The team of Rodgers and Hammerstein were incomparable. Taking over the Broadway stage and changing the tone of all Broadway musicals to come with their hit Oklahoma, the team would go on to produce top hits for the stage which were transferred into widescreen film glory. The team would produce musicals that are still extremely popular today. Their musicals play around the world. Every day several new productions of their work is staged somewhere. One of those is South Pacific. The screen version was directed by Joshua Logan, who also directed the original stage production which opened on Broadway in 1949 and ran for almost five years. The same creative team responsible for South Pacific's theater production brought it to the screen under Buddy Adler's producing guidance�Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. The familiar music and lyrics were introduced to the screen nine years after the hit Broadway show.
Richard Rodgers had spent many years writing the music for the lyrics of Lorenz Hart. But as time went by, Hart's alcoholism along with his knack for missing meetings became a burden for Rodgers. Rodgers approached Hammerstein about writing the score for Oklahoma, and Hammerstein told him that his duty was to Hart but if he became too hard to work with, to contact him. On the night of the premiere of Rodgers and Hart's A Connecticut Yankee, Hart was very drunk and Rodgers had him removed from the theater and off he went into the winter blizzards in New York. Five days later, he was dead of pneumonia. And so began the collaboration of future Rodgers and Hammerstein shows.
Richard Rodgers (at piano) and Oscar Hammerstein II
A Musical is Born
The journey of South Pacific all began during a dinner with discussion between Joshua Logan and scenic designer Jo Mielziner, who were also joined by Jo's brother Kenneth. He told Logan about a book which was submitted to him (he was a story editor at MGM) and which the studio had turned down. He suggested that Logan might find it useful for background material, since Mister Roberts was also very popular. While on vacation in Miami, Logan read Tales of the South Pacific, written by James A. Michener. Michener had been stationed at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides and over a period in 1945 wrote these tales told by a naval officer about American servicemen and local inhabitants on an island in the South Pacific. It was published in 1947 and would win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature at the end of the year.
Joshua Logan
Logan was excited about the piece, especially Fo Dolla and Our Heroine. Leland Hayward, who was a top theatrical agent (whose clients included Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda and Helen Hayes) visited Logan during this Miami trip. He was reported to say, "Josh, we have got to buy this sonofabitch." It was then that Logan made his decision to move forward without knowing how the property would be handled. Hayward moved forward to secure the rights but swore Logan to secrecy. But Logan was too excited to keep quiet and mentioned the project to Richard Rodgers at a cocktail party, and told him that he felt from the first reading that it was perfect material for Rodgers and Hammerstein. At the time Rodgers had other projects going and simply wrote down the title, forgetting about it.
Various releases of "Tales of the South Pacific."
During this time, Mister Roberts was playing and Josh Logan invited Oscar Hammerstein to the tryouts in Philadelphia to help him with the show. While there, Oscar asked Logan if he had come across anything that he and Rodgers might be interested in. Logan asked Hammerstein if Rodgers had told him about Tales of the South Pacific. Of course, Oscar had not heard word from Rodgers about it nor was he familiar with the book. Hammerstein then called Rodgers and inquired, and Rodgers said he had finally read it and said it was great material, but that someone else owns the rights and they could not get them. Rodgers then exclaimed "It's that sonofabitch Logan."
Various photos from the stage, Life Magazine cover and publicity stills with Rodgers and Hammerstein
Now Logan had to tell Leland Hayward that he did not keep this ideas quiet and Hayward ended up desperately upset because he had not finished the deal with writer Michener. Rodgers and Hammerstein then told the two that if they did the show, they would command 51% of the property. Hayward would remain bitter at Logan about this for the rest of his life. Logan wanted the team to do the show so badly that he gave in, and later would say how sorry he was for that decision. Nine percent of the gross went to Richard and Oscar, with Logan taking three and the author of the book a small one percent. The show ended up with a $225,000 budget but would earn millions and even the one percent afforded the original author would turn out to be good wage.
(from top) Mary Martin and cast, Rodgers and Hammerstein interview at premiere, scenes from stage presentation
Rodgers and Hammerstein were famous for facing problems with bringing exotic locations to the stage. Richard Rodgers wanted someone who was well known but could also belt a song, similar to that of Ethel Merman (not a soprano). She would have to take on a good portion of the score and at the same time win the hearts of audiences. When Ezio Pinza was cast, who had performed mainly in operas, Mary Martin was contacted and was concerned about the two leads having voices in the lower register. Unhappy with the casting of Pinza, Joshua Logan demanded that he be replaced. But Rodgers and Hammerstein had final say, as they did with every decision made in any of their work. Logan told Rodgers that instead of doing the show as a stage show, that a movie would be ideal because of the locations. Rodgers was insulted at this, claiming later that he had no right to tell them what was possible on the stage. Nonetheless, his name was there with Rodgers and Hammerstein on the top line of the posters and billing. Rodgers and Hammerstein now had to find a way to not only show the geography on stage, but also to match Mary Martin's Broadway voice with that of opera singer Pinza. What they decided was not to match them at all. They would not sing together on the stage.
From Book to Stage
South Pacific opens on Broadway
The biggest problem they had was taking Tales of the South Pacific, a book written by James A. Michener, and take the different stories and combine them for a two to three hour show. There were nineteen stories in the book, and the heart of the piece had to be found. Three of the stories were decided upon: Our Heroine (the Nellie-Emile story), Fo; Dolla' (The Cable-Liat love story) and A Boar's Tooth (for a comic figure which would be Luthur). This changed the way Rodgers and Hammerstein had done things before. In all of their stories, there was always a main love story, and South Pacific would be the first with two. When it came to the military, Hammerstein had little experience so it has been said that Joshua Logan, who had military experience, went to Hammerstein's farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania to help write. The problem was that by the time he was done, he had completed enough work to be co-author of the book and entitled to royalties. Rodgers and Hammerstein never shared their work. Hammerstein was very much against collaborating. But he had contributed too much for this to be ignored and ended up sharing credits as co-author of the book, but received no more compensation than he was entitled to as director of the show.
Set designs for the Broadway stage
Because there was little room for dance in the script, Logan became the choreographer as well. He would work out the moves on stage as small moves that would be made by the players in the actual positions they were in. There are no large Broadway showstopping dances in South Pacific, instead it was decided to create a realistic moves-and-dance routine for each song. Later, film director Joshua Logan chose not to hire a professional choreographer for the CB's, stating that they would never have danced in unison. So he directed each dancer in the stage show (and later some of the film's dance sequences) as to what to do. The expertise of orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett was called upon, who was one of the most famous orchestrators on Broadway (and would be for many more years). He had already orchestrated the score of The King and I and Oklahoma on stage and would work on the film versions as well (and be one of the main orchestrators of the film version of South Pacific).
Rare Hirschfield interpretation of the Broadway version
Rehearsals began on February 3, 1949 and the excitement in Broadway circles was ecstatic. The play of South Pacific opened in 1949 and even after two years on the stage, it was still selling out. It is interesting to note that some of the songs were written in a very short period of time. One story goes that Hammerstein sent the lyrics over to Rodgers who had a bad cold at the time. In a half hour, Hammerstein called him back for something else and Rodgers had Happy Talk completed. Oscar later felt the song should be thrown out as he could not imagine how it would be staged. Obviously, it was worked out.
Original Broadway poster
Another song written was I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy, one of the shows most popular songs, written between the two at midnight. This would become the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical in which every song would become a hit, with songs already familiar to the public when the screen version was released. The stage show would sweep the Tony Awards taking best musical, male and female performer, supporting male and female performer, director, book and best score. By January 1957, the show's profit was close to five million dollars. This figure does not include revenue from the 1956 sale of the film rights to 20th Century Fox. The stage show would have a U.S. Tour, a London West-End production, a 1988 West End revival, a 2003 U.S. tour with Robert Goulet, a 2001 West End revival, a 2005 Carnegie Hall concert, a 2007 UK tour, and a new 2008 Broadway revival which is playing to critical acclaim.
The Film Version
20th Century Fox Film Corporation had first option to any Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. They had already worked with the pair on the film version of State Fair, which was never on the stage. But Rodgers and Hammerstein were very pleased with the way Fox had handled its other shows and were especially fond of their widescreen and stereo processes (especially Todd-AO), and saw no reason to seek another film company. The only Rodgers and Hammerstein property that was not made at Fox was Flower Drum Song. When Flower Drum Song was available as a film property, 20th Century Fox was heavily investing in Cleopatra and their management and Board was in chaos. This would be the first time Fox would turn down one of their properties.
Fox purchased the movie rights for $1,250,000. They decided this would be one of their biggest pictures, like the other Rodgers and Hammerstein properties and would be filmed in Todd-AO (developed by American Optical Company) after Fox abandoned its Cinemascope 55 format. At the time they owned a share of the Todd-AO process. South Pacific would be the third film to use the Todd-AO process after Oklahoma and Around the World in 80 Days and would later be used for such big screen films as The Sound of Music. The estimated budget would be $6 million. Fox would decide to film on location in Ibiza in the Balearic Islands in Spain and Kauai, Hawaii with other shots on Tioman Island in Malaysia. These locations would prove successful in opening the stage show to a very different cinematic world. Fox hired Buddy Adler as executive producer and Josh Logan as director. It was decided to keep the movie flowing like the Broadway show, because at that time, Broadway was highly esteemed. Since Richard Rodgers had become ill, he would not have much involvement with the South Pacific screen adaptation. Hammerstein would be heavily involved.
Todd-AO
Todd-AO, a wide-angle* deep-screen motion picture process, was the new name in the industry and it brought new sight and new sound
experiences to moviegoers. It had been designed and developed to be an industrywide system. Pictures in this process were
photographed in the usual way on either large (65/70mm) film or standard film (35mm) as preferred and projected in the usual way from a
theatre's regular booth.
(l-r) Henry S. Woodbridge, President Todd-AO, Dr. Brian O'Brian, Vice President American Optical, Douglas L. Netter, Jr., Vice President Todd-AO, George J. Solomon, Treasurer, Todd-AO, James M. Landis, Secretary, Todd-AO
35mm and Todd-AO comparison, 6 track recording on location
The outstanding feature of the many that distinguished Todd-AO's sight and sound was the sense of participationďż˝ the feeling of
emotional and physical participation that audiences felt because Todd-AO enabled them to be part of what they see and hear. They
reacted to emotional scenes as if the actors were actually there in the theatre and they became are part of the action that takes place,
reacting physically as if they were part of that action.
This reality was achieved by the unique design of the camera lenses, projector lenses and the deep curve of the screen; all designed to fit,
one with the other, with the precision of a scientific instrument. By means of a special printing process, the distortions caused by high-
angle projection onto deeply curved screens from the regular booths of theatres were eliminated. This was never done before and it is
what makes regular projection on a deep-screen possible�and the deep screen is necessary to create reality.
Todd-AO was a system for every theatre, large or small. If one were to walk to every corner of the theaterwe would see that it was a
system for every seat�somising that was not true of any other method of projecting moving pictures, including standard film projection.
It took courage and initiative to dare, to take a risk to bring "Oklahoma!" (the first Todd-AO film) in Todd-AO to the Rivoli in New York. The
story of this achievement is dramatic in its own right. First, Mike Todd went to Dr. Brian O'Brien, then at the University of Rochester, and
asked him if he could create a wide-angle, deep-screen motion picture process using one camera and one projector. When Dr. O'Brien,
who shortly thereafter became vice-president in charge of research for American Optical Co., said "yes," Mike Todd went to Joe Schenck
and George Skouras, who joined with him to form Magna Theatre Corp., the company that raised the money to produce "Oklahoma!" and
together with American Optical Co. financed the development of the system. The two companies in turn formed the Todd-AO Corp. to
license producers to make Todd-AO pictures and supply equipment for that purpose and also to sell Todd-AO theatre equipment to
exhibitors.
Dr. Brian O'Brien started work early in 1953 and had upwards of 100 scientists and engineers working with him in the development of the
various phases of the system. Dr. Hopkins of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, in particular, worked with him on the
famous 128ďż˝ "Bug-Eye" lens. The institute was pre-eminent in the field of wide-angle lenses, having developed the gunnery training wide-
angle lenses used by the U. S. Navy.
From the outset, George Skouras insisted that the concept of this new motion picture system be broadened to make it industrywide�a
system for any theatre and for every seat in any theatre with the worst seat as good as the best. To accomplish this, Dr. O'Brien developed
the special printing process that eliminated distortions and made possible projection from any theatre's regular booth. Not long after the
development work started, Arthur Hornblow jr. joined Magna and through his efforts Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein became
interested in making "Oklahoma!" in Todd-AO.
The first tests of this new system made by Mike Todd and Skippy Sanford, photographic director, were shown at the Regent Theatre in
Buffalo in June 1953 and successfully proved that the system gave audiences a sense of physical participation. Further tests were then
undertaken under the direction of Fred Zinnemann, the Oscar-winning director, to find out whether or not a story could be successfully told
in this new system. The tests were shown in Buffalo on Aug. 14, 1953. In the words of Fred Zinnemann, they demonstrated that, for the first
time in the history of moving pictures, audiences have the same feeling in viewing a moving picture that they have in seeing a play in a
legitimate theatre. The proof of the success of these tests came when Rodgers and Hammerstein signed to produce "Oklohoma!" in Todd-
AO after they had been allowed to preview the system.
Japanese one-sheet poster
Alternate Japanese poster
To increase the sense of reality, an entirely new sound system was developed
under the leadership of Fred Hynes, our sound director; in cooperation with West-rex and Ampex. It is a six-channel system based on the
principle of sound-saturation, of which Sam Goldwyn said after hearing some "Oklahoma!" songs for the first time, "This is better than
music," a remark far more accurate than amusing, because Todd-AO sound is more true when reaching the ear than any sound
theretofore heard whether in a theatre or a building especially built for music, and the fact that Rodgers and Hammerstein had Fox
completely re-equip their sound department before a contract was signed.
To bring this new system to the moving picture theatres, American Optical Co. developed, for Todd-AO, projection lenses and, with Philips
of Holland, a universal projector that projected 35mm and 70mm film in all the standard versions and could handle any of the sound
systems that were in use. It is important to note that Todd-AO was compatible with any sound system so that any theatre putting in Todd-
AO equipment could use its present sound installation.
Rare exhibitor advertisement
Almost every item of equipment involved in this undertaking was especially designed by Westrex for Todd-AO. Two six-channel
stereophonic production recording systems were supplied which were used both on location and on the stages. These systems consisted of
mixer input facilities capable of accommodating six stereophonic microphone inputs, a six-channel RA-1547 Recorder and associated
power supply equipment. Both of these systems were mounted in van type mobile units containing their own power supplies and were,
therefore, self-sufficient units on locations where commercial power was not available.
A special stage at MGM studios in Culver City was completely equipped to do the complex re-recording work necessary on such a picture
as "South Pacific!" This installation required a special console capable of accepting 96 separate input circuits. Arrangements were made
so that circuits could be handled separately or grouped under controls so that each separate film containing six magnetic sound tracks in
a stereophonic relation could be controlled with one attenuator. The main console was over 20 feet long and arranged to accommodate a
fHe man crew. All necessary equalizers, auxiliary volume indicators and associated equipment were included in the main console. Associated with the console was an amplifier and power supply cabinet which also contained the large jack bay necessary for the proper
inter-connection of all the circuits involved.
Mike Todd, 1958
To reproduce the music, dialog and sound effects tracks associated with the re-recording operation, Westrex furnished 12 RA-1551 Type
six-trade stereophonic reproducing machines. Two additional RA-1547 six-track stereophonic recording machines were furnished as a part
of the re-recording installation. These recorders also were used in the scoring operation. Four racks of special power supply equipment
were required to power the re-recording machine room.
For monitoring the re-recording operation, Westrex furnished five special horn systems for use behind the screen and two sets of
surround speakers for use in the
rear of the auditorium. Associated with the loudspeaker equipment Westrex furnished six special amplifier systems, each rated at 50 watts.
These were especially designed to keep distortion at full output to the very lowest possible amount. This was essential since the entire
recording and reproducing system reproduced a considerably wider band of frequencies than normally available with standard
theatre equipment. Associated with the dubbing monitor reproducing equipment were six special projection type volume indicators and a
projection type footage counter. These were placed near the screen and greatly facilitated the mixer's job of watch-the picture and the sound level at the same time.Probably the most outstanding reason for the excellent quality of sound recording was the insistence of sound director Fred Hynes
and the entire Todd-AO organization that no compromise be made with quality. The large amount of special development work as well as
the manufacturing program involved was handled under the supervision of Dr. John O. Frayne, Westrex's engineering manager.
The Westrsx Editer was modified to accommodate two 35mm magnetic films, each containing six stereophonic sound tracks in association
with the Todd-AO 70mm picture film. The stereophonic sound conversions, including the auxiliary six-track stereophonic reproducer, were
provided by Westrex.
The men having some off-camera fun
Special unused graphic
Casting South Pacific
Casting the film was not easy for Fox or for Rodgers and Hammerstein. Mary Martin was deemed too old for the role, 36 by the time the screen version was filmed, apart from being too unknown to movie audiences. Fox considered a wide range of actresses for the role from Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day(who later said she was never asked to play the film role, but would have accepted the part) and Audrey Hepburn, several of which made screen tests. (It is said that Josh Logan was at a party with Doris Day when he asked her to sing and she refused, and since that time, Logan could not get past that moment and would refuse to cast her). Another decision was made that this would be the first Rodgers and Hammerstein film of a stage show to contain every song from the stage. Fox pressured Rodgers and Hammerstein to delete the song You've Got to be Carefully Taught, but the team would not budge and the pair had complete control. The song was a bold composition about prejudice but Rodgers and Hammerstein had no problem bringing social issues into their musicals. One song that was deleted from the stage show, My Girl Back Home, was actually added back for the film.
Mitzi Gaynor signs autographs.
Casting the male lead also provided problems. Ezio Pinsa, who played Emil de Becque on stage had already died. The role would go to Italian-born actor Rossano Brazzi, although his vocals would be dubbed by Giorgio Tozzi, who was featured in many operas. Tom Laughlin, later of Billy Jack fame,is in the opening plane sequence as the pilot with the cigar. Ken Clark, who plays Stu Pot, had his singing voice dubbed by Thad Radencroft, who would become the famous voice of Tony the Tiger for Sugar Frosted Flakes.
Rossano Brazzi
Internationally known star Rossano Brazzi had made films in his native Italy, also in France, Germany, Spain, England and even Africa. Brazzi was born on the same street of the same city-Bologna, Italy-as was Ezio Pinza who created the role on Broadway. Rodgers and Hammerstein were at a party in New York when all of a sudden they heard one of their songs being played at the piano and who would be singing it? Rossano Brazzi. His version of Some Enchanted Evening that evening earned him the movie role. Since this was years before the film version was begun, all of Brazzi's contracts from the time of that party through initial filming contained a clause that would release him if production began on the film version of South Pacific. Brazzi was an attorney at one time, but he was drafted into screen stardom in his first picture in Italy and won seven awards equivalent to the Academy Award in Italy.
Mitzi Gaynor at dance rehearsals
Although most lead actresses of the time asked for the role of Nellie Forbush, Mitzi Gaynor landed it by accident. She went to see Director Joshua Logan in the hope of getting the role of the Japanese girl in Sayonara. Before she could say a word, Logan said, "I presume you are here for the part of Nellie. I know you can act and dance but can you sing?" Mitzi sang There's No Business Like Show Business, the title song from the last picture she did under contract to Fox. She also was well familiar with the South Pacific score so she sang Cockeyed Optimist. Josh Logan was so impressed that he promptly rushed her to Richard Rodgers apartment to repeat her performance. She was then informed that Oscar Hammerstein II was in Australia seeing the Olympic games and would be in Hollywood for one day. When he arrived, she sang for him in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Weeks later came a request for her to record the numbers. A few weeks later, a secret test was made by Logan. Cinematographer Shamroy and Mitzi had 20th Century Fox Musical Director Alfred Newman conducting his entire orchestra for her test, a rare opportunity indeed. A complete success, with Rodgers and Hammerstein also present, she won the role. Mitzi had seen Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza in the Broadway version in New York.
Various shots of Mitzi Gaynor on the set and during production
Warren Hsieh and Candace Lee play on-set
Russ Brown Publicity Still
Ray Walston, the fast-talking Luther Billis learned to operate a Linotype machine when he left school during the depression to help support his family. He was a skilled linotyper which was always his financial hedge against the lean and hungry years up the theatrical ladder. He earned his living as a linotype operator all during his theater apprenticeship, which included six years with Margo Jones' Community Playhouse in Houston, and two and a half years with the Cleveland Playhouse. He left the Cleveland Playhouse to try his luck in New York in 1945 because he had a strong feeling he would make good there. His hunch proved right. Three months later, he landed a walk-on part in Maurice Evan's production The G.I. Hamlet. Eventually, he landed the role of Luthur in the road company of South Pacific, and went on to play the same role in the London production. After filming South Pacific, the actor would be seen in almost one hundred roles in different television series as a guest star, played Judge Roy Bone in Picket Fences and take roles in such films as The Sting, Paint Your Wagon and Caprice. One of his favorite roles was that of the devil in Damn Yankees. He died in January of 2001.
Ray Walston Publicity Shot
Production
The film version of South Pacific had a shooting schedule of 84 days, 44 of them on the islands of Kauai and 40 of them on the Fox lot. This schedule included 3 days of pre-principal photography shooting of landings and other Navy maneuvers. Aerial montage shots of scenic backgrounds of actual New Hebrides locations were filmed from planes by Academy-Award-Winning Photographer Leon Shamroy. Location filming provided sweeping shots of the tropical scenes. Assisting for the production were the Department of Defense, the Navy Department and the US Pacific Fleet & Fleet Marine Force, because they felt that the film captured post World War II emotions in America. One of the biggest problems would be to create a dreamy fantasy-like Bali-Hai. This was done with process shots. Shots of the island were taken of Figi and those were over-laid on a mound of dirt in Hawaii (which was not a U.S. state at the time). The finishing effects were matte paintings and double-exposures. The process to create the desired Bali Hai would take 4 weeks and over fifty different processed shots, only one, the final test, was used.
(clockwise) Logan and Rodgers, Juanita Hall on set, filming with the Todd-AO camera setting up a shot
It took months to set up the sets on the small Island in Hawaii. Tons of equipment had to be transported to what was sometimes knee-deep mud on tractors. Also transported was eight thousand feet of lumber for the sets and huts. Six hundred pounds of plaster had to be made for props like totem poles in the ninety degree heat. Painstaking research had been done on the making of the tikis to be sure that they looked authentic. The cast and crew would have to wait out major storms and even a full typhoon, which in turn would ruin many of the sets and construction would have to begin again. This became a huge setback for Fox. The cast and crew could only wait, wasting thousands of dollars per hour that was not used for actual filming. During this time, palm trees were actually repaired and the washed-away scenery was reconstructed.
(Clockwise) Cast and crew on break, Josh Logan with Oscar Hammerstein II, Logan directing, Cast of locals take a break
Scoring
South Pacific was completed on four mammoth sound stages at 20th Century Fox and then turned over to Alfred Newman's 125-piece orchestra for final recording. The usual handling of the music in this film is that Logan ordered the entire score recorded before filming started. This was director Joshua Logan's idea so that his players could work to the pre-recorded play backs, to cue them not only emotionally but to keep their movements in true rhythm to the music.
Alfred Newman conducting South Pacific
Later Alfred Newman publicity still
Fox hired four of the most talented orchestrators, Edward B. Powell, Bernard Mayers, Pete King and king of Broadway orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett, who was key orchestrator for most of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway productions. Two months were spent at the music offices at Fox taking the Broadway orchestrations and opening them up to be played by the huge Fox orchestra. Newman worked with the orchestrators to create what became a very lush and rich sound, something the Broadway version had lacked with its 16 piece orchestra.
Alfred Newman conducting the film score on the Fox soundstage
The soundtrack album released by RCA Victor, became one of the top selling soundtracks of all time. The album spent more time in the number one spot than any other album up to that time, 115 weeks. It was number one for the all of 1959. It was first released in mono but a stereo version was created because the late 1950's was the dawn of stereo for LP records and RCA Victor felt this was one title they needed to release in the new "stereo" format. RCA Victor would release the recording in Living Stereo.
(top) Original Broadway Cast Album, Movie Soundtrack, Lincoln Center revival, (bottom) Carnegie Hall concert, New Broadway Cast, London Royal National Theater Cast
The Color Filter Controversy
One of the most debated aspects of the South Pacific movie was the use of its color filters during the musical numbers. Color filters had been used at Fox in their production of The Egyptian but only lightly. Joshua Logan felt that the story and locations were so realistic that he finally decided to use the filters for the musical numbers to give them more of a sense of fantasy, since breaking into song was not so realistic. During this period in film-making, the filters were put on top of the camera lens when the scenes were shot. He was told that they could be removed if they did not turn out as he had planned. The problem was, that in the late 1950's, it would have been extremely difficult to remove the tone colors from the film. Shamroy only followed the orders of Logan on the filters. It is also established in Josh Logan's own autobiography that he was not a big fan of technicolor and wanted the musical numbers to present a mood. Josh consulted with one of the great still photographers of the era, Eliot Elisofon, who told Logan to try and make South Pacific not look like a postcard (this is interesting because that's the way The Sound of Music was shot, to look like postcards, and its success speaks for itself). He was very skeptical from the start.
Examples of Logan's deeply colored filters
The film began playing certain engagements and by the time Logan wanted the filters removed, Fox said that it was just too late. They would need to recall all prints (Fox had been in charge of the 35mm version which was already playing) and lose a great deal of money while the process was done (if it could be done at all since secondary shots without the filters were not made). It is on record that during viewing of the rushes, Hammerstein was utterly opposed to and hated the color filters. The filters became one of the most controversial aspects of the film South Pacific. It is on record that on many of the showings of the film to the public, the audience members would turn to each other with a look of wonder, as if saying "what is this supposed to mean?" Joshua Logan became so upset over the filtered look that he actually considered picketing some of the larger theaters with signs stating that he was the director and he, too, thinks the color filters stink. On tour for the U.K. premiere, he actually apologized to audiences for the filter use. Today, it would be possible to re-color the scenes digitally, but it was wise of Fox to leave them as they were as this is what South Pacific, the film, is. (Special thanks to Blu-ray.com insider Penton-Man for some of the South Pacific filter history).
Scenes Deleted
Scenes that were cut from the original Roadshow release include a nonďż˝'musical bridge during the song "Bloody Mary" in which Mary attempts to sell a shrunken head to a seaďż˝'bee. Mary calls him a "stingy stinker," and it resumes with the chorus of the song; After buying a boar's tooth bracelet from Bloody Mary, Luther expresses his desires to witness the Boar's Tooth Ceremony;
Stewpot and another seaďż˝'bee tease Luther; As Luther explains to Cable what goes on on the island of Bali Ha'i, he sings a short reprise of the song of that name; Luther argues with Captain Brackett about the grass skirts; Lt. Hardison explains his relationship with Nellie Forbush; Nellie and Emile repeat the chorus to "Some Enchanted Evening" before kissing. In the general release, the chorus was removed from this reprise; Much of the scene at Bali Ha'i, including shots of Cable and Billis's entry to the island, and much of the Boar's Tooth ceremony; After the party, Emile's surprise was originally him putting a towel on his head and singing "I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outa My Hair," and then his children walked out; Luther complains about the absence of gas for the generator during rehearsals; Luther asks a nurse about Nellie as the ships go out. Some of these scenes were re-instated for the Roadshow version available on both the Collector's Edition DVD and the Roadshow version on disc 2 of the Blu-ray set.
Promoting South Pacific
The Fox promotion department would have a huge job ahead of them with South Pacific. Not in the fact that they needed to sell the title, because that was not necessary with any Rodgers and Hammerstein title (except perhaps State Fair), but Fox wanted this film to be an event for movie-goers everywhere. The original cast album had sold millions worldwide and almost every song had been a hit, recorded by the most popular vocalists of the time. The film was first booked into the largest 70mm houses in the country at reserved-seat prices. This was called a roadshow. Only the larger theaters would have the right to play this film at first, and a customer would have to go and buy tickets for a future date with specific numbered seats, very much the same as a Broadway show.
The heads of Fox knew they had a treasure on their hands, as previous releases from Rodgers and Hammerstein were received with critical and audience acclaim and had made Fox a lot of money both in and outside of the United States. Fox then made deals with hundreds of travel agencies for South Pacific adventure trips, tying in with the film and its locations (the film would actually boost Hawaii travel by 6-7% during the first year of release).
John Kerr, Mitzi Gaynor and Fox executive Buddy Adler
Release
The film was released in a three-hour roadshow version which was later cut to two-and-a-half hours for the general release. The three-hour version was long considered lost because the actual negative had been cut when it was shortened, but the longer version was found in a 70mm print owned by a collector. It was screened in Bradford, England at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television on March 14, 2005. Fox then brought it to the United States and reinstated fourteen minutes of footage from the faded print, using color enhancement and correction. This version was released for the first time on the special edition DVD set in November 2006 and is also on the Blu-ray disc, though, unfortunately, not in high-definition.
Premiere: (l-r) Rodgers and Hammerstein with their wives, Discussing the film before its showing
When originally released, the European cut was different from the American cut. The European cut restored the continuity of the stage play to the film which opened with Nellie and Amille rather than the planes (which weren't in the Broadway version at all). You will see no 20th Century Fox logo on this film, the reason being that this was a co-production between 20th Century Fox and Rodgers and Hammerstein. The team had total control over their pictures, as was the deal they had with 20th Century Fox. In fact, it was Rodgers and Hammerstein who forced Fox to improve their sound equipment and recording for their films. The film became one of the top grossing movie of the year. The musical was re-made for television in 2001 and starred Glenn Close.
Premiere: (l-r) Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor; John Kerr and France Nuyen
Premiere
The film's reviews were very mixed. While some critics thought it was a very well-filmed screen adaptation, many found it troublesome and felt Logan had damaged the Broadway production. But that didn't stop the public from seeing the film, because it went on to gross $36 million domestically for Fox (includes the re-release), and adjusted for inflation, is among the top 150 grossing movies of all time. Fox started gaining profit at $6 million, which was the total cost of production and promotion. The negative that was universal among critics was the use of the color filters. Critics slammed Logan for taking what was already beautiful on-location scenery and extensively color-filtering the musical numbers. The effect Logan had hoped for, which was to create a mood for the music, had turned against him. Still, the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein was always a draw for the public as their names were universally known and the film did well in overseas boxoffice as well. The film was considered a big success and became a top money-maker of 1958.
Lobby card set
In 2001, South Pacific was filmed for television by Trillium Productions. It would star Glenn Close, Harry Connick Jr. and Rade Sherbedgia'. The budget was $15 million, more than twice what the original South Pacific film had cost. It was then the most expensive television movie ever produced for ABC. The film was presented as an ABC Monday Night Movie and was seen in 11 million U.S. homes. Cut was the famous song "Happy Talk and an entire verse of "Bali Hai." "Happy Talk" was reportedly cut because it may have shown negative aspects of the natives on the island. Emily and Nellie's first meeting was added. The film received poor reviews, but is available on home video on DVD. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards.
Poster for ABC Television version from 2001
The Restoration
In 2006, 20th Century Fox did a complete photochemical restoration of South Pacific, using FotoKem and it's Imagica scanner, which digitally scanned the Todd-AO negative, using the 65mm scanner. The scan was done at 4K. FotoKem worked from the original AB negatives and also used the YCM separation masters (which are actually black and white but each had a vision of the corresponding color). The work began using the 23 reels provided by Fox rendering the image in high definition. A new interpositive was created. Months were spent with correction on over 200,000 frames. Because all of the reference prints had faded over the years, Schawn Belston of Fox actually had the company that made the filters for Fox make new ones from the original data so that the transfer would be as close to the original as possible.
Following this process, several computer programs were used to rid the film of flicker and rid the film of dust bits. Removed were some imperfections that were seen in the original theatrical release. The film was then sent through color pass and when finished was screened at The Entertainment Technology Center at USC, which was followed by an audience participation question and answer session. This is the finished product that was used for the DVD reissue and the new Blu-ray edition. For the Blu-ray release, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment screened the film in Todd-AO and had Mitzi Gaynor do some promotional work with the national media and press, including a Blu-ray signing at the Barnes and Noble near the Lincoln Center on release day. The film has never been called the best transfer of one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals to the screen, but it certainly lives up to the name of "classic," has an enchanting score and exotic visuals and production values, and it is one of 20th Century Fox's biggest money-makers of the 1950's.
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Robert Siegel, first and above all, thanks for the insightful and well written essay, particularly that it focused on Todd-AO and six track recordings, two subjects I am always interested in.
I believe, until today, that these Broadway musicals wouldn't draw much attention from world-wide audiences if it wasn't for the fact that the movie industry decided to shoot them in a competently designed widescreen process.
Up to a certain point in time, most Fox films were distributed to this country in their CinemaScope incarnations. Early last year I had a chance to meet and become a friend of the man who manufactured the first and only Brazilian 70/35 mm projector, the Incol 70/35, which was fully capable of showing Todd-AO on both 30 and 24 fps. It was due to the interested in Todd-AO that Mr. de Faria went to America to study the Philips DP-70. At the time his prototype was built he got a demo print from Fox.
His first 70 mm installation for one of our local exhibitors was actually intended for Cinerama 70 (i.e. Super Panavision and Ultra Panavision), and sadly there wasn't a single Todd-AO screening there, if memory serves. But then, we had a theater with a Dimension-150 installation who never exhibited "Patton", which was screened on standard 70 mm next door.
In this day and age it seems that we will not see Todd-AO or other great 70 mm presentations, as most exhibitors are now turning to digital projection. Even our newly built IMAX theater is already digital.
I for one who deeply regret that 70 mm is virtually gone. These movies belong to a time where Hollywood moguls were still concerned with state-of-the art film presentations.
And if there is something that the movie industry was always ahead of the music industry is sound! For decades audiophiles preferred to stick to 2-channel and this is still the way they want to listen to music, notwithstanding of the current high capacity of multichannel domestic sound.
South Pacific presentation on Blu-Ray is great but Fox should, in my opinion, turn to Oklahoma which is in dire need of restoration, and is in fact a much better picture than South Pacific.
I liked this movie very much. My dad was in WWII and the stories he told us were really cool. When watching this movie it reminds me of the stories my dad told when we were growing up.
Now about the movie. As mentioned, I enjoyed the movie very much, but one thing that is kind of weird that I thought the techs could fix is the colors drifting in and out during the playback on this film. You would think with today's technology, the colors could be stabilized.
Thank you for this very thorough background story to this very entertaining and important musical transfer from Broadway to the movie screen. It sure is a real pity we have substituted Digital exhibition and no longer use the 70mm/65mm negative wide screen wonders. Those of us who remember the difference between the screen exhibition from the past to today's exhibition know very well that Robert Siegel is so right about his comparisons. Nevertheless, Robert displays great knowledge and the future looks very good for future reviews.
Also, the original Todd-AO was shot and projected at 30 fps. The only of the first 3 features done this way was Oklahoma!, and we're all hoping Fox will do a full restoration of this version for Blu-Ray (The Rodgers and Hammerstein organization was FURIOUS about the most recent DVD release. It was, at the same time, also shot 24 fps in Cinemascope, as more theaters were equipped to handle this format.
Actually I saw OKLAHOMA and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS in their respective first-run engagements in the Rivoli Theater in N.Y. and both were projected in 30 fps. TODD-AO. I remember how disappointed I was at the subsequent comparative lack of TODD-AO "impact" when I went to see THE ALAMO, CAN-CAN and SOUND OF MUSIC later at the Rivoli which was the same reaction I had when I went to see MAD WORLD at the Warner which was advertised as Cinerama but was merely Panavision '65 or '70.
To those who pointed out the few errors made in this column, my thanks, they have been corrected, Sometimes no matter how many times you read it, it's not hard to still miss a few:-). Reader's input is always welcome.
The correct exhibition for Todd-AO, Super and Ultra Panavision was on highly curved and tall screens, thus simulating Cinerama. However, most exhibitors ran a 70 mm "flat" copy on a regular 70 mm Panavision screen.
The problem with Oklahoma is that on two consecutive DVD releases the picture was awful. The first one was a 4:3 letterbox transfer, a format that should had been banished from DVD. In addition, there were noticeable fluctuations of the film in the telecine gate, yielding inconsistent focus all the time. In the second DVD the picture was so blurred that it became unbearable to watch. The sound, however, is much better in the this version than even in the CinemaScope version, which is to be expected from a 70 mm print, and this is somewhat a conclusive evidence that Fox never tried to restore anything.
Ginger Rogers was never even considered for SOUTH PACIFIC because at the time she was in her 50's, couldn't sing, and finished in the feature film business. Audrey Hepburn was never considered but Debbie Reynolds, Janet Leigh and especially Shirley MacLaine were. It's Edward B. Powell not Edwin. It's still Glenn Close not Glen. Howard Keel was strongly considered for Emile until R&H heard Fernando Lamas sing and after just two auditions he was actually offered the part of Emile. Unfortunately at the time Fernando was co-starring on Broadway with Ethel Merman in a play called HAPPY HUNTING and Merman, who had control of the production, refused to let Lamas out of his contract. This was told to me by Lamas whose intensely unflattering remarks about Merman I'll withhold here. Brazzi was cast out of sheer desperation and R&H were not happy with his final performance as many commented negatively about the incongruity of Tozzi's voice emanating from Brazzi's lifeless and un-charismatic performance. Finally, SOUTH PACIFIC was not "one of the three biggest grossers of the 50's" as Siegel incorrectly states. It did huge business for the first few months of it's roadshow engagements but audience reaction was so poor that repeat business was, unlike OKLAHOMA, comparatively nonexistent and not only did the sub-runs do disappointing business but the subsequent film careers of Brazzi, Gaynor and John Kerr as stars were essentially destroyed. As my prior initial corrections to Mr. Siegel's article were "mysteriously" stricken from the record it is my hope that the above remain visible for those who care about accuracy in reporting.
Added by Robert Siegel: Thanks for the complete editorial/check on my column including the few spelling errors. They happen here and there when writing such an extensive piece. I have corrected those. I corrected one fact that I did have wrong, several others you mention are very debatable and are left as is, as some of those came directly from a representative of the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization who were kind enought to help. As for your last deleted post, if the post is about corrections, once the corrections are made, I delete the post.
I wonder, was there anything you did enjoy about the column? If you feel there is any further correction, you are always welcome to click on my name at the top and send me a private message. Thanks for reading the column.
I'm still trying to figure out if Fox is even planning on releasing one of the R&H films this Fall.
I sure hope so, but have heard nothing at all suggesting another one is coming.
anybody know anything?
