Blu-ray Review: South Pacific -- 50th Anniversary Edition (1958)

Now Available on Blu-ray

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When you have a song as instantly powerful as South Pacific's main love ballad “Some Enchanted Evening," it's easy to overlook just how incredible the film is on a multitude of levels. And sure enough, it's ten times likelier when you take into consideration that it's just one of a string of memorable hits in the 1958 audacious cinematic undertaking by 20th Century Fox which transported Rodgers and Hammerstein's Tony award-winning Broadway smash in “the only theatrical film adaptation” of the duo’s work “to feature all its original songs."



Of course, when you recall South Pacific, the first genre that springs to mind is that of the musical as the strains of “There is Nothing Like a Dame,” “Bali Ha’i” and “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair” fill our heads.

However, South Pacific-- which was based on 36-year-old Quaker textbook editor, prep school teacher and would-be World War II lieutenant James A. Michener’s nineteen vignettes he put together in the semi-autobiographical Pulitzer Prize winning Tales of the South Pacific is much more than a “song and dance picture.”



In fact, neither word enters into the equation as it's beautifully described by its unforgettable star Mitzi Gaynor as “a story rooted in the realities of war and racial prejudice,” in the feature length documentary hosted by the Golden Globe nominated actress that is included on the second Blu-ray in this marvelous 50th Anniversary Edition.

A movie that Turner Classic Movies host and film scholar Robert Osborne explains worked because “every piece of the puzzle was absolutely perfect,” South Pacific seems all the more vital when you realize just how daring it was not only initially in its 1947 book publication and the subsequent 1949 musical release but also the 1958 feature film as the civil rights battle heated up even more.



An ensemble World War II work, as it opens we find the predominantly male group of American navy and marines taking part in the tireless “hurry up and wait” strategy as they all try to movie via—as the documentary describes the “operational hopscotch”-- one island closer to invading Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor.



Living and working side-by-side with Polynesian residents and other foreigners from neighboring countries, the movie-- which begins with a charming blend of comedy and traditional musical whimsy from Mister Roberts director and veteran Joshua Logan-- soon focuses primarily on two love interracial love stories.



The first occurs as the young “sexy lootellan” Joseph Cable (John Kerr) is set up by the fiery matchmaker Bloody Mary (Juanita Hall) as a possible match for her lovely daughter Liat (France Nuyen) in a tale wherein sensuality and chemistry overcome any language barrier. Yet, this is in stark contrast to the much different, old-fashioned courtship between Gaynor’s sunny “cockeyed optimist” Arkansas native nurse Nellie Forbush who gets caught up in a whirlwind two-week romance with a French planter roughly twice her age (played by the handsome Rossano Brazzi).

Although Nellie understands that the older Emile DeBecque is a man filled with mystery—realizing along with some other soldiers that he would’ve most likely fled France for legal reasons as a man "with a past"-- when she additionally uncovers the fact that he’s a widow with half-Polynesian children, she struggles to reconcile her own prejudice. While she first tries to debate that prejudice is something that's simply born within her, soon Cable and others deliver the most central message of the film in their revelation that hatred is something that is taught.



Still quite timely today, South Pacific is undeniably one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most socially conscious and thoroughly rewarding musicals (following their earliest woks including the smash hit Oklahoma! and the popular but in my view, extremely flawed Carousel).

And 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment—which has always excelled via the Blu-ray format most recently seen in the classic update of William Friedkin’s The French Connection which was so impressive that even the director admitted he’d never seen the film look so incredible—sets the bar at a much higher level with their phenomenal transfer of South Pacific to 1080 pixel high definition picture and sound.

In fact it's a work that always played best on larger screens in order to truly showcase the inventive Oscar nominated cinematography by Leon Shamroy for his Broadway inspired “lighting changes” that consisted of a complicated “system of coloured camera filters that he devised, whereby various scenes could be tinted in the colours that portrayed specific feelings,” as publisher Polly Manguel cited in the book 501 Must See Movies(249) and so you can only imagine how breathtaking it is on Blu-ray.

Featuring both versions of the film including the original theatrical one as well as the “Extended ‘Road Show’” option that runs 15 minutes longer as well as two separate commentary tracks—one for each edition—along with the options to view the film’s songs only or to play “sing a-long karaoke” with English subtitles, the second Blu-ray is a film lover’s dream.



As in addition to the Blu-ray exclusive aforementioned riveting feature length documentary, it also serves up a classic Diane Sawyer 60 Minutes interview with Michener, as well as vintage and incredibly rare excerpts from the stage production starring Mary Martin and the unbelievable Ezio Pinza (as history’s first opera star to appear in a Broadway musical).

Likewise, boasting Mitzi Gaynor’s remarkable star-making screen test that found her beating out such A-list performers as Audrey Hepburn and Doris Day (Manguel, 249), it's safe to say that the 50th Anniversary Edition of the film makes it far more than just "some enchanting" Blu-ray to bring home in time for Mother's Day but a historical piece of American cinema now wonderfully preserved to the highest level in quality.

Other Editions, Versions & Related Items

Lakeview Terrace

Welcome to the neighborhood;
it’s time to move.

In his previous films, writer/director Neil LaBute has warned us that even disabled women aren’t safe In the Company of Men, one never can predict the deception living within the hearts of Your Friends & Neighbors, pleasant symmetry isn’t to be expected in The Shape of Things, and you don’t need medical training to be called Nurse Betty. And although he’s moved away from the Mamet-like morality tales of the evil lurking behind the smiling and welcoming faces we encounter on a daily basis by directing some less-than-stellar Hollywood fare, his obsession with miscommunication, misperception, and the just plain meanness to be found in the unlikeliest of places is again the subject of his entertaining if lukewarm new thriller Lakeview Terrace.

Unfortunately, its heroic main characters, the young, bright, and beautiful interracial couple Chris (Little Children’s Patrick Wilson) and Lisa Mattson (Kerry Washington), weren’t forewarned with a LaBute memo. Thankfully, their new neighbor, the stoic disciplinarian and widowed LAPD police officer Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) is not only able but all too willing to turn and inform them that they’re not exactly welcome in his neighborhood. Greeting them with the intimidating gesture of an unfilled out traffic ticket with a note scrawled on the back that either threatens or chides, “Welcome to Lakeview, neighbor; observe all parking regulations,” it’s only a matter of time before he decides to confront Chris directly.

“Meet Your New Neighbor.”

Obviously, one shouldn’t rely too heavily on first impressions and Lisa tries to give her new neighbor the benefit of the doubt but it’s Chris who receives the most disdain as Abel not only repeatedly announces his dissatisfaction with their relationship but also begins to drive a wedge in the previously solid relationship between the married Mattsons. Whether it’s refusing to take down his insanely bright security lights that seem like they could double at an airstrip, which flood through his neighbor’s windows and emit an annoying high-pitched buzzing, running a near dictatorship when dealing with his two children, or when he’s all too willing to cross a line at work along with his loyal partner Javier Villareal (the always talented Jay Hernandez), eventually Chris has had enough.

Although in polite society, one’s first line of defense is to always attempt to work things out conversationally. Yet after Abel continually proves unwilling to change his attitude and ramps up his hostility to the new young couple, Chris—upon realizing that even if he could phone the police, they obviously wouldn’t choose his side—tries to reason with Abel directly before it escalates into an ultimatum.

“Back Off.”

Produced by Will Smith, LaBute’s film which was based on a script by David Loughery and Howard Korder doesn’t quite pack enough heft to justify the talent involved including not just the aforementioned producer and director but also its talented cast and gifted Dutch cinematographer Rogier Stoffers (Mongol).

Still, Stoffers is no stranger to suburban tales of evil neighbors and domestic discord, having lensed the Jennifer Lopez Sleeping With the Enemy-styled Enough and the impressive Rear Window teenage update Disturbia, and while we’ve no doubt seen this storyline dozens of times before such as in the over-the-top police thriller Unlawful Entry, I couldn’t take my eyes off the powerful Samuel L. Jackson. And within moments, it’s easy to see why—even though I wish LaBute would get back to his roots or make something as wonderful as my favorite (Nurse Betty) again—he would’ve been so fascinated by the material and the chance to work with Jackson.

Neil LaBute

And similar to his work in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown—it is all the more fitting that Jackson’s character is named Abel Turner as he’s consistently able to turn from funny to frightening in two seconds flat. As the cop who’s quickly going off the deep end, Jackson’s charisma is off the charts. And although the last act of the film has so many dubious plot-holes and logic free rationalizations that it’s ultimately distracting, he’s the one holding things together, making me laugh at even the scariest of moments. This is especially evident in a phenomenal understated scene where you feel as though you can cut the tension with a knife as Abel attends Lisa and Chris’s housewarming party and tries to make frightening small talk with their liberal friends.

You’re never in doubt of the fact that—no matter how ludicrous the finale seems in the world of actual police procedure—Jackson not only knows his character inside and out but we can actual feel as though we’re witnessing his very thought processes. It’s too bad that some of his best work in recent memory is in something that in the end feels like a slightly above average made-for-TV thriller but fans of Jackson’s won’t be disappointed. Not to mention that-- all of its problems aside-- I still enjoyed the film far more than the other cops-and-robbers-themed press screening held that day for the far more advertised A-list offering, De Niro and Pacino’s mystery, Righteous Kill. So in the choice between these two, I wouldn’t hesitate that you head over to Lakeview Terrace, although ignore your financial advisor and rent before you buy since you never know with whom you’ll be sharing a fence.