Movie Musical Challenge – South Pacific

Posted February 8, 2016 by Charlotte in Movie Musical Challenge! / 3 Comments

Bookish Whimsey Movie Musical Challenge

For this Movie Musical Challenge I’ve made a list of 15 musicals that I haven’t yet seen and probably ought to have. The challenge is throughout the year and once watched I’ll put my thoughts up on the blog. Today is the turn of South Pacific.

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So the first movie for the challenge is the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific (1958), starring Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr and Juanita Hall.

There were quite a few songs that I knew, even though I hadn’t watched the musical before, including  “There Is Nothing Like a Dame”, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” and “Happy Talk”, which I think made the film better as I was looking forward to them and knew that, however badly, I could sing along to.

South Pacific is set during the war, but it is only towards the end that we get any real impact that the war has. Instead South Pacific mainly deals with contentious issues of inter-racial relationships and racial prejudice, which was quite daring at the time and (hopefully!) sat as uncomfortable with the audience as it does now with the clever song “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”.

One of the strange things about the film is the use of coloured filters whenever there is a song. I’m not sure whether this is to give the film a more mystical feel or to show that the songs ‘are not part of real life‘, but whatever the reason it was a bit off-putting especially at the beginning. I think I got use to it in the end.

I adored this musical, thanks to the setting (it was filmed in Hawaii and is a stunning location), the great cast, and the songs that you will hum long after the film is over. This is a great musical that will remain a firm favourite of mine, due to the great story and toe-tapping songs.

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3 responses to “Movie Musical Challenge – South Pacific

  1. Charlene @ Bookish Whimsy

    I’ve not seen this one (yet) but I’m familiar with some of the songs, so I’ll be humming along with it badly when I watch too. 🙂 I’m glad this was an enjoyable movie for you! It’s a great to start off the challenge with a good musical!

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