The Sound of Music (Film)(In Wikipedia)

The Sound of Music

poster by Howard Terpning
Directed by Robert Wise
Produced by Robert Wise
Written by Autobiography:
Maria von Trapp
Book of musical:
Howard Lindsay
Russel Crouse
Screenplay:
Ernest Lehman
Starring Julie Andrews
Christopher Plummer
Music by Richard Rodgers (music/lyrics)
Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics)
Irwin Kostal (musical score)
Cinematography Ted D. McCord, ASC
Editing by William H. Reynolds
Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox
Release date(s) 2 March 1965
Running time 174 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $8,200,000 (est.)
IMDb - Official Site

Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews in the lead role. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical book written by the writing team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Ernest Lehman wrote the screenplay.

The musical originated with the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. It contains many popular songs, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and "The Lonely Goatherd", as well as the title song.

The movie version was filmed on location in Salzburg, Austria and Bavaria in Southern Germany, and also at the 20th Century Fox Studios in California. It was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Ted D. McCord. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1965 and is one of the most popular musicals ever produced. The cast album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2001.

Plot

In Salzburg, Austria, Maria, played by Andrews, is studying to become a nun but is not sure if convent life is right for her. She is sent from her abbey to be the governess to seven children of a widower naval commander, Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp. Maria and the Captain immediately disagree on the way the children are treated; the Captain has been raising them according to the principles of military discipline, while Maria wants them to enjoy life as children while they can. The children: Liesl (16), Friedrich (14), Louisa (13), Kurt (11), Brigitta (10), Marta (7), and Gretl (5).

The children, mischievous and initially hostile to Maria, eventually come to love her when she introduces them to the pleasures of music and singing. Once the Captain discovers this, he feels very remorseful for his rigidity. He apologizes to Maria for being so strict with the children, asks her to stay for a while, and seeks to enjoy living himself. One of the Captain's friends, Max Dettweiler, tries to convince the Captain to let the children perform in his concert. Maria finds herself falling in love with the captain, who is engaged to Elsa Schraeder, a very wealthy baroness. The Baroness becomes jealous of Maria and convinces her to leave during a grand party at the house, by exploiting Maria's inner conflict about becoming a nun and her discomfort at the Captain's obvious affection towards her.

Although the Captain announces his intention to marry the Baroness Elsa, she does not have good rapport with the children. After a talk with the Mother Abbess, Maria decides to return to the Trapp family. Upon Maria's return, the Baroness realizes the Captain is in love with Maria and decides to leave for Vienna after the Captain himself makes it clear that he is not in love with her and that a marriage between them would not work. Afterwards, the Captain and Maria reveal their feelings for each other and finally wed.

The Third Reich takes power in Austria as part of the Anschluss and tries to force Captain von Trapp back into military service. The Captain, unwilling to serve the Reich, delays the matter by insisting to Zeller, the Gauleiter, or party leader for the district, that he is part of the Trapp Family Singers and must appear with them during a performance at the Salzburg Music Festival, in a guarded theater. After a curtain call, and with the help of the nuns of Maria's former convent, the whole family flees and hikes over the Alps to Switzerland.

In a subplot, Liesl, the oldest of the children, falls for a messenger named Rolfe. At first he comes to see Liesl every evening, in one memorable episode where they are dancing in the rain. The two become estranged after he joins Nazi Party, as he realizes that her father has no regard for him and does not support Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. However, Rolfe does subtly warn the von Trapps about the danger they face for not obeying the summons of the Reich. Later as part of a search party trying to track the family fugitives, Rolfe alone discovers the von Trapps and after a brief confrontation with the Captain, alerts his fellow soldiers to the von Trapps presence. The soldiers give chase but are unable to catch up with the von Trapps, as their vehicles are sabotaged by the nuns at the abbey.

 

Cast

marca Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp
marca Christopher Plummer as Captain Baron von Trapp
marca Peggy Wood as Mother Abbess
marca Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp
marca Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler
marca Nicholas Hammond as Friedrich von Trapp
marca Heather Menzies as Louisa von Trapp
marca Duane Chase as Kurt von Trapp
marca Angela Cartwright as Brigitta von Trapp
marca Debbie Turner as Marta von Trapp
marca Kym Karath as Gretel von Trapp
marca Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa Schraeder
marca Daniel Truhitte as Rolfe
marca Ben Wright as Hans Zeller, Gauleiter

 

Production

Julie Andrews as Maria seeks guidance from the Mother Abbess, played by Peggy Wood, in this scene from the 1965 film version.

The film presents a history of the von (pronounced as 'fon') Trapp family which is not wholly accurate.

Georg Ludwig von Trapp, who was in fact anti-Nazi, lived with his family in a villa in a suburb of Salzburg, called Aigen. Maria and Georg had been married 10 years before the Anschluss and had two of their three children before that time. Georg had even considered a position in the Kriegsmarine but ultimately decided to emigrate.[1]

While the von Trapp family hiked over the Alps to Switzerland in the movie, in reality they walked to the local train station and boarded the next train to Italy. From Italy, they fled to London and ultimately the United States.[1] Salzburg is in fact only a few miles away from the Austrian-German border, and is much too far from either the Swiss or Italian borders for a family to escape by walking. Had the von Trapps hiked over the mountains, they would have ended up in Germany, near the Kehlsteinhaus, Hitler's mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden.

Even though the film does not recount an entirely accurate story of the family, it was filmed at original locations in the city and county of Salzburg and Upper Austria, including Nonnberg Abbey, and St. Peter's Cemetery. Leopoldskron Palace, Frohnburg Palace, and Hellbrunn Palace were some of the locations used for the Trapp Villa in the film. The opening scene and aerial shots were filmed in Anif (Anif Palace), Mondsee, and Salzkammergut (Fuschl am See, St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang).[2] Hohenwerfen Castle served as the main backdrop for the song "Do-Re-Mi".

Several key members of the cast had their singing voices dubbed by others. Peggy Wood, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Mother Abbess, was dubbed by Margery McKay after Wood discovered she could not handle the high registers of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain". Anna Lee, who played Sister Margaretta, was dubbed by Marie Greene.

Originally Plummer was slated to do his own singing and trained during the film and post-recorded his singing vocals. However, Robert Wise and the creative team felt his singing voice, while good, was overshadowed by the excellent singing voice of Julie Andrews.[3] Plummer agreed with the assessment, so they enlisted Bill Lee to "ghost" Plummer's singing.

There were once rumors that some or all of the children's voices were dubbed.[4] Wise insists that none of their voices were dubbed, though at times other children's voices were added to theirs for a stronger effect; the extra singers included Randy Perkins, Diane Burt, Sue McBain, and Darlene Farnon, sister of Charmian Carr (Liesl). Farnon sang the high note for Duane Chase, who played Kurt, in the song, "So Long, Farewell", because it was well beyond Chase's vocal range.

The movie features a rare onscreen performance by Marni Nixon, who plays Sister Sophia. Nixon dubbed the singing voices for many famous movie stars, including Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Because Julie Andrews, who originally played Eliza in the stage version of My Fair Lady, was not selected to reprise her role in the film and that Marni Nixon ultimately dubbed Audrey Hepburn's singing voice, everybody was worried about how Andrews and Nixon would meet for the first time.[3]

And of course, everybody was sort of worried that Julie would be upset that I was hired, because they imagined that she'd have this great envy of me because I had done the dubbing on a part that she should have done in My Fair Lady. And when they said, "Julie, this is Marni Nixon" -- everybody was kind of 'how is she going to react?' And she stood up, strolled across the room, and extended her handshake – "Marni, I'm such a fan of yours." Everybody went 'ahh', you know, it was going to be all right.

Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood did the choreography for the film. The Ländler dance that Maria and the Captain shared was not performed in the traditional Austrian way.

 

Songs

LP cover

All songs have music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II unless otherwise noted. Instrumental underscore passages were adapted by Irwin Kostal.

marca "Prelude and The Sound of Music"
marca "Overture" (Main Titles, consisting of "The Sound of Music", "Do-Re-Mi", "My Favorite Things", "Something Good" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain") seguéin= into the Preludium
marca "Preludium: Dixit Dominus", "Morning Hymn" (Rex admirabilis and Alleluia, based on traditional songs)
marca "Maria"
marca "I Have Confidence" (lyrics and music by Rodgers)
marca "Sixteen Going On Seventeen"
marca "My Favorite Things"
marca "Salzburg Montage" (instrumental underscore based on "My Favorite Things")
marca "Do-Re-Mi"
marca "The Sound of Music" (reprise)
marca "The Lonely Goatherd"
marca "Edelweiss"
marca "The Grand Waltz" (instrumental underscore, based on "My Favorite Things")
marca "Ländler" (instrumental based on "The Lonely Goatherd")
marca "So Long, Farewell"
marca "Processional Waltz" (instrumental underscore)
marca "Goodbye Maria/How Can Love Survive Waltz" (instrumental underscore, incorporating "Edelweiss" and the deleted song "How Can Love Survive?")
marca "Edelweiss Waltz" (instrumental, Act 1 Finale, based on "Edelweiss")
marca "Entr'acte" (instrumental, consisting of "I Have Confidence", "So Long, Farewell", "Do-Re-Mi", "Something Good" and "The Sound of Music")
marca "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"
marca "My Favorite Things" (reprise)
marca "Something Good" (lyrics and music by Rodgers)
marca "Processional" (instrumental) and "Maria"
marca "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" (reprise)
marca "Do-Re-Mi" (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
marca "Edelweiss" (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
marca "So Long, Farewell" (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
marca "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (reprise)
marca "End Titles"

Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II died in 1960, a few years before the film adaptation went into production. Richard Rodgers had to write the lyrics for two songs that were added to the score: "Something Good" and "I Have Confidence". "Something Good" replaced the show's original love song, "An Ordinary Couple", as Rodgers was never happy with that song.

"I Have Confidence" is a song that Rodgers wrote as a musical bridge, needed in the movie to get Maria from the convent to the von Trapp manor (as he explained). During that segment, at one point Julie Andrews passes under an archway. The real Maria von Trapp, one of her daughters, Rosmarie, and one of Werner's daughters can be seen starting to cross the road at that point. The von Trapps happened to arrive on set that day and Wise offered them this walk-on role. It has also been reported that Andrews tripped at one point during the filming, a moment the editors left in because it seemed to fit the character.[5]

Two other songs from the Broadway production were cut from the score as well: "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way to Stop It", though the former song can be heard briefly as background music towards the end of act I. Other songs were shifted to different scenes.

The order of the songs is markedly different between the stage play and the film. In the play, "My Favorite Things" is sung at the convent, whereas in the movie it is sung to the children. "How Can Love Survive?", which did not fit the flow of the movie very well, was reduced to an instrumental, one of several waltz numbers played at the party occurring just before intermission. The title song's four-line prelude ("My day in the hills has come to an end, I know..."), sung by Mary Martin in the stage play, is reduced to an instrumental hint during the overture and dramatic zoom-in shot to Julie Andrews on the mountaintop at the start of the movie. The downwash of the helicopter used to film the shot reportedly made it difficult for Andrews to remain standing.

The movie plot also varies from the stage play in some respects. In the scene where the von Trapps are hiding in the cemetery, the behavior of Rolfe differs quite considerably between the stage and screen versions. In the movie he raises the alarm when he discovers the group, but in the original stage version he conceals the fact that he has found them, thus aiding their escape. Broadly speaking, the play has the Captain's personality conversion take place very rapidly, while in the film it is stretched over an extended period of time.

"Edelweiss", thought by some to be a traditional Austrian song or even the Austrian national anthem, was written for the musical by Hammerstein and is little known in Austria.[5] Merchandise of it is sold in Austria, especially in Salzburg.

 

Retitles

The film was adapted for other countries, including Germany (retitled Meine Lieder, Meine Träume, or My Songs, My Dreams), Portugal (Música no Coração, or Music in the Heart), Brazil (A Noviça Rebelde, or The Rebel Novice), Italy (Tutti insieme Appassionatamente, All Together with Passion), Netherlands (De mooiste muziek, The Most Beautiful Music), Spain (Sonrisas y Lágrimas, Smiles and Tears), Greece (Η μελωδία της ευτυχίας,I melodia tis eftihias, The Melody of Happiness), Israel (צלילי המוזיקהTzeliley ha-muzika, The Sound of Music), Saudi Arabia (صوت الموسيقى Saut al-musiqa, The Sound of Music), Mexico (La Novicia Rebelde, The Rebel Novice), Iran اشکها و لبخندها (Ashkha va labkhandha, Tears and Smiles), Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Moje pesme, moji snovi, My Songs, My Dreams; Slovene: Moje pesmi, moje sanje, My Songs, My Dreams), Thailand ( มนต์รักเพลงสวรรค์ , Love Magic from the Song of Paradise),Taiwan (真善美, Truth, Kindness and Beauty), and France ("Mélodie du bonheur", "Happiness Melody").

 

Reception

Maria with the von Trapp children.

The film premiered in the United States on March 2, 1965. It ultimately grossed over US$158 million at the North American box office, and displaced Gone with the Wind as all-time champion.[6][7] Adjusted for inflation, it made $1.048 billion at 2007 prices, putting it third on the list of all-time inflation-adjusted box office hits, behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars.[6]

The soundtrack album on the RCA Victor label has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, and has never been out of print. The soundtrack album was included in the stockpile of records held in 20 underground radio stations of Great Britain's Wartime Broadcasting Service, designed to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack.[8]

Despite the enormous popularity of the movie, some critics were unimpressed. Walter Kerr of the New York Herald Tribune wrote the film was, "not only too sweet for words but almost too sweet for music." Noted film critic Pauline Kael blasted the film in a review in which she called the movie "the sugar-coated lie people seem to want to eat," and "we have been turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs."[9] This review allegedly led to Kael's dismissal from McCall's magazine.[7][9]

Controversy surrounded the film's release in Germany. According to a 2000 documentary, "...the film's Nazi overtones brought about the unauthorized cutting of the third act," which begins directly after Maria's wedding to the Baron and contains images of post-Anschluss Austria. Eventually, the third act was restored to the German release, but audience attendance did not improve, and the movie is ironically unknown in Germany and Austria.[10] This can be mainly attributed to the former German-made movie "Die Trapp-Familie" (1956) and its sequel "Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika" (1958), but also to the dark period of Austrian history, cursorily displayed in the latter movie, as well as in the former Austro-German films, which starred popular German and Austrian actors, not to mention the almost merciless exploitation of Austrian stereotypes in the American movie.

The Sound of Music is credited as the film that saved 20th Century Fox, after high production costs and low revenue for Cleopatra nearly bankrupted the studio.[7]

 

Awards and honors

Academy Awards

Wins

marca Best Picture
marca Best Director (Robert Wise)
marca Sound
marca Best Adapted Score
marca Film Editing

Nominations

marca Best Actress (Julie Andrews)
marca Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Wood)
marca Best Cinematography
marca Best Art Direction
marca Best Costume Design

 

Golden Globe Awards

Wins

marca Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
marca Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Julie Andrews)

Nominations

marca Best Director - Motion Picture (Robert Wise)
marca Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture (Peggy Wood)


American Film Institute recognition

marca 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #55
marca 2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions #27
marca 2004 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs:
marca "The Sound of Music," #10
marca "My Favorite Things," #64
marca "Do-Re-Mi," #88
marca 2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers #41
marca 2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #40

 

Television and video releases

DVD cover

The first American television airing was on ABC on February 29, 1976. ABC controlled the TV rights to the film until NBC acquired them; their first telecast of the film was on February 11, 1979.[11] NBC continued to air it annually for twenty years, often preempting regular programming. During most of its run on NBC, the film was heavily edited to fit a three-hour time slot (approximately 140 minutes without commercials).

Starting in 1995, the movie aired in an uncut form on NBC (on April 9, 1995, minus the entr'acte). Julie Andrews hosted the four-hour telecast which presented the musical numbers in a letterbox format). As the film's home video availability cut into its TV ratings, NBC let their contract lapse at the turn of the 21st century. In 2001 it had a one time airing on the Fox network, again in its heavily-edited 140-minute version. Currently, it airs at Christmas time on ABC since 2003 and around Easter on its sister cable network, ABC Family, where its most recent runs have been the full version in a four-hour time slot, complete with the entr'acte.

In the UK, the first television airing was on BBC1, on Christmas Day, 1978.

The film has been released on VHS and DVD numerous times. The movie is often included in box sets with other Rodgers & Hammerstein film adaptations. A 40th anniversary DVD, with 'making of' documentaries and special features, was released in 2005.

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