South Pacific

SOUTH PACIFIC isn't the screen classic it should have been, but despite the fact that it pales in comparison with the long-running Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical on which it is based, the film still stands up as terrific entertainment. Inspired by James Michener's book Tales of the South Pacific, both the stage musical and the movie were directed by Joshua Logan--not entirely a good thing, since he allows his actors to resort to stage techniques that aren't always suited to the close-up medium of film. Set on an island in (you guessed it) the South Pacific, the story concerns Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor), a midwestern nurse who falls in love with E...