The Sound of Music: Review By Dan

Release Date: March 2nd, 1965

Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr

*Note* Some spoilers will be present in the review, but I am writing this under the assumption that most, if not all of you have seen this movie..

Well, here we are folks, at #100 for yours truly. It feels like I had just started writing for MovieWeb the other day with my very first review, being the Cruise/Diaz flick Knight and Day. I would like to think I've managed to somewhat improve in that time, and I hope you've all enjoyed my reviews thus far. For my 100th, I thought long and hard about which film to choose, wanting it to be a classic, but one that hasn't already been reviewed (Ghostbusters was taken), so I've chosen one that always makes me happy upon its conclusion, whether it's realistic (or accurate) or not. While some may cry overrated, I still feel that The Sound of Music deserves every bit of praise that it receives, being my favorite musical (and I hate musicals, so that is saying something), and overall a finely made epic for the ages..

Opening with breathtaking aerial views of the Alps, and then descending into the lower foothills, the camera sweeps with grandeur up to Julie Andrew's Maria as she sings "The Sound of Music" on a hillside, immediately enchanting us into Music's world with her angelic voice and heavenly scenery that only on location shooting in Austria could provide. We learn soon after this song that Maria is a postulant (a candidate of sorts to become a full nun, but hasn't taken the vows of celibacy yet), but one that constantly finds herself at odds with the other nuns of Nonnberg Abbey. In an act of diplomacy, Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) asks Maria to become a governess (like a glorified nanny) for a wealthy family, the von Trapps, and see if the life of a nun is really for her or not. As Maria sings "I Have Confidence" on her way to the mansion, she loses a bit of that confidence when she comes upon the enormity of the house that the von Trapp family lives in. She loses her confidence further with her introduction with the stern Georg van Trapp (Christopher Plummer). And while the children play a few pranks on Maria initially, they quickly warm up to her, and are soon singing along with her in a more joyful celebration of life than Georg would normally permit, who is still grieving over the loss of his wife. Slowly but surely Maria and his children heal and melt his heart with the laughter and song they bring into his life, and Maria and Georg eventually wed after he calls off an engagement to a socialite from Vienna. As World War 2 comes to Austria in the form of its annexation, Georg is summoned to report for duty in the Third Reich, but instead stages an elaborate escape plan with his family, and we see them crossing over into Switzerland on foot.

Everything about this film sings gloriously epic to my tastes. Ted D. McCord's cinematography is just absolutely stunning in nearly every frame we see. Whether it is Maria and the children singing in the foothills, or the first time she is walking through the von Trapp ballroom, virtually every shot in the film is both beautiful and handsome to the eyes. Honestly, I haven't seen very many films that rival Music's gorgeous landscapes and architecture. While I could probably listen to Andrew's singing all day long and get that dreamy feeling her voice induces, I'm also busy marveling at all the old world Europe on display in the film. On location filming beats the heck out of green screens any day, and this movies proves that magnificently.

And what of the cast? I doubt there is many who could match Andrew's vocal range, depth, and beauty, and there are fine numbers by Plummer himself and his children, particularly his eldest daughter Liesl (Charmian Carr, who may have the deepest, most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen). One of the biggest things I fret with musicals is one person coming off strongly, while their singing partner(s) sound nowhere near their level. Thankfully, Sound of Music suffers not from this at all, as all the children and Plummer, while not quite at Andrew's level, are well enough to be only pleasant to one's ears. It still pulls on the ol' heartstrings for me when Georg and Maria profess their love for one another in the von Trapp gazebo. It's about as romantic as you could possibly stage a musical sequence such as that with the blue lake behind them and the darkness inside the gazebo, just the right lighting and mood for it to really pull on the softer side of ya. Hell, even if Moody Blue's "Nights in White Satin" were playing, it couldn't fully capture this moment in celluloid.

I doubt there are many who aren't familiar with Music's score by Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II/Irwin Kostal, with it's catchy, memorable orchestral symphony that matches the musical numbers pitch perfect. Never overbearing, this is also another quality of the film I found just right. Getting the proper mood with the music is more key to an experience than one might give credit, and Music's is light and cheerful during the happier periods of the film's story, and almost non existent during the climax with the family escaping from the Nazi's.

And as I mentioned previously, I typically don't like musicals. I tend to find them overly corny and grating to my ears, and just not my favorite genre. Why I feel differently about The Sound of Music probably has a great deal to do with Julie Andrew, and her zest for life. Her Maria is an inspiring, joyous character, who I can't see her not infecting just about everyone with the love and honesty she brings to the role. I just love her performance here, each and every time I've viewed the film, and it grows on me each time. She makes me laugh with her blunt honesty towards all aspects of life, and her interactions with the seven children feels as natural as if she really was their mother. It feels perfectly acceptable and comfortable when she makes the transition to actually being their stepmother and they call her "mother".

What stands films from Music's era apart from modern movies is that they come from a time where people had patience for a grand story that took its time with all the details, and benefiting from it. This is an era where movies were so long that they had "Intermission" breaks in near the middle of the film, so that you could get up and stretch, go to the bathroom, get a drink, and come back shortly for the 2nd half of the film and never feel that sense of monotony set in. Honestly, while maybe the Lord of the Rings trilogy could rival some of these older movies in scope and length, they were only a taste of the grandiosity that was regularly seen in cinema during the days of yore. It is for this reason I view films such as this, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, etc etc, in a different light and class of their own. These were event pictures, not just some ho-hum "movie of the week" like our cinemaplexes are filled with these days.

This review may not be as long as some of my past reviews, but I hope you all felt it was the right length and that I gave this truly classic movie its due, and have enjoyed it as much as I have (or if you don't like this film, at least agree to disagree peaceably). I look forward to marching towards that 200th review now, where I'll tackle another classic at that point in the future.