The Sound of Music

I don't know if anyone realizes that with its domestic gross adjusted for inflation, this movie has grossed approximately $800 million dollars. And while "Singin' in the Rain" is still my vote for greatest musical of all time, this statistic leaves no doubt that "The Sound of Music" is the most successful and beloved musical of all time. An irresistable star turn by Julie Andrews as care free nun/governess Maria, a terrific, instantly memorable score by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and incredibly lush scenery and locations, these are a few of my favorite things! Already a smash hit on Broadway, the film version was sure to be a blockbuster, and 20th Century Fox pulled out all of the stops, garnering Best Picture for their efforts. Today, while "The Sound of Music" is associated with the highest of corn, it is easy to forget just how great this movie is. The performances are all top notch, including the aforementioned Julie Andrews, who scored her second overwhelming success in a family friendly movie musical, after "Mary Poppins", as well as Christopher Plummer as the von Trapp patriarch who runs his family as tight as he did the ships in his Navy, former screen siren Eleanor Parker as the beautiful but cold Baroness, and the perfectly cast and brilliantly portrayed children, all seven of them. The score is one of the most famous ever, boasting such classics as "Do Re Mi", "My Favorite Things", "Edelweiss", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and the title number. And this being the age of epics, the film was shot on location in Salzburg, Austria, and the stunning mountain locales and stately mansions add a powerful element to the production.

As the film opens, Maria is singing "The Sound of Music", and it is the perfect introduction to her character. She is vibrant, imaginative, and also forgetful, as she is slapped with the realization that she is late for afternoon prayer at the convent where she lives. As Maria races back into town we are greeted with another introductory song for Maria, entitled "Maria", in which the nuns describe someone who is careless, forgetful, and ditzy. The important thing her Mother Superior notes though, is that Maria has a good heart, and that she yearns to be free, which is why she sets Maria up with the von Trapp family as the childrens' nanny. At first Maria is scared of leaving the convent, and her doubts are magnified by the childrens' initial disdain towards Maria; putting pine cones on her seat at dinner and scaring her with frogs. This is nothing compared to the cold reception Maria initially gets from the Captain. Maria immediately draws his ire by refusing to answer to a whistle call, as all seven of the children do. With these anxieties in mind, Maria gratefully bonds with the children during a thunderstorm, singing "My Favorite Things" to them. The children now adore Maria and soon she has them singing and dancing all throughout Salzburg, done in a tremendous montage set to "Do Re Mi". When the Captain finds out his children are traipsing around town dressed in "play clothes" Maria made from old curtains, he is furious. Maria knows the Captain really loves his children and she implores him to let them have a little fun. The truth is the Captain has more pressing matters on his mind, including romantic implications with the Baroness, a woman the children despise and Maria politely defers to, as well as the ominous advances of Nazi Germany, which the fiercely patriotic Captain has tried to avoid at all costs.

Ultimately Maria and the Captain fall in love, resolving the issue of the Baroness, however Nazi Germany is not so easily stopped. The von Trapp's conspire to flee Austria, which will soon be completely under Nazi rule, but the night of their escape, coincidentily the same night the family wins a local music festival, they are betrayed by oldest daughter Liesl's boyfriend, Rolfe, who has joined the Hitler Youth. They manage escape but their mode of transportation is compromised, forcing the family to flee to the Alps, where they incredibly walk to safety. This ending is quite fantastic and would seem unbelievable, but is a true story, the entire family emerged in tact in Switzerland, making their feat even more remarkable. The film was a smash success with critics and audiences alike, winning five Oscars and grossing nearly ten times its budget, a feat virtually non-existent in today's Hollywood save for only the cheapest of indie successes. Some other interesting notes of the film: Marnie Nixon, who made a career out of dubbing major Hollywood actresses such as Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood and Deborah Kerr, has a small role as one of the nuns in the opening scene. Needless to say Julie Andrews did not need anyone dubbing her singing in this, or any other film. The original Broadway stars, Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, were given passing consideration at best. Mary Martin, however, served as a co-producer of the film, and this shrewd move would eventually net her tens of millions of dollars. Theodore Bikel, who had a very nice stage career, never really translated that into screen notoriety. Perhaps his most lasting movie role is as Zoltan Karpathy, the "dreadful Hungarian" who until Eliza Doolittle was Professor Higgins' greatest pupil. Before agreeing on Christopher Plummer, the studio considered Yul Bryner, Sean Connery and Richard Burton for the role of the Captain and allegedly considered Audrey Hepburn for the role of Maria, in addition to Doris Day, who nearly secured the role herself. As was the case with almost all Hollywood epics, amidst all the cast permutations, directing changes (William Wyler segued to Robert Wise) and script revisions, the end product came out brilliantly unscathed, and remains a seminal childrens classic to this day.