THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)

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One of the most beloved movie musicals of all-time, THE SOUND OF MUSIC had all the makings of a successful film — memorable Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, lush background locations, a talented cast, an experienced production team, the preceding momentum of a popular stage musical, and most importantly, a wholesome, sentimental story with sympathetic heroes, historic villains and broad family appeal.

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By the standards of an era when civil rights, the space program, the Great Society and the Vietnam conflict dominated American headlines, THE SOUND OF MUSIC is old-fashioned and glossy, lacking the gritty realism and appeal for social consciousness that dominates other movies of the mid-1960s. Nevertheless, audiences then and now can’t get enough of it; because for all its breathtaking scenery and cheery optimism, the film’s characters are individuals with credible personal and political struggles, both externally challenged and internally troubled, for whom the audience comes to care. And caring, generations of viewers have been reminded of the importance of family and the universality of music; they have taken heart in the idea that “when the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window” and been inspired to “climb every mountain” in search of a dream. In short, THE SOUND OF MUSIC is the ultimate feel-good movie, and its popularity is likely to continue as long as humanity’s need for an occasional shot in the arm of hope, happiness and harmony.

Julie Andrews was Hollywood’s most promising up-and-coming musical star when she was chosen to play THE SOUND OF MUSIC’s leading role, Fraulein Maria, in the winter of 1963. She was just beginning to make her mark on the film industry, having recently completed production on her first movie musical, MARY POPPINS (1964)

THE SOUND OF MUSIC won the Academy Awards for Best Picture of 1965 and Best Director (Robert Wise) along with three other statuettes, among its five unrequited nominations were three in the aesthetic categories of art/set decoration, costume design and cinematography — all of which were awarded to the other major historical epic of 1965, David Lean’s DOCTOR ZHIVAGO

THE SOUND OF MUSIC is based on the true story of Maria Augusta Kutschera, a young novice in Salzburg who arrived at the home of World War I submarine captain and widower Georg von Trapp in 1926 to tutor the third of his seven children. Within a year, Maria had married the captain and the couple eventually had three more children, but the family lost its fortunes during the Great Depression of the 1930s and began singing to alleviate their financial hardships, winning a prize at the Salzburg Music Festival in 1936. Shortly after the Nazi German annexation of Austria in March 1938, the Trapp Family Singers were invited to sing on the radio in honor of Adolph Hitler’s birthday, and Captain von Trapp received his summons to command a submarine base for the German navy. Rather than risk the consequences of refusing such prestigious requests, the family fled Austria by train through Italy, eventually arriving in the United States where they continued touring and singing and spearheaded a post-war relief effort for their war-torn countrymen.

We first meet Maria basking wimple-less in the sunshine and singing her heart out on top of a mountain. She loves the mountain, she loves to sing. But Maria gets a little carried away up on the Untersberg Mountain and is late returning to the abbey. This will have consequences and she well knows it.

Back at Nonnberg Abbey, the mother abbess (Peggy Wood) notices Maria’s absence from chapel and seeks advice about dealing with the chronically tardy postulant from some of the other sisters. Sister Berthe and Sister Margaretta have divergent opinions about Maria’s future at the abbey but join the mother abbess in a song seeking musical guidance on the matter:

“How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Maria? A flibbertigibbet. A will-o’-the-wisp. A clown.

“Many-a-thing you know you’d like to tell her. Many-a-thing she ought to understand. But how do you make her stay and listen to all you say? How do you keep a wave upon the sand? Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?”

When Maria arrives back at the abbey, she apologizes profusely and confesses the obvious to the mother abbess — that she is having trouble conforming to the ways of the convent: “I can’t seem to stop singing wherever I am. And what’s worse, I can’t seem to stop saying things – everything and anything I think and feel.” says Maria.

The mother abbess informs Maria that it seems to be the will of God that she leave the abbey for a time so she can reevaluate her commitment to the order and its way of life. Reluctantly, Maria accepts a position as governess in the household of a retired sea captain with seven children and sets out for the captain’s villa outside Salzburg, pondering her future. As she exits the gates, she reminds herself of Reverend Mother’s words: “When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.”

Upon arrival at the Trapp family home, Maria learns that she is the twelfth in a long line of governesses who have come to look after the children since their mother died. In fact, her predecessor lasted only two hours. Her impulsive comments, untidy dress and undisciplined manner leave the captain skeptical that she will fare any better, but he whistles for his children and, standing at attention, they introduce themselves – formally, at first; less formally later: Liesl, 16 and without need of a governess; Friedrich, 14 and impossible; Louisa, 13 and an experienced prankster; Kurt, 11 and incorrigible; Brigitta, 10 and an observant fashion critic; Marta, 7 and a fan of pink parasols; Gretl, 5 and always last (because she is the most important).

Just as Maria begins to feel sorry for the “poor little dears,” she discovers the precious gift they left in her pocket and her apprehensions about them are confirmed (a frog!).

Later that evening, Maria sits down to dinner with the family, where after a short blessing, the new governess soon has her young charges bawling with pangs of guilt that their father prefers to diagnose as indigestion and Maria dismisses as happiness. Although the captain (Christopher Plummer) is first introduced laying down the law to Maria and whistling for his children like animals, it is at the dinner table that the man behind the military demeanor first begins to peek through.

He is more preoccupied than uncaring, if deliberately so, and although he appears not to notice when Liesl stealthily departs the dinner table for a rendezvous with Rolfe, the delivery boy, she later learns he was paying more attention than she thought. Liesl (Charmian Carr) and Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte), sixteen-going-on-seventeen and seventeen-going-on-eighteen, are only able to meet when Rolfe comes by to deliver telegrams, though he has considered sending Liesl a telegram himself, just so he could deliver it:

“Dear Liesl, I’d like to be able to tell you how I feel about you. STOP. Unfortunately, this wire is already too expensive. Sincerely, Rolfe.”:

“Sixteen Going on Seventeen”

Locked out of the house in a thunderstorm, Liesl climbs in through Maria’s window as she is saying her prayers. In one of the first tests of her authority, Maria demonstrates understanding and a willingness to bend the rules when she proposes a little friendly counseling rather than turning Liesl in to her father. The insubordinate teen is quickly won over: “I told you today I didn’t need a governess. Well, maybe I do.” Liesl is soon joined in Maria’s room by her siblings who arrive seeking reassurance during the thunderstorm, or ostensibly, to check on Maria and make sure she isn’t scared. After a trying first day, the children and their new governess finally bond over a rousing rendition of “My Favorite Things”:

“My Favorite Things”

Despite having been warned that “The Von Trapp children don’t play; they march,” when the captain leaves for Vienna to visit the baroness, Maria and the children break all the rules. Decked out in play clothes made from the drapes that used to hang in her bedroom, they go on a picnic where Maria teaches the children how to sing. Although a simple song, “Do, a Deer” provides the musical foundation for one of the film’s greatest improvements over the stage production — an extended montage that not only allows the audience to watch the bond between Maria and the children develop through music over a period of time, but also permits the children to “learn how to sing” over time rather than in a single sitting as happens in the stage show. Aside from its expository function however, the montage also gives the audience a better sense of the story’s setting through its panorama of real Austrian locales:

“Do-Re-Mi”

Captain von Trapp returns from Vienna with guests in tow: his glamorous love interest, Baroness Elsa Schraeder (Eleanor Parker), and enterprising family friend/ chaperone, Max Detweiler (Richard Hayden). The captain is far from amused when he arrives home to find his children and their governess soaked to the skin, having tumbled out of a canoe into the lake in their excitement to see him. After immediately ordering the children inside to clean up and get back into their uniforms, he confronts Fraulein Maria about the play clothes and the children’s extra-curricular activities climbing trees. She, in turn, proceeds to tell the captain a few things about his children that he is never home long enough to notice. Angered at her outspokenness, Captain von Trapp dismisses Maria and orders her to return to the abbey.

In the silence that follows this pronouncement, the captain hears music coming from the house and goes inside to investigate. Astounded to discover his children singing “The Sound of Music” for the baroness, the captain is moved to join them, and over the course of the song, the estranged family reconnects through the music.

“Edelweiss”

EDELWEISS lyrics

The Captain:

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

The Captain, Maria and the children:

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

(english lyrics for EDELWEISS:

http://www.uppercutmusic.com/artist_s/sound_of_music_lyrics/edelweiss_lyrics.html)

Catching a glimpse of Maria in the doorway and grateful to her for bringing music back into his house, the captain changes his mind about dismissing her and asks Maria to stay. Armed with a better understanding of the captain and his intentions toward the baroness, Maria continues on with the family, redefining her governess role to include the task of preparing the children for a new mother.

Under Maria’s tutelage, the von Trapp children’s musical talents expand to include puppeteer, as demonstrated by the marionette show they put on for Uncle Max, the baroness and their father:

“The Loneley Goatherd”

The baroness asks Georg von Trapp to have a party in his room. The children next add light dancing to their repertoire as demonstrated when they sing goodnight to their father’s guests at the grand and glorious party Captain von Trapp gives to introduce the baroness to his Salzburg friends: “So long. Farewell. Auf wiedersehen. Goodnight”:

“So song, Farewell”

During the party, Kurt asks Maria to teach him the Ländler, an Austrian folk dance the orchestra is playing. But when Kurt proves too short a partner for the demonstration, the captain steps in and dances with Maria until, lost in his eyes, she can’t remember anymore:

“Lindlar dance”

Embarrassed, confused, and slightly frightened, especially when the baroness comments on what a lovely couple they make, Maria beats a hasty retreat to her bedroom to change clothes for dinner. But the baroness follows her. In one of the most deftly acted scenes in the entire film, and what amounts to a very sophisticated game of cat and mouse, assuming an air of friendship, the baroness gently informs Maria that her blush in the captain’s arms has betrayed the secret love she has for him. What’s more, she tells Maria that the captain thinks he is in love with her as well: “There’s nothing more irresistible to a man than a woman who’s in love with him” says The Baroness.

Dismayed at these revelations, Maria quickly packs her bags and runs back to the abbey where she secludes herself from the sisters and prays for guidance.

When the mother abbess finally summons her and Maria confesses she left because she couldn’t face the captain again, the Reverend Mother asks point-blank if she is in love with him. “I don’t know! I don’t know! The baroness said I was. She said that he was in love with me, but I didn’t want to believe it! Oh, there were times when we would look at each other — oh, Mother, I could hardly breathe! … That’s what’s been torturing me. I was there on God’s errand. To have asked for his love would have been wrong. I couldn’t stay. I just couldn’t.” says Maria.

The Reverend Mother responds by telling Maria that the love of a man and a woman is holy too, assuring her that if she loves the captain, it doesn’t mean she loves God less. Ignoring Maria’s pleas to remain at the abbey and be “safe,” she sends her back to the Von Trapps to find out the true nature of her feelings for the captain and how God wants her to spend her love: Maria, these walls were not built to shut out problems. You have to face them. You have to live the life you were born to live.

When Maria returns to the Von Trapps, the children are as excited to see her as she is to see them, but they have some news: the captain has announced his intention to marry the baroness. Taken aback, but convinced this development has answered her lingering questions, Maria informs the captain of her intention to stay only until arrangements can be made for another governess. But intrigued by his own unanswered questions about the reasons for her sudden departure without saying goodbye and subsequent return, the captain finds himself utterly distracted by her renewed presence. In another expertly acted scene, Elsa at first seems impervious to the captain’s captivation with Maria, yet upon realizing who really has the captain’s heart, she swallows her hurt and disappointment and makes a gracious exit.

Sure of what he wants, yet unsure of Maria’s feelings towards him, the captain finds her in the garden and again inquires why she left and came back. She continues to evade his questions until he tells her he is no longer engaged to the baroness: “You can’t marry someone when you’re in love with someone else, can you?” says Captain von Trapp. Finally at liberty to confess her own feelings, Maria can’t believe that after struggling so long to make a place for herself in life, she finds a place ready-made for her with the captain and his family. And so they were married…

The pealing of church bells is soon drowned out by the sound of goose-stepping boots on Salzburg’s cobblestone streets however, as the political crisis that has been brewing throughout the film finally comes to a boil. While Maria and Georg are away on their honeymoon, the Nazis take over Austria and the Von Trapp’s homeland becomes a subordinate province in Hitler’s ever expanding and increasingly militant Third Reich. Unsaddled with the captain’s political convictions, Max cooperates with the new regime and even takes advantage of the captain’s absence to enter the children in the annual Salzburg Music Festival. On the day of the festival however, Georg and Maria return, and Captain von Trapp reiterates to Max his staunch opposition to his children singing in public. Maria, now acquiescent in her role as the dutiful wife and mother, makes little attempt to change his mind.

Instead, while Georg goes off by himself to read a telegram from Berlin, Maria counsels Liesl on the ups and downs of love. The young lad Rolfe, it seems, has been caught up in the political fervor of the Anschluss and is now occupied with more important matters than romantic summer strolls with Liesl. Considerably more poised, yet understanding as ever, Maria advises Liesl to cry a little and then wait for the sun to come out — as it always does.

Maria’s quiet moments as wife and mother are brief however, as Georg soberly returns with the telegram requesting his immediate acceptance of a commission in the German navy.

“To refuse them would be fatal for all of us, and joining them would be unthinkable.” — Captain von Trapp.

With surprisingly little deliberation and no consultation with his wife, Georg tells Maria they must get out of Austria that very night. A few hours later, under the cover of darkness, Max reluctantly helps them quietly push the family car out of the driveway where Herr Zeller, the Nazi gauleiter, and his henchmen are waiting for them. In a quick cover-up, Captain von Trapp explains to Herr Zeller that the family is on its way to sing at the festival. Incredulous, the gauleiter accepts this plausible explanation as a temporary delay in his orders and escorts the Von Trapps to the festival, after which he intends to take the captain to the naval base at Bremerhaven to accept his commission

At the festival, held at an extraordinary outdoor concert hall called the Pelsenreitschule, or Rocky Riding School, the Von Trapps reprise such family favorites as “Do, a Deer” and “So Long, Farewell.” Then, in the culmination of the film’s unity-through-music theme, Captain von Trapp takes the guitar and leads both his family and the audience in a love song which, in the intervening years, has often come to be confused for the national anthem of Austria, but was in truth, an original song written for THE SOUND OF MUSIC by Rodgers and Hammerstein, “Edelweiss”

The national anthem of Austria during the 1930s was actually an imperial anthem entitled “Kaiserlied” which had been composed in the 18th century by Josef Haydn and carried forward into the post-World War I republic from the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1922 however, the tune was adopted by Germany as the basis for its own anthem, “Lied der Deutschen,” and retained throughout the Nazi regime of World War II. After the war, the new federal government of Austria outlawed the old anthem because of its Nazi connotations and held a competition to choose a new “Federal Anthem” based on a tune thought to have been written by another famous Austrian composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Thus, with all the post-war confusion and political controversy still engendered by Europe’s pre-war and wartime anthems, it is easy to understand why Rodgers and Hammerstein chose to write their own.

After their performance at the festival, the Von Trapps manage to elude their Nazi escorts and take refuge at Nonnberg Abbey where the mother abbess informs them that the borders have been closed. She hides them in the abbey graveyard moments before the dogged Nazis arrive in hot pursuit.

Bestowing upon Maria a few final words of wisdom before the climactic game of hide and seek, the Reverend Mother reminds her of the opening verse of the psalm:

1I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
(The Bible, Psalm 121, King James Version)

Once again, taking a few dramatic liberties with geography, the Von Trapps eventually set out over the mountains on foot, ostensibly for freedom in Switzerland on the other side. The future that awaits them is uncertain, but they are together and they have each other.

I used many video files in this post. They are loaded on youtube by Mark, AGAPELAND , a user who posted many videos from The Sound of Music. Click on his user-name if you want to open his channel.

Lines you can’t forget in The Sound of Music:

“When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” -Maria.

“Oh, there’s nothing wrong with the children — only the governesses.” -Captain von Trapp.

“Whistles are for dogs and cats and other animals, but not for children, and definitely not for me.” -Maria.

“I’m Liesl. I’m sixteen years old and I don’t need a governess!” -Liesl.

“Only grown-up men are scared of women.” -Kurt.

“There’s nothing more irresistible to a man than a woman who’s in love with him.” -The Baroness.

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” –Rev. Mother.

“Reverend Mother, I have sinned.” –Sister Margeretta.

Few other original titles of The Sound of Music:

La Novicia rebelde – Argentina / Mexico / Peru

Meine Lieder, meine Träume – Austria / West Germany

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s – UK (complete title)

A Muzsika hangja – Hungary

A Noviça Rebelde – Brazil

Música no Coração – Portugal

Neseli günler – Turkey (Turkish title)

Somriures i llàgrimes – Spain (Catalan title)

Sonrisas y lágrimas – Spain

Sound of music – Laulava Trappin perhe – Finland

Tutti insieme appassionatamente – Italy

The Sound of music – Denmark

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_sound_of_music