South Pacific

What a shame. This could have, should have, been one of the most beautifully photographed Technicolor pictures of the 1950s. Location shooting in the Hawaiian islands is so breathtaking you can't go wrong — unless you spoil the palette by tinting half the movie with a hideous gold color filter. The studio could not have been more wrong in trying to enhance the romantic luxuriance of the tropical paradise, which is already perfect in its vivid and pristine natural coloration. Under the heavy amber tint turquoise reef waters become leaden and lush jungle greenery takes on all the grubby brown barrenness of Tatooine. It's inexcusable and it ruins the whole movie, which isn't otherwise all that good anyway.

But Mitzi Gaynor makes it (almost) worthwhile as our love-dizzy navy nurse/bathing beauty. She is perfectly 50s — you adore her somehow without thinking naughty things — with her polite figure, short blond curls (best when wet) and fraught and pretty eyebrows.

That being said, my grandfather loves this movie. I've never known him to sit to watch anything besides baseball, but he sat and laughed and sang and applauded for South Pacific. He also provided solemn commentary on the racism at play, deeply stirred by the effects of prejudice and moved to quiet joy when overcome.