South Pacific 50th Anniversary Edition on Blu-Ray Disc 03/31/09

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 10:47pm

The first Rodgers & Hammerstein film musical to get the Blu-Ray treatment will be the 1958 big screen version of "SOUTH PACIFIC"
starring Mitzi Gaynor, Rossano Brazzi, John Kerr, Ray Walston, Juanita Hall and France Nuyen.

It's a 2 disc edition which includes a newly made 94 minute documentary on the making of the film, the show's origins, James Michener's Pulitzer prize winning novel "Tales of the South Pacific" and interviews with the stars of the current Lincoln Center production. The documentary is hosted by Mitzi Gaynor.

It's slated to hit store shelves on March 31, 2009.

You can also pre-order at your favorite online retailer.

Deep Discount has it for $27.59
Amazon offers it for $24.49

Updated On: 1/26/09 at 10:47 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 11:45am

Sadly, Mitzi Gaynor is the only surviving member of the movie team.

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 3:21pm

Imagine how stunningly garish the color filters will look in HD...

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 3:24pm

"Sadly, Mitzi Gaynor is the only surviving member of the movie team."

Did something happen to John Kerr?

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 3:30pm

"Imagine how stunningly garish the color filters will look in HD... "

LOL, sad but true!

Hopefully, they'll work their way UP from South Pacific. That and the film version of Carousel are my least favorites of the R&H movies. They could have (and should have) been so much better.

[Mamie]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 3:36pm

They can add color to black and white films - and ruin them in the process. (A personal opinion.) Think of how much it would improve this film if they could REMOVE the excess color!

Wouldn't it be fabulous if they found another print hiding away in vaults somewhere that didn't include the filters!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 3:41pm

OOH, Ken Clark on BluRay!!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 3:49pm

THE SOUND OF MUSIC would look glorious on Blu-Ray, especially the opening shot and "Do-Re-MI."

BTW: besty, I concur re CAROUSEL and SOUTH PACIFIC. I'll even throw in OKLAHOMA and Gloria Grahame's catatonic Annie. I could barely sit through all 3 movies once.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 4:17pm

Mamie--sadly Joshua Logan chose to shoot this film with the filters on the camera lenses. The tinting wasn't done in post-production (like it should have been back then, and would be done today).

A really unfortunate move. So they can't take away the tinting. Ugh.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 4:50pm

Dollypop, Did France Nuyen pass away? I think she's still with us so is John Kerr

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 5:26pm

John Kerr is still alive and quit the business to become a lawyer.

France Nuyen is still alive too. According to IMDb.com, she is a "psychological counselor" in L.A.

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 8:34pm

I mean... it may borderline on bastardization, but as someone who was never overly fond of this movie...

If it were recolored like black and white movies are... I dunno. It might be interesting to see. It'd probably still look pretty damn cheesy, but compared to how the color filters already look... I still wouldn't mind seeing something like that. It wouldn't look perfect, but it'd be interesting to watch at least once.

[KrissySim]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 10:13pm

A turkey is a turkey no matter how you dress or cook it.

The only interesting thing here will be the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 11:25pm

I finally recognized this films brilliance, after seeing the gruesome television film, produced by that misguided Glenn Close. As for the color filter, there was some thought of removing the color (via computer), back when they did the laserdisc transfer. They decided against it, but it certainly can be done. I'd be all for it! And the film's orchestrations are the finest in musical film history, imo.
Updated On: 1/27/09 at 11:25 PM