Musical Matinees (The Masters): South Pacific

South Pacific is the story of Nurse Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor) of the U.S. Navy, who falls for middle-aged French plantation owner Emile De Becque (Rossano Brazzi) while stationed in the South Pacific, but recoils upon discovering that he's fathered two mixed-race children. When Nellie leaves him, the heartbroken Emile agrees to take on a dangerous espionage mission. In his absence, Nellie struggles to reconcile her prejudices with her love for him -- and after she spends time with his children and comes to care for them, fears that Emile may not return alive.

South Pacific earned $7 million in theatrical rentals in the U.S. and Canada when it was released in 1958. It was based on the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, which in turn is loosely based on James A. Michener's 1947 short-story collection Tales of the South Pacific.

The film, directed by Joshua Logan, stars Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr and Ray Walston in the leading roles with Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary, the part that she had played in the original stage production. South Pacific was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the Academy Award for Best Sound for Fred Hynes. It is set in 1943, during World War II, on an island in the South Pacific.

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