An American woman (Mitzi Gaynor) falls in love with a Frenchman (Rossano Brazzi) while stationed as a navy nurse in the South Pacific during World War II.
After the box office and critical success of The King and I in 1956, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein scored an even bigger hit with their widescreen rendition of South Pacific in 1958. Directed and co-written (as it was on Broadway) by Joshua Logan, the film is bursting with beloved standards such as “There Is Nothing Like a Dame,” “Bali Ha’i,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Dites-moi,” “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair,” “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy,” and “Younger Than Springtime.” South Pacific would remain Rodgers & Hammerstein’s biggest box-office hit until The Sound of Music shattered records seven years later.