South Pacific: stage vs screen

Joshua Logan's 1958 film of South Pacific stars Mitzi Gaynor as Nellie Forbush and Rossano Brazzi as Emile de Becque, with Juanita Hall repeating her role as Bloody Mary. It adapts the 1949 Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, which Logan co-wrote and directed, from James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific. The film keeps the story but changes the order, the look, and the voices. These are the main differences.

Stage

Broadway musical (1949)

Screen

South Pacific (1958), directed by Joshua Logan

1. The first two scenes are swapped

The stage show opens with the children's song "Dites-Moi." The film reorders the first two scenes: it begins with Cable being flown to the island, and the Seabees and Bloody Mary supply the first number, "Bloody Mary." Nellie first appears during the Seabees scene. The European cut of the film keeps the stage order.

2. Emile and "Some Enchanted Evening" arrive later

Because of that reordering, Emile does not appear until about 30 minutes into the film. "Some Enchanted Evening," which comes about 15 minutes into Act I on stage, is heard nearly 45 minutes in. The film also brings Nellie in earlier than Emile, so audiences meet her among the Seabees before the central romance begins.

3. "My Girl Back Home" returns, "Wash That Man" shrinks

"My Girl Back Home" was written for Cable to sing before "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" but was cut before the Broadway opening. The film restores it as a duet for Cable and Nellie, and it keeps "Carefully Taught," Cable's bitter song about how prejudice is learned. In the other direction, "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" is abridged on screen, although the soundtrack album has the full version.

4. Colored filters wash over the songs

Many of the film's song sequences are bathed in colored filters, and critics objected. Logan had wanted subtle changes but felt the effect was too extreme. He could not fix it before release, because tickets for the roadshow run were already sold. He later joked in a memoir that he wished he could stand outside theaters with a sign disowning the color.

5. Many of the singing voices are dubbed

Giorgio Tozzi sang for Brazzi's Emile, Bill Lee for John Kerr's Cable, and Muriel Smith, who had played Bloody Mary in London, for Juanita Hall. Only Mitzi Gaynor and Ray Walston, as Luther Billis, sang their own parts. Walston had played Billis on stage in London.

6. Neither Mary Martin nor Ezio Pinza is in it

The studio first planned for Pinza and Mary Martin to repeat their stage roles, but Pinza died in May 1957. Doris Day turned down Nellie, and Rodgers rejected Elizabeth Taylor after she suffered stage fright at her audition, before Gaynor won the part after testing twice. Brazzi was cast after offers went to Charles Boyer, Howard Keel, and Fernando Lamas.

7. A new Billis scene was filmed

The film adds a sequence not in the stage version. Billis, who has parachuted from a damaged plane, has a boat dropped on him and then suffers a series of mishaps, in keeping with his fatalistic outlook. The film was shot mainly at Hanalei Bay on Kauai, with matte paintings supplying the distant views of Bali Ha'i.

8. The story and ending stay the same

Cable is still killed on the mission he undertakes with Emile, Emile survives, and the film keeps all the stage songs. Emile returns to find Nellie caring for his children, having accepted them, and the two reconcile. The roadshow cut ran about 172 minutes against 157 for general release.

South Pacific movie vs musical: FAQs