Is "South Pacific" a Good Transfer?

No, it's not a good transfer - it's a GREAT transfer.  Demonstration-quality, in fact.

And the sound is equally spectacular. This is one of THE great Blu-ray transfers.

Amazing transfer. A+

Robert Harris said:

Definately buy this disc - you will not be disappointed!

Beautiful disc!

I have always despised the color filters used during the musical numbers of the film (even when watching it projected on the big screen in a theater), but the Blu-ray transfer was the first time I found them palatable enough that they didn't spoil my enjoyment of the viewing experience..

Scott: Thanks for the review. Yes, it is amazing. More impressive than most movies made in the last 30 years. The color filters are surreal, and maybe it would have been better without them. I don't know. But I actually kind of like the filters. It's different and experimental. Terrence Malick in a different way is experimental. I'm glad they only did this once, but I appreciate the people who stretch the bounds of cinema, even if it doesn't completely work.

In that spirit, I have always liked the color filters -- and they have never looked better (or more integrated into the whole) than on the Blu-ray.  One of the very very best.

I actually like the color filters for the most part. They do add to the musical mood (they were also used to cover up the bad weather during the shoot) and give a nice contrast to the blue skies and sand.

Yes, when films look this good on Blu-ray you would think studios would put more out. But the more popular/later titles weren't shot in 70MM. So we get the hits first even though many of them could never be demonstration quality based on the film stocks used  

The studio also pumped up the color more than Logan had wanted, to correct the matter would have taken months and the film was already pre-sold on a reserve seat basis and so the studio could not delay it's opening

The King:  Is a puzzlement

Anna:  What is your majesty?

The King: Why we haven't been released on Blu-ray after all this time

Billy: What's use of wonderin' why we're not on blu-ray yet..action, they only buy action movies. I guess I didn't beat you enough

Quote:

Originally Posted by Professor Echo 

I believe in using the filters Logan was attempting to replicate lighting effects that were used in the original Broadway presentation. If I recall correctly, he used to explain in interviews that in Hawaii he had no facilities to watch the dailies and had to ship the footage back to the studio on the mainland for review. Apparently fearing delays and cost overruns if scenes had to be reshot, the studio told him the filters looked fine. Logan was none too pleased when he finally saw the results himself, but could do nothing about it.

Someone correct me if I'm not remembering this right.

Regardless, I agree with Ben above regarding the attempt to do something different and Logan often tried to employ innovation in his films, though little of it ever succeeded from an aesthetic perspective. Still, at least he tried. Was it Samuel Beckett who said: "Try again. Fail again. Fail better."


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Glen you are absolutely correct.  In Josh Logan's autobiography, he stated what you posted and said that Fox told him they could remove the color filters if need be.  Of course this was a big fat lie. 

Many a new day will dawn, before I'm Blu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinescott 

Here's a brief interesting read from 2006 regarding the high definition scan and transfer of South Pacific:

 

http://www.in70mm.com/news/2006/south_pacific/index.htm

 

 

Great article. Thanks for sharing that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinescott 

I do not know the source of this image, but this is not an exaggeration regarding how much color tinting is used. A good artistic choice? Well, that's an individual opinion. The blu-ray reproduces it perfectly, though................Kudos to the sound on the disc, however. I've never heard the soundtrack sound better and this is a soundtrack that deserves first class treatment. 

 

1. You picked the most extremely sequence in the film with a filter (the rest much less intense and sometimes hardely noticable)

2. Look at the shots leading up to that sequence. Without the color filters it would be gray, overcast and gray.

3. The island  (Bali Hi) wasn't there, it was superimposed and the filters help hide that fact.

I might also add that most people thought that was the one sequence where the color filters did work (song: Bali Hi)

The evening shots where done in blue. These were day for night (since they couldn't shoot at night in 1958 and capture all the detail) otherwise these shots would have had to be done on a soundstage.  Instead they shot during the day and put the blue filters over the lens to create the illusion of night. The filters (according to the cameraman who told us this at a party one night, the filters were mostly used to hide the weather, rain and day for night shots.)

My guess is they knew the weather was causing production delays and costing money. Using a filter would hide the gray. The studio tech processing guys over staurated the color (Maybe the studio liked it, Logan didn;t and asked they be toned down. He was  told it would take 6 months to de process the color and the opening was a reserved seat attraction and could not be moved since sales were already in place.

Actually some of the filters do put you into a trance and then we're back to reality, So they aren't so bad and sometines quite good

"Carousel" had been shot on location at night in 1955 and the footage was deemed unusable due to the lighting etc. Those scenes were re-shot on a Sound stage (you can notice a distinct difference)

Hall: When you gonna shoot my song?

Logan: When the weather clears up

Hall: By that time I'll be on Broadway starring in "Flower Drum Song"!

Logan: Leon Shamroy - put a filter on her!

They washed the gray right out of her song