Gorgeous Cinematography, and beautiful faux-Island sets, in addition to the real natural beauty. Greatly impressed by the special effects, given the era. Worth watching for this alone, whatever one thinks of the story.
I enjoyed the movie. Great, no wonderful music, though the lyrics seemed a bit stretched at times, magnificent other times. But on my TV, the sets looked like something out of high school, especially Bali Hai. Also, the colour filters and fuzzy edging drove me buggy. Whatever was Joshua Logan thinking???
It IS a perfect time-capsule of late '50s America. Replete with semi-condescending attitudes toward nativist cultures. But the movie spawned a bejillion polynesian restaurants and fruity cocktails, and if for no other reason than that, we should be grateful.