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20th Century Fox
The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization
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There is nothing you can name that is anything like...
Can a girl from Little Rock find happiness with a mature French planter she got to know one enchanted evening away from the military hospital where she is a nurse? Or should she just wash that man out of her hair? Bloody Mary is the philosopher of the island and it's hard to believe she could be the mother of Liat who has captured the heart of Lt. Joseph Cable USMC. While waiting for action in the war in the South Pacific, sailors and nurses put on a musical comedy show. The war gets closer and the saga of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque becomes serious drama.
CinemaSerf
Jan 16, 2024 · via TMDB
Amidst the backdrop of the Second World War, Joshua Logan takes us, courtesy of Rodgers and Hammerstein, on a romance set on a beautiful tropical island. Mitzi Gaynor is one of the few women here who is surrounded by squad of hormonal sailors who declare "There's Nothing Like a Dame" early on, so she has no shortage of would-be suitors. Also on this island is the Frenchman "Emile" (Rossano Brazzi) whom the visitors want to use to help map out the adjacent islands held by the Japanese. What now ensues follows the will they/won't they nature of their developing relationship interspersed with some wartime plotting and peppered with musical standards like "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair"; "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Younger than Springtime" the film trundles along to it's rather obvious conclusion. There can be no doubt that the songs are memorable, but there is not a jot of chemistry between Brazzi and the increasingly Doris Day-esque Gaynor and the ensemble chorus numbers come across as overly choreographed and not in the least natural. For much of the film, it appears as if it's shot through a telescope with slightly blurred edges. Initially reminiscent of dream sequences, this technique soon loses it's potency and ends up contributing little to this generally rather lacklustre and thinly plotted comic love story. There's also no getting away from the glaringly obvious dubbing as Giorgio Tozzi provided the real operatic bass tones on behalf of our leading man. The music carries this a great deal, but the rest of it is little better than colourful wartime B-movie that I found did disappoint.
John Chard
Nov 9, 2019 · via TMDB
Knuckleheads and cockeyed optimists. Even though it's gargantuan in length, this is actually a "small" screen adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway play. Met with indifference by the critics of the time, it has however come to be loved by many a musical fan. I'm not one of them though... There's no denying that the songs are superb, mostly top draw, but there are so many irritating issues within. The much discussed colour filters that were used by director Joshua Logan and cinematographer Leon Shamroy, are overkill, trying to supplant whimsy when really a static set can't carry the treatment. Pic is easily 45 minutes too long, thus when the war sequences come so late in the play they feel at odds with what has transpired in the previous 2 hours of film. Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi as our loved up lovers are polar opposites on character terms, but also in acting skills. She is radiant for the key musical numbers, but her character away from the musical numbers starts to grate the longer the pic goes on. He, well he's as stiff as one of Logan's camera set-ups is. Even some of the dancing choreography comes off as something that was originally thrown away during production discussions. The tunes carry you through to the end, for they demand to be given our attention, but really this is one musical that I really could never watch again. 5/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Rossano Brazzi
Emile De Becque
Mitzi Gaynor
Ensign Nellie Forbush, USN
John Kerr
Lt. Joseph Cable, USMC
Ray Walston
Luther Billis
Juanita Hall
Bloody Mary
France Nuyen
Liat
Russ Brown
Capt. J.M. Brackett, USN
Jack Mullaney
The Professor
Ken Clark
Stewpot
Floyd Simmons
Commander Harbison, USN
Tom Laughlin
Lt. Buzz Adams
Giorgio Tozzi
Emile De Becque (singing voice)
Archie Savage
Ceremonial Dance Chief / Boar's Tooth Ceremonial Dancer: Chief
John Gabriel
2nd Communications Man
Richard Harrison
Co-Pilot
Ron Ely
Navigator
Richard H. Cutting
Admiral Kester
Doug McClure
Pilot in Hospital
Joan Baker
Nurse at Nurses' Beach
Dorothy Abbott
Nurse in Thanksgiving Show
Larri Thomas
Nurse in Thanksgiving Show
James Stacy
Sailor / Seabee
Victor Upshaw
Boar's Tooth Ceremonial Dancer: Firetender
Thelma Oliver
Negro Woman
Ed Fury
Sailor / Seabee
Bill Lee
Lieutenant Joseph Cable (Singing Voice) (Uncredited)
Thurl Ravenscroft
Stewpot (Singing) (Uncredited)
John DeCuir
Art Direction
Leon Shamroy
Director of Photography
Dorothy Jeakins
Costume Design
Joshua Logan
Director
Buddy Adler
Producer
Alfred Newman
Conductor
Richard Rodgers
Music
Alfred Newman
Music Supervisor
Alfred Newman
Original Music Composer
Richard Rodgers
Original Music Composer
Ken Darby
Other
Richard Rodgers
Songs
Joshua Logan
Book
Oscar Hammerstein II
Book
Oscar Hammerstein II
Lyricist
Paul Osborn
Screenplay
Joshua Logan
Theatre Play
Oscar Hammerstein II
Theatre Play
Richard Rodgers
Theatre Play
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Mar 19, 1958
Todd-AO premiere at Criterion Theatre in New York City.
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Bicara Cinta
2020
The Pied Pipers of Harlow
1965
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Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
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2008 · 14 wins
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1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
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1981 · 11 wins
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