"South Pacific" Disc of the year? (1 Viewer)

[Vern Dias]

This movie looked way better in it's original 70mm presentations.

The main difference was the night time scenes on the print actually looked like it was nighttime. The BD has serious issues with the night shots due to fading and other issues with the surviving film elements. The uneven coloring across the image on the night shots, particularly on the right edge of the image, along with the fading of the blue to a less saturated hue are the only issues with this transfer.

I agree that the daytime shots are definitely spectacular, though.

Vern

 

[Doug Otte]

Originally Posted by Sam Favate

Recently watched this Blu-Ray. Absolutely stunning HD transfer. I can't imagine the movie ever looked this good in its theatrical run. Really, some of the most beautiful images I've ever had on my screen. How is it that movies don't look like this anymore? Softer colors? Different cinematography? Someone should make something this satisfying to look at; audiences would eat it up. (Even Avatar, visual marvel that it is, had many images of CG detail that just aren't the same as a Hawaiian sunset.)
Oh yeah, the movie was great too!

The current trend (which has been going on a few years too long, IMO, but seems to be abating a bit) is for many films to have extreme contrast boosting, and many times with digital color enhancement. So, you often have films that look very crisp with crushed blacks and whites, and with unnatural colors (either trending toward one color, or no colors, etc.).

I agree that older films can look much more beautiful than newer ones.

Doug

 

[Sam Favate]

Originally Posted by Doug Otte
The current trend (which has been going on a few years too long, IMO, but seems to be abating a bit) is for many films to have extreme contrast boosting, and many times with digital color enhancement. So, you often have films that look very crisp with crushed blacks and whites, and with unnatural colors (either trending toward one color, or no colors, etc.).

I assume you are referring to the almost monochromatic look that many recent films have, and I would agree that is something that has overstayed its welcome. Give me Technicolor.

Something else I noticed with South Pacific is the very wide framing and the clear photography, as well as an editing process that allowed the viewer to absorb the images. Another trend these days (that seems to have been around 15 years or more) is for extreme close-ups and handheld documentary-style filming, blurred photography and an editing pace that makes you unsure of what you've just seen. Not saying the latter doesn't have it's place, but we've been missing that older style of moviemaking for a very long time. I confess I never understood setting up a shot, getting every detail right, and editing it in such a way that the viewer only sees it for 2-3 seconds.

 

Yes...I too was terribly disappointed at the roadshow version of "South Pacific" being only SD on the BR disc. Back in the late 70's or maybe early 80's, I saw a complete cut of South Pacific(35mm)in Los Angeles. The complete musical number "Gonna Wash that Man Right out of My Hair" was shown...the film ran close to 3 hours with the overture, intermission & exit music intact. It obviously was owned by a private collector, and the color was very nice. It'd too bad that this particular copy wasn't available for video transfer at the time it was shown. I believe it had to be a "preview" print that got salvaged somehow by an unknown "hero." I will never purchas the film on DVD or Blu-Ray unless it contains decent color and all of the missing footage. And yes, the Barrios commentary sucked!

 

[Sebastian1972]

Removing color filters from this film can be done nowadays via digital color correction. Here is an example I found on Youtube. I do not own the video, however.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Looks pretty good.

 

[RobertSiegel]

I just finished writing my extensive column on the history of South Pacific from the development of the stage play through the TV remake, including a section on Todd-AO, the remastering for Blu-ray and a huge amount of rare photographs and graphics from my memorabilia collection. I did quite a bit of research for it, including talking to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, and found some great rare graphics and photographs in my collection. The film was not an easy one to make, and I have researched some of the problems during production and spoke to the studio about how the film was mastered (sound and video) for the release on Blu-ray. I hope you enjoy it http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7032

 

Robert, I did enjoy it immensely. Thank you so much for writing these articles. They are very much appreciated!

 

[Charles Smith]

Thank you in advance -- I know I'll enjoy it.

 

[Cinescott]

Great job, Robert. Lots of interesting information in that article.

 

[GMpasqua]

Roadshow Ad Mat

 

[RobertSiegel]

Thanks for all of your kind comments. I have had a wonderful time writing these columns.