South Pacific (1958)

kbroer
Nov 22, 2024
2 min read

Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr, France Nuyen

Directed by Joshua Logan

Available to stream on Prime Video

Up next is one of our favorite 50's musicals -- the wonderful South Pacific.

Nurse Nellie Forbush falls in love with French planter Emile de Beque while serving with the military in the South Pacific during World War II; military intelligence officer Joe Cable falls in love with a beautiful native girl on the island of Bali Ha'i.

Why we love it: The always wonderful music of Rodgers and Hammerstein is reason enough to watch this one: "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," "Bali Ha'i" and more. The team created five blockbuster musicals, mostly filmed in the 1950's: Oklahoma (1955), Carousel (1956), The King and I (1956), South Pacific (1958), and The Sound of Music (1965). All were hits on Broadway before being filmed.

Fun Facts:

Rodgers and Hammerstein productions differed from musicals of the past in that they were not created around star actors, but were centered on the music; the songs, instead of being interludes, served to move the stories along and define the characters.

South Pacific opened on stage to great acclaim in 1949. It was based on a book by James A. Michener -- Tales of the South Pacific, published in 1947 and winner of a Pulitzer Prize.

The composers refused to give in to pressure to remove the anti-racist song "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" when the show opened in Atlanta, this being a time when films and shows were routinely changed before they were shown in the South.

This was the top grossing film of 1958.

Juanita Hall was the only one in the film who had also appeared in the original Broadway production. Though she had sung for her role on Broadway, she was dubbed in the film by Muriel Smith who had played the role of Bloody Mary in the London stage production.

Watch the original trailer below:

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Score. It won the Award for Best Sound.
Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, and even Audrey Hepburn were considered for the role of Nellie Forbush, but the part ultimately went to Mitzi Gaynor.

Gaynor died just last month at the age of 93. Read her obituary in the New York Times here.

For reviews and articles from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured Cocktail:

Hermitage Rum Punch

The Hermitage is a hotel and restaurant located in the Caribbean’s oldest wooden house on the island of Nevis. Americans may be aware that Nevis is the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton. The original recipe for their signature rum punch uses local sour oranges, also called Seville or bitter oranges, which are difficult to find in the US. Equal parts of lemon and lime juice make a suitable substitute.

½ oz (15 ml) lemon juice

½ oz (15 ml) lime juice

½ oz (15 ml) sugar syrup (made with demerara sugar, if possible)

2 oz (60 ml) amber or golden rum

3 dashes Angostura bitters

fresh nutmeg