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They showed South Pacific at the Academy a few years ago. Mitzi Gaynor and John Kerr were guests. There was some tension when Kerr commented that the original reviews were not all that great.
IMHO the best thing about it are Alfred Newman and Ken Darby and the great 20th sound..... Darby's wordless female choral voices behind the solo almost make up for the lurid red/orange filters in the Bali Ha'i sequence. (Darby does a similar effect in the River of No Return score).
One of the weirdest "big" musicals of the era. Interesting to see on a big screen though.
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Posted: |
Feb 7, 2018 - 7:06 AM
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By: |
SoundScope
(Member)
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Hey SoundScope always enjoy our musical discussions (on top of everything else). We've sliced & diced South Pacific many times over the years in multiple threads. The following is one of my faves:
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?pageID=1&forumID=1&threadID=32552&archive=0
Yes we have... and I looked up the thread again. I know its nostalgia and a kind of childish (I'm 63!) hope that this will happen, but damn it, this is one of my favorite films. Then too, I get so frickin' sick and tired of all the carping about these old things. It was of it's time, and it was a huge financial success, so shut the hell up.  Like it or not.
I know I sound. . . bitter? Maybe. For me, one has to understand how and when I saw this film. It was 1964 and my mom was in hospital and not expected to live. Dad, for some reason, must have though I needed an escape (as I'm sure he did too) so he decided to take me to this new theatre that had just opened in Milwaukee. It was the Capitol Court Theatre, designed by Drew Eberson (the son of John Eberson the famous arch. of all those incredible atmospheric movie palaces). Any way the place was huge! It sat over 1000 and was all modern, red and gold and had a screen 70 feet wide. For some reason they had SOUTH PACIFIC. I had never heard sound like that, never seen a screen like that. It was, alas, a peak experience. Put it all together and that's why I love this movie so.
I'll be hosting a little party and show the blu-ray and will continue to hope for the soundtrack.
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I take it this special two-day screening will not be of the roadshow version?
It’s so sad that later generations will never have the opportunity to see roadshow films the way they were originally meant to be seen, in a movie palace, on a giant screen, with stupendous sound!
Curiously, that era didn’t last as long as it seemed at the time. These movies were meant to be entertainment “events.” You were supposed to plan to see them, and could get tickets far in advance, similar to live theatre.
Ah, for the days of Overtures, Intermissions, Entr’actes, and Exit Music!
Not to mention souvenir programs. The one for SOUTH PACIFIC is hardbound. I still have it. (And you can get one, if you check out Movie Memorabilia on E-Bay.)
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ANYWAY...loved the roadshow version. 
