FILM · 1958
South Pacific
14 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
14 Interesting Facts About South Pacific
Interesting Facts (10)
- #001
Juanita Hall, who played Bloody Mary in the original Broadway production, sang her own songs on stage, but at composer Richard Rodgers's request her voice was dubbed in the film version. She and musical director Alfred Newman brought in Muriel Smith, who had played Bloody Mary in London.
- #002
This is the only film adaptation of a Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II stage show to include every song intact, with the addition of "My Girl Back Home," which had been cut from the show before it opened.
- #003
According to some sources, Mary Martin did not play Nellie Forbush in the film because Ezio Pinza, who had played Emile De Becque on stage, had already died and the producers saw finding someone to pair with him on screen as a hopeless task. Other sources say Martin, who was 45 when the film was made, was too old for the role. Mitzi Gaynor was eventually cast in the part.
- #004
The use of color filters in the film was heavily criticized by cinematographer Leon Shamroy, who complained about it at length to director Joshua Logan and even wrote him a letter on the subject after the film was released. Logan apparently said the film had earned him about three million dollars, so he was not too worried.
- #005
Rossano Brazzi's singing voice was provided by Giorgio Tozzi, Ken Clark's by Thurl Ravenscroft, and John Kerr's by Bill Lee.
- #006
Two numbers are combined at the end of the soundtrack album. The Act One finale was appended to the final reprise of "Dites-Moi," making that closing track longer and allowing the album to end triumphantly with Emile and Nellie reprising "Some Enchanted Evening." This was also done on the original 1949 Broadway cast album. Both the show and the film end with a reprise of "Dites-Moi," after which nothing is sung and only the orchestra plays.
- #007
The first two notes of "Bali Ha'i" are a perfect octave. Another well-known song that begins with a perfect octave is "Somewhere over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz (1939).
- #008
Although censors would not allow such a statement outright, Bloody Mary's insistence that her daughter 'should' marry the now-dying Lieutenant Cable is a fairly good indication that she is pregnant.
- #009
When Joe meets Liat, the camera slowly tilts up her. When France Nuyen appeared in the Star Trek (1966) episode Elaan of Troyius (1968), director John Meredyth Lucas used almost the same shot to introduce her character.
- #010
While the Captain, Lieutenant Cable and Bill hold a briefing on the beach where Cable is drawing in the sand, a wave reaches farther than the others and washes over Bill's foot. Cable looks at him and points (unscripted), and Bill makes a slight adjustment but still gets his shoe wet.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #011
Director Joshua Logan, worried that the film's lush tropical settings would not look natural in Technicolor, shot several scenes through newly available color filters in an attempt to soften the effect, partly to separate the musical numbers from the dialogue scenes and partly to conceal fluctuations in the weather during shooting. He later said he considered it the biggest mistake of his film career. He had wanted the filters to be subtler, but said the film processing laboratory made them more extreme than he intended. Because the film was on a promotional tour and tickets had been booked months in advance, there was no time to reshoot without them or to change them. According to his son Tom Logan, however, when the film was first released on VHS and Logan watched it, he liked the way the filtered scenes looked on the small screen.
Characters & Cast (3)
- #012
France Nuyen had not yet learned English when she played Liat. Fortunately, she could converse in her native French with leading actor Rossano Brazzi, who spoke French as well as his native Italian.
- #013
Mitzi Gaynor considers this her best film performance. She followed the role closely and felt she could do a good job because of her musical stage background. Her rivals for the part were well-known film actresses who lacked that background and did not screen-test. After Joshua Logan asked her to test, she accepted eagerly and won the role.
- #014
Patti Page recounted in a book that she was among those who tested for the role of Nellie Forbush before Mitzi Gaynor was cast. According to "Hollywood's First Choices," director Joshua Logan's first choice was Elizabeth Taylor, a "popular commodity" of the late 1950s. Taylor went so far as to meet with the creative team, but was so frightened that she could not produce a sound when asked to sing. Her then-husband Mike Todd reported that he later met with them and sang songs from the score for her.
Related pages
- Quarantine — South Pacific comes up in the facts on that page
- Avatar: The Way of Water — South Pacific comes up in the facts on that page
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Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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