South Pacific

Without a doubt Glenn Close an exceptional actress with many brilliant performances throughout her career is horribly miscast as "Young" Ensign Nellie Forbush. This more than anything sent this made for TV production of this classic musical and James A. Michener story right into the bilges. She resembled nothing less than a female Naval Officer who is in her mid 50's and would be more interested in romantically pursuing the other nurses than the Emile de Becque character. If you want to watch this story then the 1958 version with Mitzi Gaynor and Ray Walston is the one to go with because this one gets the Deep Six.

Well, those who wanted Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC remade got their wish. If anyone thinks this horrible remake is better than the 1958 version really needs help. Rodgers & Hammerstein must be rolling in their graves. First off GLENN CLOSE is to old for the role of Nellie Forbush. GLENN CLOSE is to old for the part. The orchestrations can't compare to Alfred Newman's. The house dress that Glenn Close wore at the party is no match to the gown that was designed by the legendary Dorothy Jenkins for Mitzi Gaynor. The production numbers were terrible. I have seen better staged numbers in high school plays. As for the woman who played Bloody Mary; she was the worse. She couldn't act, and her trying to sing Bali Hi was painful. There is nothing to recommend this picture for. Long live the classic 1958 film version.

Some Last words, and I will silence myself forever on this subject.

First regarding Mary Martin. Rodgers and Hammerstein pretty much wrote the thing with Martin in mind for the Nellie character. (In fact, as she states in her autobiography, she had some input over the development of the show.) Mary Martin had a knack for playing young, innocent, and idealistic and with the illusions that one can create on stage (no close ups, more lights and makeup) it was possible to see her as being that way. It was also, especially after Peter Pan, the type of role that audiences expected to see her in. I mean, hey, she won a TONY Award for playing Peter.

On the other piece of this, the age thing, take a look at the book of the play (which the movie version is based on). There are references in the thing to "older men and younger woman" relationships, such as the classic line, "Mother thinks that older men are better for girls". OR the crack about Captain Bracket's age and virility, and his angry comeback on how a younger woman could possibly find him attractive.

There is also the lyrics to Emile's Soliloquy "This is what I've longed for someone YOUNG and smiling climbing up my hill...YOUNGER men than I am, officers and doctors, probably pursue her. She could have her pick." Why would he refer to her and his competition as younger if they weren't, at least in comparison to him?

While it's true that naivete and narrow mindedness are not just the province of the young, I would think that the words of the playwright and the lyricist would speak for themselves. And the words of Michener himself who says that Emile is a "man in his forties" and Ensign Forbush is a "young girl".

The choice to scale up the age of Nellie Forbush to allow her to be played by 50-something Glenn Close was one which could have backfired on the makers of this update; it is to her credit that she performs and sings in the role very well.

As Emile, Rade Sherbedgia is perhaps a little too high-voiced for the demands of the songs, but his portrayal of the lonely islander is touching and effective. As Bloody Mary, Lori Tan Chinn looks more like the part of the greedy trader than did Juanita Hall in the 50s film, and her singing of Bal'i Ha'i is excellent. I did miss Happy Talk, which is omitted completely from this version, but the songs that remain have been arranged with style and come across very well (particularly This Nearly Was Mine, Younger Than Springtime, and I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy).

Harry Connick jnr. completes the main cast as young Lt. Cable, resembling and sounding like a young Sinatra. The character continues to be totally unsympathetic but he is better overall than John Kerr had been in the earlier version. I don't think this film is bad at all, despite the numerous negative comments I have heard: it is perhaps more realistic than the colour-filtered world of Joshua Logan's film, but perhaps that new slant is for the better.

While I had high hopes for this remake of South Pacific,I regret to say it fell far below My expectations.With a strong cast (including the much too old Glenn Close) I at least expected this film to be an improvement over the original Rosano Brazzi version.

The first problem was the cutting down of the supporting characters. Poor Jack Thompson,who was brilliantly cast as Capt. Brackett had all of his best moments left on the cutting room floor,Bloody Mary was unfairly deprived of "Happy Talk" and Robert Pastorelli's Billis did not get his wonderful scene in Brackett's office following the "diversionary tactics".

Secondly,the rearanging of the score blunted the emotional impact of some of Hammerstein's most heart wrenching moments. Having Cable sing "Carefully Taught" alone in his his Hospital room instead of to Emile blunts the songs impact. The same with Emile's "This Nearly Was Mine". For these songs to work they need another presence in the scene.

As for the acting. Glenn Close does her best but falls short of Mitzi Gaynor's on the money portrayal,Rade Serbedzija gives us a fine,sympathetic Emile and Equals,if not exceeds Brazzi's portrayal.Harry Connick is a great choice for Joe Cable and sings and acts his role well.Unfortunately the score was not recoreded lushly enough and some of the other vocals are a bit weak (Serbedzija's singing for example comes no where neat the immortal recording of Ezio Pinza.)The supporting cast does what it can whith their condensed roles but if would have been nice to have them fleshed out more. This film could have been a masterpiece if all the pieces were assembled properly,instead its a watchable but far from perfect screen adaptaion of a much better musical play.