Review of South Pacific (1958) by James H — 09 Apr 2004

(DVD) (First Viewing, 2nd Logan film).

Oh boy. Well, within minutes of its opening, I could tell [b]South Pacific[/b] was going to be a tough one to swallow (and endure). The unnamed tropical island locale is unintentionally depicted as a homosexual paradise (even as they sing "There is Nothin' Like a Dame"), and from then on out it's rough going.

I must say that Mitzi Gaynor, as bland and sexless as she is, is dynamite during her "Honey Bun" number (ironically, she's dressed as a male sailor during the number), and though John Kerr always get the bum rap, I thought he was a rather pleasant (if undistinctive) as the serious Lieutenant. There's nothing to say about the yawn-inducing Rossano Brazzi, and Jaunita Hall's indigenous female matchmaker/comical Buddha combo gets tiresome quickly.

The music and numbers, with the exception of the aforementioned "Honey Bun" number, are forgettable at best, grating at worst. The lush color cinematography constantly looks artificial due to the over-saturated colors, and the decision to film many scenes with filters doesn't work as well as it should. All the attention to human relationships director Joshua Logan displayed in [b]Picnic[/b] several years before are sadly nonexistent here.

Well, it's kind of what I expected. What can I say?