South Pacific (1958) on Netflix
Approved19582h 37mMusicalRomanceWar
Nellie Forbush, a Navy nurse, falls for Emile de Becque, a French planter on a South Pacific island. Lieutenant Joe Cable wants Emile's help on a reconnaissance mission behind Japanese lines.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.8/1011,165 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes77%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1943 the U.S. Navy and Marines mass in the South Pacific, preparing to move against the Imperial Japanese Navy. Lieutenant Joe Cable, a Marine officer, wants Emile de Becque, a French planter on the island, to help with a scouting mission behind Japanese lines. Emile turns him down. He is in love with Nellie Forbush, a Navy nurse at the base hospital, and does not want to take part. A Seabee named Luther Billis talks Cable into visiting Bali Ha'i, an island nearby, and there Cable falls in love with Liat, a local girl.
Cast
- Candace Leeas Ngana - Emile's Child
- Warren Hsiehas Jerome - Emile's Child
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about South Pacific (1958)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producers originally planned to reunite Broadway stars Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin for the film and would have cast Martin as Nellie too, but Pinza died suddenly in May 1957, forcing a full recast of both leads.
- Doris Day turned down the role of Nellie, and Elizabeth Taylor tested for it but was rejected by composer Richard Rodgers after suffering stage fright during her audition; director Joshua Logan later heard Taylor sing and tried, unsuccessfully, to change Rodgers's mind.
- After four years of continuous release in Britain, South Pacific had grossed $9.4 million there, overtaking Gone with the Wind as the highest-grossing film in United Kingdom history.
- The film's soundtrack album spent a record-breaking 115 weeks at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the top five for 214 weeks in total.
- Director Joshua Logan was unhappy with how extreme the colored filters looked in the finished film, but with tickets already pre-sold for the roadshow release there was no time to fix it; he later wrote that he wished he could stand outside theaters wearing a sign reading, 'I DIRECTED IT, AND I DON'T LIKE THE COLOR EITHER!'
