This film almost works until it introduces the sub-plot which is so blatantly racist I simply walked out. When I researched the film and learned its debut on Broadway was in 1949, I could understand how the producers could get away with a storyline as embarrassing and silly as this one is. Ten years later on the big screen the story did not improve a bit and in fact seemed even worse than it should have been. Perhaps I am being too politically correct but there are boundaries you know and you simply do not insult an entire culture by giving the impression their pretty daughters are for sale. Geez! There are some great things about the film - the color for one, Mitzi Gaynor for another and Ray Walston who practically walks away with it - but the sub-plot which is introduced somewhat late in the film is so awful that I just cannot recommend this film to anyone.

I have always had a soft spot for this musical, as I recall my parents (my mother, especially) playing the original LP over and over. My uncle, who served in the Navy in the South Pacific during WWII, loved it, too. The Blu-ray transfer is breath-taking and it is fun to see the restored version (though for those bits, the picture quality is quite faded). Yes, it's old fashioned, yes, it's a bit creaky, and, yes, those filters are a little strange, but just listen to that glorious R&H score, look at the beautiful scenery, and immerse yourself in excellent performances, and you have be taken away. I am a fan of Mitzi Gaynor, though many feel that Doris Day should have played the role. Doris could have done it justice, no doubt, but Mitzi had a wide-eyed freshness, excellent voice, and believability that was refreshing. They don't make musicals like this any more and I'll take this any day over most of the frenetic musicals of today (with their unmelodic scores).

The wartime South Pacific depicted here is populated by youthful Americans, the most emotionally sensitive of whom are seduced by Orientalist visions of an exotic paradise. Also dwelling here is a European expatriate, less naive than the Americans but with complex and very personal ties to the place. Locals live here too, of course, but they are viewed, intentionally, through the imperfect lens of foreign observers. The film's style vacillates between that of a mainstream movie musical and that of a more abstract work of cultural criticism; it is entertaining and intellectually satisfying, especially for those who have some familiarity with the subject matter.

*One spoiler in the last paragraph* South Pacific is one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's best. The hit rate with the songs is remarkably high. 'Younger than Springtime' and 'Some Enchanted Evening' have entered many a singer's repertoire, and songs like 'I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair' and 'Honey Bun' add some up-tempo fun.Mitzi Gaynor is adorable as Nellie, the young American nurse who falls in love with charming older Frenchman Emile De Becque, played by Rossano Brazzi. Brazzi is old enough to make the age gap noticeable but he is no OAP. He's your typical cultured 'maturer' man, with good looks. Their romance is believable.John Kerr has been unfairly maligned in reviews. Lt. Cable is a secondary character who exists to contrast this secondary romance with the main one. It's your typical pretty man role and Kerr is sufficiently attractive. He also gets one of the best songs to act (although he doesn't sing it as his singing voice is dubbed): 'You've Got To Be Carefully Taught', a song which argues that it is parents (and on a wider scale,a society) who pass on their racism to their children.It's a long film but with the static camera, it's essentially a night in at the theatre. You can make an evening of it- there's even an intermission. The colour filters are clumsily done. They do add a feeling of strangeness and exoticism but they are overused. You do get used to them eventually though.Back in the fifties and before, musicals were quite innocent entertainment. There is a sweet innocence in South Pacific with the relationship between Nellie and Emile but this is still wartime. Both romances would probably never have started if Nellie and Cable weren't on the island and it wasn't wartime. The theme of racism is handled subtly but daringly. Nellie and Cable are not bigots but simply the product of an intolerant society. Luckily the film doesn't sell out and pair Nellie off with Cable, which would be the more conventional romance.