I'm watching South Pacific

Posted: 10/19/13 at 8:30pm

Gosh, Josh Logan must have had a GREAT time casting that chorus!

Updated On: 10/25/13 at 08:30 PM

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 2:29am

Yep, in an era where gym buffed bodies were the exception, not the rule, Logan managed to round up many!

[VeraCharles3]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 6:45am

Despite some wonderful songs, it's one movie musical I was never crazy about, but the male flesh on show certainly helps, especially all those shirts tied mid torso!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 7:19am

SOUTH PACIFIC TRIVIA: James Stacy is the guy on the far left. He was once married to Connie Stevens and unfortunately is now a registered sex offender.

[The Other One]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 8:06am

Never realized Stacy was in South Pacific, Carlos. I've seen him on TV episodes from the 50s and 60s and read about him ending up a sex offender. He also lost, literally, an arm and a leg in a motorcycle accident that killed his girlfriend, and attempted suicide before serving his sentence for abusing a young girl.

The guy in front of him, shorter and with dark hair, "steals" most of the shots in the Seabees scenes.

Updated On: 10/22/13 at 08:06 AM

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 12:19pm

Josh Logan must have had fun casting his awful version of CAMELOT as well...all those hunky men in armour...as a younger man i actually loved this movie, warts and all...including a bandage on Richard Harris face that wasn't edited out of the movie...teehee...Logan must have been looking at crotches during that scene...:)

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 2:26pm

"Despite some wonderful songs, it's one movie musical I was never crazy about"

Same here. I love R and H Musicals but I never seemed to really get into SOUTH PACIFIC..Or for that matter, Carousel. They are still great shows, but I can't sink my teeth into those 2.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:04pm

Yes- in an era where most theatrical directors were catering to the Tired American Businessman, Josh was giving the Tired American Housewife something to look at, too (they said).

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 2:15am

Logan always swore that the studio claimed they could remove the color filters if he didn't like them, which he didn't and which they couldn't. Kinda wrecks the picture despite the terrific cast.

[VeraCharles3]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 4:00am

N2N Nate - I agree, Carousel has wonderful music but the plot is overly sentimental - apologies to all Carousel fans. Never seen State Fair but love all other R and H musicals.

broadwaybabywannabe2 - how do you shorten your name? lol. I am going to dig out my copy of Camelot and look for the bandage, lol.

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 8:18pm

Veracharles3...u can just call me baby...:)...i honestly can't remember where the bandage shows up but it was a very famous mistake that never got cut out of the finished product...i wanna say it happens when Arthur is running in the forest after Lancelot...but memory fades after so many years

I love SOUTH PACIFIC with all its colorization problems...but in reality all R & H musicals do not work seemlessly on film...they were meant to be seen on stage...they can try to open them up some but eventually because of the nature of film-making back then they all look like they were filmed on sets...with some major exceptions of course...

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 8:29pm

I think The Sound of Music and Oklahoma! are the only R&H films to work really well, because the scenes and songs were expanded upon, using the lush settings of Austria and Oklahoma respectively. While South Pacific attempts to do this, the entire film was simply watered down because of the racial undertones and war themes, etc. Carousel works best on stage, I'll admit, but The Sound of Music is really redundant as a stage show now unless heavily re-imagined using material/inspiration from the film.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 8:35pm

The exteriors for OKLAHOMA! were filmed in Arizona. And SOUTH PACIFIC is not "watered down" by "racial undertones and war themes". Those points are EXACTLY what SOUTH PACIFIC is about! Perhaps you should stick to LEGALLY BLOND and XANADU.

Updated On: 10/25/13 at 08:35 PM

Posted: 10/25/13 at 9:44pm

Yeah it's not "watered down" for the times at all. The color filters are awful- and pointless. And the plot is sort of weird- I think Nellie is one of the least likeable heroines in a musical. And Lt Cable? SO noble in some ways, such a creep in others. Bloody Mary? Pimping out her daughter like that?

And I find Emile a bore on stage.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 10:52pm

Not everyone in life is like Mary Poppins and Practically Perfect in every way. Human beings have their good points and their not-so-good points. I suspect the characters in SOUTH PACIFIC honestly represent most people you might know. The authors of the book and of the play were not Pollyannas. They recognized the spectrum of human behavior, especially during a time of a world at war.

Updated On: 10/25/13 at 10:52 PM

[pinoyidol2006]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 12:31am

My one gripe with Emille is that he was unwilling to risk his life when he had Nellie, but was willing to do it after she leaves him. Does he not think of what happens to his kids if he dies?

[justoldbill]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 8:55am

Doesn't everyone with a family back home who finds him/herself caught up in a war face the same decisions? Are you so worried about Ngana and Jerome just because they open the show with a charming song?

Updated On: 10/26/13 at 08:55 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 10:41am

Are you so worried about Ngana and Jerome just because they open the show with a charming song?

**SNARK**

[justoldbill]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 1:32pm

Another mature and intelligent contribution to the discussion.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 2:56pm

Sweet Jesus, justoldbill, what's wrong with you? Calm down buddy. South Pacific the film is incredibly watered down because they didn't want to highlight the race and war themes is what I'm saying you f@cktard. The 2008 revival really gave the story its gritty quality that was lacking from the film.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 4:04pm

No, not really. The revival gave DeBecque the "insight" to call Nellie on her prejudice at the end of Act 1 (making the assumption the audience was too dumb to see it for themselves), instead of having her make that journey of realization for herself later in the show. Hammerstein was right in initially eliminating that moment from his drafts. And the revival didn't really present the "grit" of war any more than is already in the script (spoiler: Cable dies). But hearing a full acoustic orchestra was nice.

[pinoyidol2006]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 5:10pm

It's not that they open with a cute song. This is what essentially Emille does:

I have Nellie and my children, so I won't risk my life.

I still have my children, but I don't have Nellie. I will risk my life.


The only the thing that made him change his mind is whether Nellie is with him or not.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 5:44pm

I love South Pacific! The movie is mostly disappointing. It never quite works ... on any level, despite all of the talent involved.

The TV version with Glenn Close was awful.

The Lincoln Center production was good, except for the replacement Cable, who was so incredibly bad my head is still spinning (see Linda Blair in The Exorcist). Other than that, it was the best production I've seen of it so far.

I will say that I was lucky enough to be cast in an excellent production of it in summer stock that starred the late, great David Holliday, who played opposite Katharine Hepburn in "Coco" and played Don Quixote in "Man of La Mancha" on Broadway. I have never seen a better Emile de Becque, and that includes everyone.

Maybe that's why I'm still waiting for a "perfect' production. Something to gather the best of what I've seen (and done) before.

I certainly think this show is worthy of it.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 5:56pm

I had forgotten about how bad the replacement Cable was until you mentioned him. I love the live broadcast of South Pacific, but he's unfortunately a bit of a blight.

I feel like South Pacific is just incredibly hard to do well in general though; all of the main and supporting roles could easily go sour if not cast correctly, and the director needs to be able to handle both the lighter musical moments and those unending war room scenes (which I found borderline unbearable in the revival, not because the actors were doing anything wrong but because they're just so long and not very interesting).

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 10/26/13 at 6:03pm

I love SOUTH PACIFIC with all its colorization problems...but in reality all R & H musicals do not work seemlessly on film...they were meant to be seen on stage...they can try to open them up some but eventually because of the nature of film-making back then they all look like they were filmed on sets...with some major exceptions of course...

I agree. There's something to love in all the R&H films, but they don't exactly "work". I think the problem is that Hammerstein's brilliance as a lyricist lies in his ability to evoke the physical setting. ("There's a bright, golden haze on the meadow...")

When you move the R&H works to location settings and film them in Cinemascope and Technicolor, it makes the lyrics mostly redundant.

The exception, IMO, is THE SOUND OF MUSIC, because--after the opening number--the stage play basically takes place indoors. So the gorgeous film of the Alps isn't redundant because the characters aren't also singing about the mountains; they are singing about lonely goatherds and girls turning 17.