IMDb RATING
6.8/10
9.9K
YOUR RATING
On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 10 nominations total
Giorgio Tozzi
- Emile De Becque
- (singing voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJuanita Hall, who had played Bloody Mary in the original Broadway production, obviously sang her own songs onstage, but was dubbed in the film version at the request of composer Richard Rodgers. Rodgers and musical director Alfred Newman brought in Muriel Smith (who had played Bloody Mary in London).
- GoofsThe appearance of African Americans as Seabees is not an error. Over 12,000 such sailors served in the Construction Brigades, despite segregation in other parts of the WWII military.
- Quotes
Emile de Becque: When all you care about is here, this is a good place to be.
- Crazy creditsThere are probably more dubbed singing voices in this film than in any other screen version of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, but the only one which actually receives screen credit is that of Giorgio Tozzi, who dubs the singing voice of Emile de Becque (Rosanno Brazzi). This is because Tozzi was a renowned bass-baritone with the Metropolitan Opera.
- Alternate versionsThe 1999 DVD contains some scenes where the color filters are either more subtle or completely removed compared to previous versions. However, the filters were reinstated for the 2006 DVD and 2009 Blu-Ray.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siege (1983)
- SoundtracksSouth Pacific Overture
(1949) (uncredited)
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Performed by the 20th Century-Fox Studio Orchestra Conducted by Alfred Newman
Featured review
Flawed but entertaining!
The most obvious flaw is its running time, it's very long. I think it's longer than Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Unfortunately there were other flaws with the movie, so I can't overlook what I've just said. Another flaw was the colour filtering;the orange and yellow picture did get a bit distracting after a while, although the Pacific does look beautiful. Rossano Brazzi, whose singing voice was dubbed, looked wooden, but was he ever not wooden? I must say though, the dubbed singer did a marvellous job.
However, there were a lot of truly excellent things about this movie. Mitsi Gaynor was a lovely lead, and she was wonderful in the musical numbers. She does get a little tiresome toward the end, but most musicals do have the same problem. But Juanita Hall was just perfect as Bloody Mary, I had absolutely no problem with her. The songs were absolutely outstanding. Rodgers and Hammerstein have given us some truly fantastic music scores, and South Pacific is among them. Ray Walston gives comic relief as Luther, I think, and the focus on the war was very endearing. The real star was the stunning choreography, that made the musical numbers so energetic.
All in all, an entertaining, but flawed film, that is underrated in my opinion. 7/10 Bethany Cox
However, there were a lot of truly excellent things about this movie. Mitsi Gaynor was a lovely lead, and she was wonderful in the musical numbers. She does get a little tiresome toward the end, but most musicals do have the same problem. But Juanita Hall was just perfect as Bloody Mary, I had absolutely no problem with her. The songs were absolutely outstanding. Rodgers and Hammerstein have given us some truly fantastic music scores, and South Pacific is among them. Ray Walston gives comic relief as Luther, I think, and the focus on the war was very endearing. The real star was the stunning choreography, that made the musical numbers so energetic.
All in all, an entertaining, but flawed film, that is underrated in my opinion. 7/10 Bethany Cox
helpful•137
- TheLittleSongbird
- Mar 9, 2009
- How long is South Pacific?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $458,000
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $258,350
- Aug 26, 2018
- Gross worldwide
- $476,564
- Runtime2 hours 37 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.20 : 1
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