South Pacific (1958) DVD/Blu-ray commentary track review

South Pacific (1958)

NOTE: The Chapin/Alessandrini commentary is available on the "General Release" version of the movie, and the Barrios commentary on the "Road Show" version, both of which are included in the November 2006 "Collector's Edition" DVD, as well as in the March 2009 "50th Anniversary Edition" Blu-Ray. The April 1999 original DVD release has no commentary tracks.

Commentaries on this disc:

Commentary 1: Ted Chapin (Rodgers & Hammerstein's Organization) and Gerard Allesandrini (Broadway Director)	Rating:6.0/10 (1 vote) [graph]	Login to vote or review
Reviewed by Uniblab on January 5th, 2010:		Find all reviews by Uniblab
The two speakers give the track that kind of very informal and laid-back approach (they even have questions to make for each other) that's a double-edged sword: on one hand it gives the commentary a spontaneity that self-styled "scholarly" ones lack, but on the other hand, when the speakers run out of what to say they tend to tell just random digressions that are boring for the listener. All things considered, this one manages to be a pretty substantial and interesting track.
Commentary 2: Film historian Richard Barrios	Rating:6.0/10 (1 vote) [graph]	Login to vote or review
Reviewed by Uniblab on January 7th, 2010:		Find all reviews by Uniblab
The commentary by Barrios is more substantial and structured than the one from the other version and he offers a more comprehensive amount of information, but on the other hand his rather opinionated posture gets in the way of it and the track ends up not being really better than the other one.