South Pacific: 50th Anniversary Edition

The debut of filmmaker Joshua Logan's 1958 screen adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's groundbreaking musical on Blu-ray is a mixed blessing. South Pacific has never looked or sounded better on home video and the high-definition transfer does full justice to the director's subjective use of filters to heighten the emotional passions within the story. Based on James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific, this popular film about life on a South Pacific island during World War II stars Mitzi Gaynor as Navy nurse and “cockeyed optimist” Nellie Forbush, whose love for a mysterious Frenchman named Emile de Becque (Rossano Brazzi) is tested by prejudice (Emile has two children from a previous marriage to a Polynesian woman). A parallel love story follows the ill-fated romance of an American soldier (John Kerr) who falls under the spell of the exotic Liat (France Nuyen). Although the non-musical segments come across as disappointingly stolid and stagy, South Pacific soars whenever the cast bursts into song, and the timeless score includes such classics as “Some Enchanted Evening,” the rollicking “There is Nothing Like a Dame,” “I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair,” “I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy,” and the powerful “You've Got to Be Carefully Taught.” Blu-ray extras on this two-disc set include audio commentaries for the theatrical version (in high-def) and “Road Show” edition (which contains about 15 extra minutes and is presented in standard def), the Blu-ray exclusive feature-length retrospective documentary “Passion, Prejudice, and South Pacific: Creating an American Masterpiece,” an interview with Michener by Diane Sawyer, a “making-of” featurette, newsreels, two vintage song performances by original Broadway cast members, Gaynor's screen test, a karaoke sing-along option, and a stills gallery. Recommended. (D. Liebenson)