Amidst the backdrop of the Second World War, Joshua Logan takes us, courtesy of Rodgers and Hammerstein, on a romance set on a beautiful tropical island. Mitzi Gaynor is one of the few women here who is surrounded by squad of hormonal sailors who declare "There's Nothing Like a Dame" early on, so she has no shortage of would-be suitors. Also on this island is the Frenchman "Emile" (Rossano Brazzi) whom the visitors want to use to help map out the adjacent islands held by the Japanese. What now ensues follows the will they/won't they nature of their developing relationship interspersed with some wartime plotting and peppered with musical standards like "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair"; "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Younger than Springtime" the film trundles along to it's rather obvious conclusion. There can be no doubt that the songs are memorable, but there is not a jot of chemistry between Brazzi and the increasingly Doris Day-esque Gaynor and the ensemble chorus numbers come across as overly choreographed and not in the least natural. For much of the film, it appears as if it's shot through a telescope with slightly blurred edges. Initially reminiscent of dream sequences, this technique soon loses it's potency and ends up contributing little to this generally rather lacklustre and thinly plotted comic love story. There's also no getting away from the glaringly obvious dubbing as Giorgio Tozzi provided the real operatic bass tones on behalf of our leading man. The music carries this a great deal, but the rest of it is little better than colourful wartime B-movie that I found did disappoint.
