The Sound of Music (1965)

The Sound of Music (1965)

In director Robert Wise's (and 20th Century Fox's) great Best Picture-winning family musical, it was one of the most popular films of all-time. It was a lovely film with a mixture of comedy, romance, and suspense - and a wonderful collection of musical tunes. Generally, it has been considered the most popular musical of the 60s and the film that saved 20th Century Fox studios.

The script by Ernest Lehman was based on the original 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical play - the stage musical book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, and on The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, the 1949 memoirs (by Maria von Trapp) regarding the true story of the famous singing Von Trapp family. They fled to escape the Nazis who were in the process of annexing Austria in 1938 during the Anschluss.

The story, set in the late 1930s, followed a good-natured, flighty and tempermental novitiate (Julie Andrews) who was hired to care for the seven children of a militaristic, icy, widowed Austrian Captain (Christopher Plummer). She ultimately won the hearts of the children - and the love of the Captain, but their lives were threatened by the encroachment of Nazis.

It was a mixture of romance and dramatic suspense - with a wonderful collection of musical tunes. Unlike the many hard-hitting B/W social dramas of the 60s (and the many troubling historical events including the threat of nuclear war, the start of the Vietnam War, JFK's assassination, and the Watts Riots), the successful and entertaining film became the highest-grossing film of all time, dethroning Gone With the Wind (1939) for about five years. With a budget of 8ドル.2 million, it ultimately grossed revenues of 163ドル.2 million (domestic) and 286ドル.2 million (worldwide). It was the highest-grossing film of 1965. If adjusted for inflation, it was the 3rd highest grossing film of all-time.

It received 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress (Julie Andrews), Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Wood), Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Best Color Costume Design, and won five awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Adapted Score, and Best Film Editing.

• in the breathtakingly beautiful opening scene set in the Austrian Alps in the 1930s, a helicopter-mounted camera swooped down from the clouds to a hilltop covered with wild flowers and grass where young Salzburg Austrian postulant, dirndl-skirted Maria (Julie Andrews) was rotating, dancing and singing the title song: "The hills are alive with the sound of music"; it was a day-dream of a restless, free-spirited novice postulant Maria, who was studying to become a nun at the Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg, Austria
• in the Abbey, the Reverend Mother (Peggy Wood) sang "Maria," wondering about how to cure the deficiencies of the troublesome, flighty, outspoken, and unpredictable trainee:
  • "How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?"
• Maria was persuaded by the Reverend Mother, before taking vows, to decide if she was suited for the monastic life; she was urged to take a governess position for a few months to care for the motherless, singing family of stern, arrogant and retired militaristic widower Captain Georg Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), an Austro-Hungarian Navy submarine Captain
• as she traveled to the Von Trapp residence by bus and on foot, Maria bolstered her confidence by singing: "I Have Confidence in Me," but was intimidated when she approached the outer gates

• at the Captain's expansive villa, she met the seven mischievous children, who had a well-deserved reputation for scaring off caretakers (the last 12 in fact); they were summoned with a boatswain's whistle and autocratically lined up, wearing sailor-suit uniforms, and introduced by the widowed, mostly aloof, and very strict and regimented Captain:
  • 16 year-old Liesl (Charmain Carr)
  • 14 year-old Friedrich (Nicholas Hammond)
  • 13 year-old Louisa (Heather Menzies)
  • 11 year-old Kurt (Duane Chase)
  • 10 year-old Brigitta (Angela Cartwright)
  • almost 7 year-old Marta (Debbie Turner)
  • 5 year-old Gretl (Kym Karath)

• that evening in the villa's gazebo, the oldest Von Trapp daughter, 16 year-old Liesl, sang "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" to her 17 year-old Nazi messenger boyfriend Rolfe Gruber (Daniel Truhitte); she had snuck outdoors to meet her shy boyfriend who was waiting for her, where they sang of their innocent young, adolescent love on the brink of adulthood, especially since Liesl was only 16, but was wishing to assert herself; thunder, lightning and rain forced them into the shelter of the gazebo where they continued singing and dancing in a magical sequence; at the conclusion of their duet, they finally kissed just once to their mutual surprise - in reaction, Rolf raced rapturously from the gazebo, while Liesl exclaimed triumphantly with her arms outstretched: "Whee!"

• during her first night with the children, the kind, empathic, cheerful and patient Maria soon broke down the childrens' wariness of her and their fears of a thunderstorm, by calming them in her bedroom by singing the lilting and inspirational Rodgers and Hammerstein songs and numbers, including "My Favorite Things":
  • "...bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
    Brown paper packages tied up with strings,
    These are a few of my favorite things"
• with the Captain off in Vienna, Maria took them on tours of Salzburg's open-market and the surrounding countryside; the children accompanied Maria to the city, each wearing matching play-clothes from the heavy soon-to-be-replaced window drapes; they experienced an open-air picnic on the verdant grassy area of the film's opening sequence; she taught them how to sing, beginning by giving a name to the fundamental notes of the scale - through the instructive "Do-Re-Mi":
  • "Doe, a deer, a female deer, Ray, a drop of golden sun
    Me, a name I call myself, Far, a long, long way to run
    Sew, a needle pulling thread, La, a note to follow So
    Tea, a drink with jam and bread, that will bring us back to Do..."
• she also told them:
  • "When you know the notes to sing, you can sing most any thing"
• a quick-cut montage showed the group walking, bicycling, riding in a carriage, and running through a park
• when the Captain returned home, he brought with him his fiancee - the wealthy, glamorous and sophisticated Austrian Baroness Elsa Schroeder (Eleanor Parker) from Vienna; Maria was caught canoeing on the lake with the children - as they stood to greet their father in the unwieldy vessel, the boat overturned and capsized, and everyone fell out; Maria was chastised for her conduct, for making playclothes out of common house drapes, and for encouraging their disobedience
• the outspoken and impertinent Maria pled for the Captain to get to know and love his children more completely, as she did: "Oh please, Captain, love them, love them all"; the Captain became incensed and ordered her to leave:
  • "You will pack your things this minute and return to the Abbey"
• but then inside, he heard and watched the children (in their proper uniforms) singing for the first time, to entertain the Baroness with strains of "The Sound of Music," and quickly realized his error in judgment; he apologized to Maria as she was going up the stairs to pack:
  • "I behaved badly. I apologize...You were right. I don't know my children...You've brought music back into the house. I'd forgotten. Fraulein, I want you to stay. I ask you to stay more than you know."
• in the Trapp villa one day, the children performed the charming song "The Lonely Goatherd" during a puppet or marionette show, where they acted as a chorus and as puppeteers; the Baroness began to feel a twinge of jealousy toward the talented governess for the Captain's children
• at first, the Captain discouraged the idea and would not permit his children to be entered to sing in the upcoming Salzburg Folk Music Festival; however, Maria and the children convinced him to play guitar and sing the tender and poignant "Edelweiss" [Austria's national flower], accompanied during the second verse by daughter Liesl:
  • "Edelweiss, Edelweiss, every morning you greet me
    Small and white, clean and bright, you look happy to meet me
    Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever
    Edelweiss, Edelweiss, bless my homeland forever..."
• during a formal dinner party with a full orchestra playing waltzes entertaining wealthy guests at the villa, Maria danced with the Captain and was obviously beginning to fall in love with her employer amidst the ominous Nazi occupation

• their romance was noticed by the jealous Baroness who snidely remarked: "What a lovely couple you make"; before retiring for the night, the children performed a good-night song for the guests: "So Long, Farewell." One by one, each of them bid the audience farewell (goodbye, adieu, auf wiedersehen, etc.) before exiting
• later in the evening, the scheming Baroness confronted Maria about her relationship with her fiancee, suggesting that it was inappropriate and that she should return to the Abbey: ("I'm sure you'll make a very fine nun."); Maria responded: "Then I should go. I mustn't stay here"; later as Maria departed, she placed a goodbye letter on the hallway's table before running back to the Abbey
• without Maria, the down-hearted, cheerless and depressed children couldn't understand why Maria had permanently left them; in her goodbye note, she had written that "she missed her life at the Abbey too much. She had to leave us - and that's all there is to it"; the children ventured to town to try and visit Maria at the Abbey, but they were turned away and told - "Maria is in seclusion. She hasn't been seeing anyone"
• Maria confessed to the Reverend Mother why she came back - to escape from her deep, unacknowledged romantic feelings for the Captain; she was persuaded by the sympathetic Mother to return, with the understanding that married love was also a holy vocation; the worldly-wise Reverend Mother sang the inspirational: "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" to encourage Maria
• Maria surprised the children with her return, but then was told the impending, life-changing news that the Captain would be marrying the Baroness; meanwhile, on the evening of her return, the Captain and the Baroness mutually decided to gracefully break off their engagement
• then at the outdoor pavilion, Captain Von Trapp followed after the despairing and confused Maria and asked two questions: "Why did you run away to the Abbey?" and "What was it that made you come back?"; according to Maria, she had an obligation to fulfill and she missed the children; he explained that "nothing was the same" when she was away and "it'll be all wrong again" if she ever left again; he attempted to persuade her to change her mind and stay longer
• then, he announced that he had broken off his engagement with the wealthy Austrian Baroness ("Well, you can't marry someone when you're in love with someone else. Can you?"); it had become clear to him that the Baroness had no interest in or capability for being a mother to his children; he held Maria tenderly by the chin and drew her lips nearer for a kiss; relieved, Maria had her prayers answered; as they were reunited and now free to express their love, they both sang: "Something Good" - about being rewarded for something good they did in the past; soon after, they were married, followed by a month-long honeymoon trip
• the political situation was becoming more difficult for the Captain when he was ordered to report to the German Naval base at Bremerhaven to accept a commission in the Kriegsmarine, to serve the Nazis; instead, Von Trapp made plans for the family to leave Austria as soon as possible
• in the film's tense conclusion, the Trapp Family had been able to fool and convince the Nazis that they were journeying to the Salzburg Music Festival to perform; during their show and the reprised singing of "So Long, Farewell," an opportune song that allowed each of the members of the family to leave the stage, the family retreated to take an escape route and hide in the convent's Abbey (and its cemetery) before trekking over the Austrian Alps to find freedom in Switzerland (reprising "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"), to elude capture by the Nazis