The Sound of Music Review!

This is the first time I saw The Sound of Music in theaters as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics.  There is also a showing on Wednesday.  It was mono-channel, audio coming out of the front of the theater, so it did not have the full surround sound that was remixed with the recent showing of 2001 (1968).  A bit of a disappointment, but it was nice to see it on the big screen with an audience.  The film was of course based on the stage musical which opened in 1959.  The musical by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II won the Tony Awards for Best Musical and also Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Mary Martin.  In turn, the musical was based on The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (1949), written by Maria Von Trapp.  Two German films were made from the book, The Trapp Family (1956) and The Trapp Family in America (1958).  The film was directed by Robert Wise who earlier had co-directed West Side Story (1961) who won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director along with co-director Jerome Robbins.  The adaptation was written by Ernest Lehman who also wrote the screenplay for another Rogers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I (1956), and West Side Story.  

The Sound of Music is a staple of television viewing and now there is an attempt to make it Christmas tradition.  In 2012, the actors who played the Von Trapp kids were promoting The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook and one of their stops was a signing at the Hollywood Collectors Show.  It was sad to hear of Charmain Carr's passing in 2016, but she will always be our Leisl.  There was a live television production, The Sound of Music Live! (2013) which featured Carrie Underwood, her vocals was good, but musicals require acting and singing.  The cinematography of this film is by Ted McCord who was a long time collaborator with Michael Curtiz.  We hear the winds gusting as we get vistas of the mountains and then past them birds chirping.  The beauty of Austria is seen in these pastoral scenes.  Still, I’m not compelled to go since the film is a snapshot of a time even though there are numerous Sound of Music tours through Salzburg.  Then, we get the epic helicopter shot sweeping over the grassy hills to see Julie Andrew’s Maria.  Her bursting into song is warranted, the build-up is perfect, and also her vocals are defining.  Maybe there are singers who can surpass Andrews on a technical level (hypothetical), but she invests so much charm that her signing is the bar to judge other singers in the Maria part.  She swings around and then it jumps to a medium shot.  “The Sound of Music” motif runs throughout the movie and is a perfect title for a musical.  The important line of the song is that she finds solace in the hills from her loneliness.  

The bells from the abbey bring back her responsibilities and she rushes off, but pauses to pick up her fallen wimple.  We get the setting, Salzburg, Austria and the golden age of the 30’s, it is specifically 1938.  The city is shown, which is a fantastic way to showcase Salzburg before the characters wander through it.  The beautiful singing of the choirs around the city before we get the nuns of Nonnberg Abbey singing the “Morning Hymn.”  The Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) discusses with others; Sister Berthe (Portia Nelson) who disapproves of Maria, and Sister Margaretta (Anna Lee).  They start singing “Maria”, the transitions into song are seamless, and this song gives us all we need to know about the character of Maria.  There is also Marni Nixon as Sister Sophia who was the singing voice of many film musicals including Maria in West Side Story.  The strange part is that there was a horror movie, The Nun, released that weekend, but I prefer the depiction in The Sound of Music.  The best part is Maria running into the abbey, washing up, and then seeing the gathered nuns, but walking off anyway, love it!   Mother Abbess calls in Maria who fears that she will be sent from the abbey.  Instead, she sends Maria to be governess for Georg von Trapp, the distinguished, but retired Navy captain.  Maria is shocked she will be in charge of seven kids. We get the transition from the abbey to the von Trapp house in Maria’s song, “I Have Confidence”, written for the film.   

She reaches the door of the house and mistakenly thinks the butler, Franz (Gil Stuart) is the captain.  We see later that Franz is an informant, he is framed in the window, watching the family connoted by military officers, so yes, the butler did it!  He takes her into the house and gives her strict orders not to go into the ballroom.  Maria’s curiosity gets the better of her, she wanders in, and marvels at the grandeur of the ballroom.  Captain von Trapp catches her there and is stunned at her defiance.  He whistles for the kids; Leisl (Charmain Carr), Fredrich (Nicholas Hammond), he went on to play Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man television series, Louisa (Heather Menzies), her real life name is Maria, but the producers didn’t want any confusion, Kurt (Duane Chase), a charming show-off, Marta (Debbie Turner), and Gretl (Kym Karath), her whistle call has her stamping, but leaving out her name and age.  I noticed that she gives her father the stink eye afterwards.  Wandering in and not noticing the line-up is Brigitta (Angela Cartwright).  Cartwright is of course well known as Penny Robinson in the original Lost in Space show.  This is a completely talented cast of kids, they can handle the singing, and the complex choreography.  Captain von Trapp is about to give Maria her own whistle call, but she says whistles are only for dogs.  She gets the upper hand by asking Georg what is his whistle, he walks away. 

Charmain Carr at the Hollywood Collector's Show, 2012, photo by the author. 

The von Trapp are eager to test their new governess and Maria is surprised by the frog planted in her pocket.  The house keeper, Frau Schmidt (Norma Varden), shows Maria to her room and explains that the past governesses had tricks played on them by the children because they want their father’s attention.  Frau Schimdt explain that there has been no joy or singing since their mother had died.  In real life, she had died in 1922 of scarlet fever which was the same illness Maria von Trapp was recovering when Maria was assigned as her tutor not governess.  At the dinner table, Maria walks in while the others are seated, she is about to sit down, but leaps up from a pine cone!  The von Trapp family starts eating when Maria starts dinner prayers.  She adds that her treatment by the children was not kind which gets the younger girls crying.  Captain von Trapp receives a telegram and Leisl slips out of the house to meet with the messenger, Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte).  There is a stunning backdrop of the tree-filled grounds at night next to the gazebo, soft focus, though the background does not match a later daylight scene with Captain von Trapp and the baroness.  Liesl’s impulsiveness is countered by the shy Rolfe in “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.”  They have a song and dance in the gazebo to get out of the rain and Rolfe kisses her.  Maria closes the curtains and gives her bedtime prayers when Leisl slips into the window.  Maria works with Liesl to change out of her rain-drenched dress.  The winning over of the children is gradual and fun. 

The storm brings in the young girls, then all of the kids.  Of course Maria breaks out in “My Favorite Things” to comfort them.  She is interrupted by Captain von Trapp who sends the children back to their rooms.  He is disappointed that Maria does not follow orders, but she is his match in many ways.  Maria asks for material to make play clothes for the children, but their father refuses her.  Then, we get Maria taking the von Trapp kids around Salzburg, the city, the von Trapp house, and the abbey are so well filmed, it does not feel dated. They are out in the hills playing when Maria teaches the to sing with “Do Re Me”, one of the best songs in the musical and brilliant work by Rogers and Hammerstein. They are hanging from the trees when Captain von Trapp returns in his car driving with Baroness Elsa Schraeder (Eleanor Parker) and his scheming friend, Max Detweiler (Richard Hayden).  It was Parker who brought star power to the cast and plays a socialite who is interested in Georg von Trapp, but schemes against Maria.  Uncle Max is a comedic figure, but likes to feature musical groups so he can make profit from them.  The political situation is introduced of the Anschluss which is the joining of Germany and Austria in 1938.  We get more of the danger in the form of Herr Zeller (Ben Wright).  Captain von Trapp worries about his children who appear in a boat.  It tips over and Maria pulls it to the dock.  Georg von Trapp is shocked that his kids were running around Salzburg in pieces of curtains, he is about to send Maria back to the abbey, but then hears the singing of “The Sound of Music” by his children. Their father joins them in song, his singing voice is provided by Bill Lee, who worked on many Disney films.  My favorite song, though, is “Edwelweiss”, it is a meaningful, beautiful song.  This is a great film, I hope they restore it with a better sound cut for the theaters, I know there is a sing-along version and also concert series.  

Five Edelweisses out of Five!      

#TheSoundofMusic, #RogersandHammerstein, #RobertWise, #JulieAndrews