu-ray will change that attitude for those
of you who haven’t watched it in a while. ***
Set in on an island in the South Pacific during World
War II, this represents Rodgers and Hammerstein at their
peak as collaborators and still remains a great film musical.
Although there are other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals
that are more popular (“The Sound of Music” springs to mind),
they never got better than this and those later musicals
caught these talented composers continuing to hone their
skills integrating drama, comedy and music into a seamless
whole with more polish. Turning James Michener’s Pultizer
Prize winning collection Tales of the South Pacific into
a structured film was no doubt a bit of a challenge but
the similar setting for the stories made it easier for the
Broadway veterans to slide a variety of characters into
a well integrated story. ***
“South Pacific” follows Marine Joe Cable (John Kerr)
who comes bearing bad news as war escalates —the U.S. will
be putting forward observers as the Japanese expand their
iron grip on islands in the Pacific. Cable must enlist the
help of a Frenchman Emile (Rossano Brazzi)who knows the
island well. Emile finds himself a bit preoccupied as he’s
fallen in love with a Naval nurse Nellie Forbush (Mitzi
Gaynor). When Cable finds out about their relationships
he puts her in a difficult position—asking her to spy on
him and find out if he’ll work with the Americans on their
efforts to spy on the Japanese and learn more about their
troop movements in the Pacific Theater of war. Cable complicates
his own life by falling for a local girl Liat (France Nuyen)
and finds her mother pressuring both to get married even
though they’ve only recently met. War and romance may tear
both couples apart as loyalty, the often punishing condition
of war time and the need to gather intelligence loom on
the tropical horizon. ---
Image & Sound:
Featuring a robust, strong looking colorful transfer
“South Pacific” receives a painstaking restoration from
Fox Home Video one of their most impressive older transfers.
From the naval blues of the uniforms of the sailors to Gaynor’s
sudsy red hair during one of the most famous sequences where
she hopes to “wash that man right out of my hair” as she
sings everything looks beautiful here. One thing that’s
noticeable is that typical of the time is that the cinematography
utilizes lots of filters (which does soften the image a
bit at times particularly during close ups). I jump on Fox’s
case a lot (they deserve it because they are often cheap)
but in this case they’ve done a spectacular job with this
Blu-ray. We get both the edited and Road Show versions of
the movie on two different discs. Be aware that scenes that
were cut over the years and have been restored have some
variable quality because of the limited amount of prints
from which to draw from. ***
Luckily this was a BIG picture and at the time received
the deluxe treatment when it comes to audio. We get a nice
sounding DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack as well as the
original four and two channel soundtracks cleaned up for
Dolby Digital. Placement of dialog is in the center speaker
and is crystal clear as is music and use of the surround
channels aren’t as strong as a contemporary film but they
are nicely used when they are used. ---
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