Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" is a towering musical masterpiece and the tender love story of a naive young Navy nurse and an older French Plantation owner on a U.S. occupied South Sea island.

It has been years since I’d seen this film and never have I seen it so wonderfully presented as it is here. I love these old musicals and though this isn’t my favorite of the Rodgers and Hammerstein films, it is right up there. Kudos to Fox for bringing this outstanding musical to life on Blu-ray.

Fox has been really impressing with their classic catalog lately. This one is gorgeous in color rendition and detail and doesn’t show a hint of its age. The print is in outstanding condition and I only noticed a few shots here and there with any signs of print wear. Colors literally pop off the screen and the film’s brave coloring is far more engrossing than any DVD presentation I’ve seen of this in the past. Fine object detail can be exquisite at times. Truly a sight to behold on Blu-ray!

The soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and delivers a great soundstage with plenty of presence. The surround mix is actually quite active in the surround soundstage and gives plenty of body to the musical numbers. Timbre changes significantly during the songs but that is only expected given the dub. Imaging can be slightly off in the front soundstage from time to time but it was never too distracting.

Fox delivers a fully loaded special edition for this one including a completely separate cut of the film from its road show days. You get a pair of audio commentaries plus a massive amount of insight into the film’s production and the long term appeal of the film. You also get a karaoke mode for the song lovers and a photo gallery.

This is a wonderful presentation of one of the great musicals of our time. I hope we continue to see more Blu-rays from this genre in the near future!