The Sound of Music (1965)

One of my favorites, Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer had great chemistry and a lifelong friendship.

Plummer, a notorious grump on set, never said anything negative about Julie.

It IS The Sound of Music!

I love their dance

The Sound of Money.

Plummer and Andrews discussing the film, how posh

Team Baroness!

Baroness team.

Eleanor Parker was one of the most beautiful women who ever lived

[quote]Plummer, a notorious grump on set, never said anything negative about Julie.

Didn't he say that working with Julie was like getting hit over the head with a Valentine card?

This is a pretty good documentary from the 1990s about the making of the film to commemorate its then 30th anniversary.

You cunt face.

The Sound of Music was one of the first grown-up films I remember seeing (yes - I'm an Elder Gay...) I don't think I saw it when it first came out (I would have been 5) but maybe a few years after. I do, though, remember feeling all tingly "down there" when Christopher Plummer was on the screen. I was a HOMO from early on...

R12, I reacted that way to Rolf and Frederich.

R13: I agree with you

Peggy Wood hit me in the head with a fondue pot.

It's a perfect film

A letter from the Baroness...

Probably the best musical film ever made

It's one of the best film adaptations, even improving on the original stage show, which is a bit of a snooze.

All of the changes that screenwriter Ernest Lehman made were for the better.

The scenery and cinematography also help a lot; you can't recreate that in a theater.

How don’t understand how Maria became so calm and responsible, basically a different person, after she was repeatedly fucked on her honeymoon. Was that all that was needed to solve a problem like Maria?

“How” = “I”

We’re all Capt von Trapp “in a world that’s dying” if we don’t vote Biden in spite of his age and other imperfections. We have no escape to Switzerland-NATO will crumble if Trump gets back in WH.

R22, you’re like the Gauleiter Hans Zeller, injecting politics when everyone is trying to have a good time.

“You flatter me, Captain.”

“How clumsy of me. I meant to accuse you.”

R22 Tomorrow belongs to me!

The movie cut out two entertaining, clever, and catchy songs from the stage show - There's No Way to Stop It and How Can Love Survive - and added a piece of total schmaltzy drek so undistinctive and unoriginal you can sing along with it the first time you even hear it - Something Good.

I'm a a Julie Andrews fan. I'll watch the movie for her and Christopher Plummer, but I'll listen to the original Broadway soundtrack.

I like actually seeing Marni Nixon.

Sorry, r26, you lost us at:

[quote]but I'll listen to the original Broadway soundtrack.

"Something Good" is a huge improvement over the horrible song the Broadway score had in that place, "An Ordinary Couple," which is basically a dirge.

R28 it's a good recording.

It is such a timeless love story! The man chooses the Fräulein over the Frau.

Let me pack my little bag and go back to Vienna where I belong.

The Baroness was cheap!

Who gives someone a fountain pen as a wedding present?

Especially to your husband.

Don’t forget your harmonica, Baroness!

Darling, Haven't you ever heard of a delightful little thing called boarding school?

I went to a small Catholic school back in the days (early 70's) when nuns still wore habits - some were old school with the full black long dress, etc. but others were transitioning to just the headpiece and a simple dress. We occasionally had movie day in the auditorium and SOM was one in regular rotation and I think a lot of the nuns were putting themselves in Maria's shoes. We also got The Trouble with Angels a lot.

I still can't believe Luisa bagged Robert Ulrich. Lucky minx, except for the widowhood part. And then she died too.

R37 I can't believe that two of the Von Trapp kids all of the adult leads (except for Julie Andrews) are already dead!

Meanwhile, Bonnie & Clyde came out only two years later and Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, and Estelle Parsons are still with us.

Hackman and Parsons are even in their nineties, with Parsons pushing 100.

For whatever reason, I've never seen it.

It's one of a number of otherwise classic must-see films which haven't grabbed me. GWTW was another one of those, until perhaps two years ago, when my best friend and I finally took it in.

TCM helps me make up for lost time; I simply put the films missing from my viewing curriculum on the DVR, and then watch them at my leisure.

But I'm not sure I've ever noticed 'The Sound of Music' airing on TCM.

We don’t care what films you haven’t seen

I was surprised but the obc is very wonderful except for that truly horrible An Ordinary Couple. Liked it when I heard it many years ago and put it on recently. And yes as wonderful as I remember. Of course my sisters and I grew up with the movie and the movie soundtrack album and a sister of mine said she thinks the obc is better.

It's great hearing the two cut songs. They are very good. But they were right to have cut them from the movie though How Can Love Survive is used as a waltz at the party. And there are actually people who prefer An Ordinary Couple to Something Good. But Something Good is so beautiful as it underscores the opening credits.

1965 was quite a year for Richard Rodgers. Waltz for him was a total nightmare and SOM turns out to be the biggest film hit ever. I would have been drinking like a fish too having to deal with Laurents, Sondheim, and Dexter ganging up on him.

True story (as recounted by the NY Times):

[quote]ON the afternoon before the opening of the Group of 7 summit meeting in 1983, James Baker, the White House chief of staff, dropped in on Ronald Reagan to deliver a briefing book. The United States was the host of the conference, the only one held on American soil during the Reagan presidency; the administration had pre-emptively billed the meeting as a triumph; and Baker, worried about his boss's lack of preparation and aware that "Reaganomics" wasn't universally popular, had taken a lot of trouble compiling the briefings, which were both concise and comprehensive. On returning the next morning, Baker was furious to discover that the book lay exactly where he had left it -- and confronted his boss with his failure to do his prep. Reagan's unflustered reply: "Well, Jim, 'The Sound of Music' was on last night."

Alternate ending.

ITA, R26.

I grew up listening to the OC recording of this and Camelot. Julie Andrews was Guinevere… she just is NOT Maria. As for Eleanor Parker… ugh. A few years later, she sounded like Lucille Ball.

So are you saying Mary Martin should have done the film?

I love this movie. Capt. Von Trapp so handsome. The puppet show. Julie Andrew's great tits and waist in her soaked governess outfit. It is really a perfect film.

In her last year, my 91-year-old mother enjoyed watching the SoM wedding scene over and over. She just loved Christopher Plummer!

[quote] Let's discuss the film that continues to win the worldwide affection of millions since it's premier almost 60 years ago.

Oh dear. Double.

Correct: its premiere, not it's premier.

[quote]I still can't believe Luisa bagged Robert Ulrich

Oh, dear.

[quote]Correct: its premiere, not it's premier.

Hide in the cemetery, it's the Grammar Nazis.

When is the 4K restoration of this film coming?!

Remember when Julie and Christopher did On Golden Pond live?

Should Maria have been a contralto like Mary Martin instead of a sterling silver soprano like Julie Andrews?

Friedrich was outspokenly anti-Trump on Twitter. Marta was the opposite, big time MAGA.

How would Sound of Music have been if Shirley Jones had played Maria?

R55 Well, Friedrich married an Aussie in the '80s and has been residing Down Under ever since.

The rest remained in the USA, save for Louisa, who went back to her native Canada.

[quote]Should Maria have been a contralto like Mary Martin instead of a sterling silver soprano like Julie Andrews?

The actual Maria von Trapp sounded like Millie Jackson.

My taint is alive with the sound of music

The actual Maria was a pain in the ass at the convent. They were happy to get rid of her, apparently.

The ending is rather confusing, as the family flees the Nazis but head over The Alps in the direction of Germany.

In real life, the von Trapps took the less strenuous option of simply boarding a train bound for Italy.

Agree with the above posters who miss “How Can Love Survive?” It’s a great song. I do like “No Way to Stop It” also but think it would have slowed momentum in the film. And lord knows, when the Captain and Maria profess their love and then get married and then come back from the honeymoon, the movie has slowed down enough.

I love How can love Survive? and No Way to Stop It, but it made sense to have cut all the Baroness's songs. The fact that Maria sings and coaxes first the children into singing and the Captain into singing again works very well thematically--it makes it clear how much she belongs with him and his family. That would not work as well if the Baroness also sang.

R51 actually it’s spelling, not grammar. Not that you’ll know the difference.

Give it a rest, R64. You were being obnoxious and you were called out for it. Now shut up and stop derailing the thread in a cry for attention.

Bridge Over Troubled Waters was their best song.

[quote] Bridge Over Troubled Waters was their best song.

Another inane comment by the “oh look, another trump thread” troll

Figure out how to check a book out of the library yet, asshole?

As it happened, it wasn’t me, R65.

r64 is correct. r65 is whining.

[quote] Another inane comment by the “oh look, another trump thread” troll Figure out how to check a book out of the library yet, asshole?

R67, will you marry me? I need your energy in my life.

I used to constantly sing all the songs from SoM on karaoke as a child. I’m sure I drove my parents crazy.

I loved the lilac dress that Liesl wore in the gazebo scene

The baroness was always my favorite character and I still aspire to be her to this day

"Why georg, had I known your children were so musical, I'd have brought my harmonica!"

Perfectly delivered by Eleanor Parker. Her performance is so funny because it's on the subtler side.

Do you think the Baroness would have married?

The baroness (Eleanor Parker) in the movie was absolutely beautiful. Reminds me of Tippi Hedren.

Eyebrows look too harsh in this photo.

Loved Eleanor in Caged (1950) Lizzie (1957) Eye of the Cat (1969) and An American Dream (1966) aka See You in Hell, Darling

[quote]The actual Maria was a pain in the ass at the convent. They were happy to get rid of her, apparently.

So was the film Maria. There’s a whole song about it.

[quote] "Why georg, had I known your children were so musical, I'd have brought my harmonica!"

That’s not the line, and it’s directed at Max

Baroness: Why didn’t you tell me?

Max: What?

Baroness: To bring along my harmonica

[quote] So was the film Maria. There’s a whole song about it.

I think it was different, though. The character in TSOM was lovable. Apparently, the real Maria was kind of unpleasant and cantankerous.

The film's details are largely false.

Liebste Mama!

I thought Leisl's dress was light pink in the gazebo scene. I love how it moves with the dancing. She was gorgeous and a beautiful voice too.

Who was the lesbian in this?

The housekeeper

[quote] The housekeeper

R60 no shit? Tell me more about that.

The obvious lesbian was Sister Berthe, of course.

She was even a mechanic who sabotaged the Nazis' car engines at the end.

All the nuns were lesbians, naturally.

My pussy won’t be denied

As a knoll, I find the lyrics of the title track triggering and problematic. It reflects a colonial mentality to assert —inaccurately — that the hills are alive. This is cultural appropriation and instills in me a sense of violation and danger. Please educate yourself.

This was always my favorite song

[quote]I loved the lilac dress that Liesl wore in the gazebo scene

And I'm sure you stitched up a copy for yourself from a Butterick pattern on Mom's Singer.

[quote]Do you think the Baroness would have married?

Bitch, please. She was a fag hag.

She would have married just to keep all that lovely money in the family

I've always just assumed the Baroness would become the mistress of one of the high-ranking Nazis, like Captain Zeller.

the Pratt Family Singers

Butt Crusher

I'm just here to say that the annual SOM Sing-a-long at The Hollywood Bowl (hosted by the always hilarious Melissa Peterman) is a BLAST! If you're ever in L.A. in late-September, you should go. When 17,000 people start singing Edelweiss, it'll give you goosebumps.

If you look at the marriage, now, Von Trapp married someone who would take care of 7 children, for free.

I see a woman who wanted to be the OG Real Housewife of Auschwitz.

It was a massive hit with audiences, no surprise it won Best Picture.

The hills are alive with the sound of farting

R53, 2001 isn't remembered but for one event.

R102 which event?

The theatrical premiere of “How High,” Rose!

R104 I was thinking that movie where they dirty danced.... what is the name again?

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". And when they dirty danced, it was filthy.

You know how disappointed I was to find out Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a musical?

I'm brown paper packages tied up with string.

If you watch The Sound of Music backwards...

R97 I am actually going to be in LA that night! Have you been? Can you take a picnic and booze?

Cool, R110, you should go! I have been a few times, and yes, you can take in food & beer/wine. Go early for the costume parade/contest -- so much fun!

^^ signed, R97

Plummer wasn’t much of a fan of the movie.

I liked the title song as sung by Andrews more than the original by Martin. It’s such a great opening and much more powerful.

I just remembered that I have a DVD of the Carrie Underwood version. Has anyone watched that recently and did it maybe get better with age?

Thanks r97 😘

[quote] Plummer wasn’t much of a fan of the movie.

Later in life he recanted his dislike for the movie. He said he adored working with Julie Andrews, whom he had expected not to like, and that he came to understand how much the movie meant to people, and so he was glad he had done it.

Underwood’s singing was good and strong. Her acting sure wasn’t.

R117 Plummer has said he was in awe of her class and professionalism on set.

Andrews said the film need Plummer to bring the film down to Earth.

Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer on The Rosie O'Donnell Show in 2000

R120 high brow vs. low brow

R26, one of those songs (I THINK it’s “Survibe”) is played as incidental music by the orchestra at the Von Trap manse during the party scene.

I like both songs you mention. A lot, actually. But the film didn’t need them. Those songs are brutal, making the Baroness and Max even more unsympathetic. I think removing the songs was a terrific, bold choice by the filmmakers. The film really does improve upon the stage show.

R20, I don’t know about you. But once I started getting regularly plowed by the son of my building’s super, I was able to balance my checkbook, get through grad school, master “Rhapsody in Blue” on the piano, AND leave therapy. It’s really remarkable what good cock will do.

How do you solve a problem like Maria? You fuck her.

In the show, My Favorite Thibgs is a duet between Maria and Mother Superior. Stupid. Much better with the kids — and it so subtly starts in the film, it’s glorious.

[quote]In the show, My Favorite Thibgs is a duet between Maria and Mother Superior.

Even though the nuns just sang a song bitching about Maria singing in the abbey.

I never understood that.

[quote] "Something Good" is a huge improvement over the horrible song the Broadway score had in that place, "An Ordinary Couple," which is basically a dirge.

Like a broken arm is better than a broken leg.

The best critique I ever heard of this film was made by a child sitting behind me. When "INTERMISSION" flashed on the screen, she said: "You mean there's MORE?!?!"

She said it, not me.

It is actually 2 films, isn’t it? - A romance about a nun who cheats on Christ by shacking up with a sexy widower, and then a war picture about a family escaping from the nazis, the twist in the tail being that they have no orienteering skills and therefore embark on a hike into the heart of the Reich.

I’m waiting for the sequel, in which the von Trapps plan their escape from Colditz, with the Captain in a really cool leather jacket and poor Friedrich having to be left behind after he goes blind while forging Swiss passports.

[quote] I'll listen to the original Broadway soundtrack.

Oh, dear....!

[quote]since it's premier

Oh je.

Christopher Plummer was famously quoted back in the day calling it "The Sound of Mucus."

Oh, I don't know, r103. Some September day....Was it the 9th? Perhaps the 12th? I must think.....

It helped me to reroute the trajectory of my child-actor career towards outer space.

Decades ago (well, 90s), my dad and stepmother were visiting friends in Vermont and were driving around leaf peeping or whatever when they drove past this stocky, old farm woman carrying buckets or something equally cliche’ and realized it was Maria Von Trapp.

Just read that she died in 1987 so must have been the 80s.

My parent’s were staying at the Trapp family lodge in Stowe in the mid-70s. They were driving back and saw an older woman with car trouble so they drove her up to the lodge. It was Maria herself it turns out.

[quote] hey were driving back and saw an older woman with car trouble so they drove her up to the lodge.

How did they solve that problem?

The original

[quote]My parent’s were staying at the Trapp family lodge in Stowe

Oh, dear.

[quote] How did they solve that problem?

By marrying her off to some rich guy

[quote]Just read that she died in 1987 so must have been the 80s.

Or it wasn't Maria Von Trapp.

R140 or perhaps it was one of the daughters, who was also named Maria Von Trapp and who died in 2014.

The real seven children's names were all fictionalized for the musical, and the eldest was made a boy.

Rupert = Friedrich

Agathe = Liesl

Maria = Louisa

Werner = Kurt

Hedwig = Brigitta

Johanna = Marta

Martina = Gretl

[quote] the eldest was made a boy

Rupert was a girl? Trans?

I meant that Agathe/Liesl was made the eldest in the musical. haha

R135 Did she look like a flibbertigibbet?

[quote] [R135] Did she look like a flibbertigibbet?

Or a will-o'-the-wisp?

Or... A CLOWN.

'the twist in the tail'

Oh, Dear!

Parker's son is interviewed on yt. He said his mother was tired of people going on about TSOM to her. I think it was just another movie that she made. Nothing special.

He said that towards the end her life she caught it on TV. He said she thought it was a good movie.

I wonder which films she did Parker had preferred? Caged, of course; but what else? Eye of the Cat?

Everybody around us was going to see the movie when I was a small boy. But my parents sure as hell were not going to spend $3-4 to see a movie. We'd have to wait years to wait until it came to a drive in children under 12 free.

Heather Menses

The Baroness did a nude scene in An American Dream (1966)

"The first fifteen minutes of Eleanor Parker in and out of bed can be recommended to connoisseurs of the tawdry"-Pauline Kael

I was waiting for the nude scene. I must have blinked.

[quote]I meant that Agathe/Liesl was made the eldest in the musical. haha

But "the eldest was made a boy" is still completely wrong.

Julie Andrews is one of the greatest actresses of the 20th Century

Hedwig was made a shorter but angry, Girly-Boy. And then, their father died at Auschwitz. He fell from the guard tower.

R152 nude means without clothing and she wasn't wearing any.

Films like this really help you escape the real world.

Christopher Plummer in this movie makes one of the most handsome, gorgeous, sexy appearances in film history alongside Brando in Streetcar or Sean Connery in Dr No.

I had a crush on Christopher Plummer as a father figure.

Plummer went from hot to sophisticated daddy

The movie drags at the end. After the wedding scene I turn it off.

Are you a Nazi?

LOL, R162 :-) Maybe R161 is unhappy with the ending of the film because the Von Trapps escape the Nazis....

Only to end up in conservative Republican Vermont! That’s an ironic ending for ya.

Republican Vermont, is that similar to liberal Mississippi?

"Oh Max, you really are a beast" . The Baroness teases to Max. I would say that Max was probably her gay friend.

R165 in the late 40s—50s other than base racial issues, yes.

**

Captain Von Trapp, more blown spooge than Captain Kirk?

R157- film was about nazis-we are about to be over run by American Nazis-American Hitler/Trump-what escape?

London is calling, hag.

Don’t tell anyone von Trapp villa was same set from Giant 1956-“We must economize Mr Wise”

It worked!

I saw this Something good has terrible lyrics (by Rodgers).

But the music is very good. Especially the arrangement during the title sequence.

Although Marie Von Trapp did in actuality have a very unhappy childhood which is what the song is about.

Maria

It’s funny that critics hated the movie when it was first released and went so far as to ridicule it as “The Sound of Mucus.”

HATED IT as a kid. HATE IT now.

Still haven't seen it after knowing about it FOREVER. I'm looking forward to finally watching it but it's not shown too often.

R180 You can buy the Blu Ray. It is also streaming on Disney Plus.

You are in for a real treat as a first time watcher

Trick or treat? Smell my feet….treacle.

I'd want a hard, deep fuck from Georg von Trapp as depicted by Christopher Plummer.

He can blow his whistle and make me cum running anytime!

[quote]I'm looking forward to finally watching it but it's not shown too often.

What can you possibly mean by that in 2024? "Not shows too often" where? What an incredibly bizarre statement.

R184, that’s because streaming video doesn’t exist yet. (Play along.)

If you're cheap and don't want to rent it or find it on a pay channel, ABC runs the movie every Christmas season. It's 4 hours long with commercials but I like to watch it, bake cookies and text friends that night.

I always think the shot used as the teaser trailer for the first Lord of the Rings film was based on the last shot of TSOM. But the Fellowship were at least headed in the right direction.

R161 I read ages ago that in some countries (maybe China) the film ended right after the wedding

The real story isn't quite as exciting as the movie.

r90: I loved "The Lonely Goatherd" too !

When I first saw the film as a child I was so afraid they would leave the puppets behind when they escaped.

In defense of R180, this film, like Gone With The Wind or OZ is a much more enjoyable, immersive experience if you can see it projected in a theater. They all sometimes get that treatment during big anniversary years - if that ever happens near you, go.

Um, no. The continued success of these particular films relies entirely on their repeated tv viewings.

r192: THE SOUND OF MUSIC was a phenominon that saved Fox after the debacle of CLEOPATRA. It ran in theaters for over a year.

[quote]The continued success of these particular films relies entirely on their repeated tv viewings.

What do you even mean by that? It's just as accurate to say that the movies wouldn't be repeatedly shown on TV if so many people didn't love them.

phenomenon!

Oh, dearing myself! 😄

R193 and then it went to tv year after year… to this day, that’s how it has been enjoyed by millions more. Get it? Good!

R194 pay attention: see above. Thanks for playing!

[quote] Didn't he say that working with Julie was like getting hit over the head with a Valentine card?

He did before they started filming. Then he changed his mind and apologized to her privately and publicly. he spent the rest of his life being close with her and always wanting to work with her because he adored her and respected her so much.

R192 - the whole point of my post is that these movies, which we all became familiar with on TV are a much different, and better, experience if you can actually see them in a movie theater - no matter how many times you've seen them before. If R180 is holding out for an in-theater experience, as he seemed to imply, it will be worth it for him. I'm telling everyone who has the opportunity to see these, or any other great classic Hollywood film, during a revival run on a big screen - go.

Virtually no one still sees an old movie in a theater. That’s not how it is viewed by the tens of millions who weren’t around the first time. Yet they remain popular and loved to this day, because of TV. The end.

I liked it when the Mother Superior sabotaged the Nazi’s jeep. It’s the one recorded instance of a Catholic working against the Third Reich.

As much as Plummer had mixed feelings about the film itself he's always loved and respected Andrews. Her encouragement was likely the only thing that pulled him into the 40th or 50th anniversary celebrations some years back.

Listen to r201 over there…hating on Catholics, in a movie about Catholics opposing the Anschluss and more. By citing a fictional incident, no less. Oy vey!

[quote] If [R180] is holding out for an in-theater experience, as he seemed to imply,

If that's what R180 meant, I didn't get that at all, but I think you're giving him/her too much credit.

[quote]As much as Plummer had mixed feelings about the film itself he's always loved and respected Andrews. Her encouragement was likely the only thing that pulled him into the 40th or 50th anniversary celebrations some years back.

But I always hated the high-handed, pretentious, condescending way he often expressed antipathy towards the film, which was by fair the greatest success of his career in gaining him fame among the masses. And you know what? Although he certainly has SOME very good moments in TSOM, there are also quite a few scenes where he overacts and comes across as extremely affected, in my opinion. So even if he honestly disliked or hated the film overall, I think he should have been smart enough to have kept his mouth shut and thanked his lucky stars for it. But, according to reports, he could be quite a difficult and eccentric person to say the least, like his ex-wife Tammy Grimes and his daughter, Amanda Plummer.

Those pissant Canadians—worse than any Brit.

The more modern term for “a teaser” is “edging”

R205: I doubt that Tammy Grimes was a walk in the park herself.

[quote]r201 = I liked it when the Mother Superior sabotaged the Nazi’s jeep

She wasn't the culprit.

Was it a Jesuit?

So, who do you want to fuck:

Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Richard Haydn, or Eleanor Parker?

Rolf

I agree, R191! Do you live in a major U.S. city, R180? As R191 mentioned, theater screenings pop up periodically, even during non-big-anniversary years. There was a screening at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood earlier this summer, and one in Savannah, GA about a week ago (I only know that because I did a quick search out of curiosity). Next year will be the 60th Anniversary, so I'm sure it will pop up at revival theaters (or part of classics series) all over the place.

So that excludes 99.9%. We all watch it in tv year after year. Without losing any meaning or greater enjoyment.

[quote][R205]: I doubt that Tammy Grimes was a walk in the park herself.

Which is more or less what I wrote, though you somehow seem to have missed it.

Somehow, this natural movie project took ages to come to fruition. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, co-directors of the great movie musical Singin’ in the Rain, separately turned down the chance to direct The Sound of Music. George Roy Hill, who would later direct Andrews in Hawaii and Thoroughly Modern Millie, said no. So did Vincent J. Donehue, director of the Broadway version, and Wise, who was busy preparing his war epic The Sand Pebbles. Three-time Oscar laureate William Wyler finally agreed, and worked on the film’s preproduction, before realizing his heart wasn’t in it. When the Sand Pebbles shooting was delayed, Wise took over, backing into the job of producer-director on the most popular musical in Hollywood history.

The Lonely Goatherd is the same tune as the Laendler that the Captain and Maria dance to.

Robert Wise also improved "West Side Story" from the stage version. Well, he and the screenwriter.

I only watch it because Eleanor Parker is in it.

I liked it as an eight year old child when my parents took me to see it. The screen was enormous (drive-in size screen in an indoor theater is how it was advertised). The parents were not impressed by it.

I think it also helped that the film seemed to boast cinematography, sound, lighting, casting and energy that resembled a ‘60s Disney children’s musical feature film, aiding in reminding audiences of Andrews’s recent “Mary Poppins” Disney-released movie.

I've met a few people who lived in Austria at the time the film takes place who were appalled by it.

I don't know why Kelly or Donen were offered the job.

R221 yea, because no one would otherwise put two and two together.

It was originally supposed to have been directed by William Wyler.

R216, I find it unbelievable that Vincent J. Donehue was ever considered to direct the film of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. And on the tiny chance that he was, I can't imagine he would have turned the job down. What's your source for this information?

Also, the Broadway show opened in 1959 and closed in 1963, and the movie was released in 1965, which is by no means an inordinately long delay. Quite the opposite, in fat.

^^ in fact

R222 what are they appalled by?

R226 Vincent J. Donahue directed the play, Sunrise at Campobello and subsequently directed the film version; he also directed the movie, Lonelyhearts, so he was experienced at films. If he directed the play it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility that he was offered the movie.

R228 Historical innacuracies, and the fact that they somehow escape over the Alps to Switzerland, which would not be possible as it's thousands of miles away.

Or hundreds, anyway.

Well, it doesn't specify how much time has passed before that final shot of the mountains.

Would it kill you to just sing “The Hills are Alive with Music”?

Saying “sound” is redundant

R231 Well they never actually crossed any mountains.

And what of it?

[quote]The fact that they somehow escape over the Alps to Switzerland, which would not be possible as it's thousands of miles away.

Thousands of miles?

R233 -- It's a movie - Hollywood has never given a flip about historical accuracy when it gets in the way of a beautiful shot. Or a beautiful actress. Or a great plot twist / betrayal / suspense sequence / satisfying ending / et cetera ad infinitum...

[quote]The Lonely Goatherd is the same tune as the Laendler that the Captain and Maria dance to.

Another fun (party)fact:

The conductor at Georg's party is Oscar-winning composer/musical director Saul Chaplin, the film's Associate Producer. (won Oscars for An American in Paris, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers & West Side Story)

I can't stand that bitch.

The Sound of Music opened March '65 at the Rivoli Theater on Broadway in NY(now a black skyscraper.) It played a week there before opening in Hollywood. Making its world wide gross for its first week about $50,000. It played FIRST RUN for 1-2 years. Limited performances like a Broadway play, elevated ticket prices, and reserved seats you could buy months in advance. No shorts. jeans and T Shirts! Casual dressy. Even jackets and ties and suits. It played at the Dominion in London(now a legit house) for 3 years.

It did not get to the neighborhood houses until '67 where it played everywhere for another 2 years being pulled by Fox in '69. This was all while the American New Wave was pulling into high gear- Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate...It was then re-released to theaters in in '73.

r228...

'The Sound of Music' was filmed in Salzburg 60 years ago. Locals say, so what?

R236 Well, I was answering a question. Someone asked me what people who lived there at the time were appalled by. That was one thing they mentioned, they thought the escape across the mountains was ridiculous. And no, I don't think it was a long time later--aren't they wearing what they were wearing onstage? Austria doesn't border Switzerland at Salzburg, it borders Germany...but anyway the people thought the whole presentation of Salzburg at the time and the Nazis was too Hollywood and inauthentic. They said it, I didn't.

They are wearing the clothes on their backs, that's what they escaped in. For all we know, they could have hiked hundreds of miles from Salzburg to the Swiss border

R242 Hiked hundreds of miles? It's roughly the distance from New York City to Toronto. Where did they sleep? Their clothes look pretty good, for that.

1965 was only 20 years after WW2 ended. Many Austrians were still suffering the sting of humilation that their once mighty nation capitulated to Hitler during Anschluss and ended up on the losing side. I doubt they were thrilled that this sad chapter in their history served as a backdrop to a glossy Hollywood musical.

The reason I fucking despise musicals.

[quote]Austria doesn't border Switzerland at Salzburg, it borders Germany

In the Broadway script of THE SOUND OF MUSIC -- but not in the movie -- Maria literally has a line where she says something like, "Once over those mountains, we're in Switzerland." So apparently the authors weren't above creating their own geography for their own purposes. Some have pointed out that if the Von Trapps had actually climbed directly over the mountains from Salzburg, they would have ended up in a really bad place: "Berchtesgaden is a German town in the Bavarian Alps on the Austrian border. South of town, Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest retreat."

[quote]Maria literally has a line where she says something like, "Once over those mountains, we're in Switzerland."

I missed that day in Geography class.

It is such a good film, one of the best ever made

Is DL STILL talking--nay, swooning--over this thing? Oh man, GIVE IT A REST.

R249 = Rolf

I always thought Rolf & The Captain would reconcile 🥰

The real Von Trapps fled Austria by train to Trieste, Italy, then hopped on a ship to America.

Georg Von Trapp, having been born in Zadar, Dalmatia, which passed from Austria-Hungary to the Kingdom of Italy, was able to obtain Italian passports for himself and his family and booked passage on the liner, so it wasn't some clandestine affair that put the family at risk. But, of course, this doesn't make for a very exciting story so the escape was fictionalized for stage and film.

R248 = Julie Andrews. Get off the iPad, Julie! Hasbeen.

[quote] Some have pointed out that if the Von Trapps had actually climbed directly over the mountains from Salzburg,

Looking at a map reveals that there are no mountains between Salzburg and Germany. Salzburg is in a valley almost directly on the German border, which at that point is a river, the Saalach.

The nearest mountains are to the south, and indeed crossing those mountains would lead to the area near Berchtesgaden.

Is there anything in the movie that says the von Trapps crossed mountains right outside Salzburg? Maybe in Movieland they traveled to far western Austria, where there are indeed mountains with Switzerland on the other side of them. I am aware that's not how the family left Austria in reality, but in the context of the movie was there anything that would rule out their going to someplace where they could cross into Switzerland while climbing every mountain and fording every stream? I just don't remember enough about the ending to say.

In the movie, when the Von Trapp's are hiding out at the abbey, they, along with the Mother Superior, look out at the mountains yonder and Georg says they'll drive up into the hills and head over the mountains. I don't know where the abbey was supposed go be located but it had to be near Salzburg for the kids to be able to visit.

Thank you, R255.

The famous talk in the park between Brando and Saint in On the Waterfront where it takes place in one location is actually two different parks far apart both in Hoboken. Also two different churches are used as Karl Malden's church. As Robert Wise said Hollywood makes it 's own geography. And having a choir sing Climb Every Mountain while watching a train pass by would be a wtf moment.

How many of you whores know that Julie Andrews' iconic entrance was actually filmed in Germany, not Austria? Apparently the meadow (in a hamlet called Mehlweg) is off limits to tourists these days and the owners aren't crazy about the obsessed movie fans sneaking there and trying to recreate THAT twirl.

About 30 years ago, they released a Sing a Long version of the movie in theaters. I went in NYC where people treated it like Rocky Horror.

When Julie sings What will this day be like, someone called out “ it’s gonna rain!”

When there’s a shot of Julie and a crucifix in the background, someone cried out quietly “let me down!”

When the Captain tore down the swastika flag, someone yelled “more clothes for the children!”

It was really fun.

I saw the sing along version the last night of its run at the Ziegfeld knowing it would be crowded with SOM superfans. It was so much fun and at times hilarious. We all stood as Maria walked down the aisle of the church at her wedding. The entire audience left at the end giddy, smiling and laughing. People were saying if only going to the movies were always like this.

R260- yes that’s where I saw it.

The Will & Grace gang went to a SOM sing-along.

Yes men dressed in business suits who looked like they went after work just to accompany their wives had big grins on their faces as they left.

R258, Europeans are no fun at all. If the meadow were in the US, the locals would have turned it into a theme park and be making millions from it, what with all the hotels, casinos, chain restaurants, etc., that would be around “Hills Are Alivewood”.

R258 it's a great shot but it would have been even better if it had been one continuous shot as it was originally supposed to be, until the helicopter kept blowing Julie off her feet.

R258 Salzburg does a SOM tour that's very popular. I bet the restaurant and hotel owners there don't hate the movie.

R259 & R260, love hearing that as a fan of the Hollywood Bowl Sing-a-long! It's just the greatest vibe, and why I've gone back multiple times. (I was at this one in 2015)

[quote]It's a great shot but it would have been even better if it had been one continuous shot as it was originally supposed to be, until the helicopter kept blowing Julie off her feet.

Sorry, but you don't seem to know what you're talking about. It could never have been "one continuous shot," even if Julie hadn't been flattened by the helicopter. Of course, they would always have had to cut to the tracking shot taken by the camera on the ground when she started singing.

Why?

R269, is your question seriously directed at my statement in R268? Do you think there's any conceivable way a camera mounted on a helicopter could have continued to film Julie Andrews at close range while she was walking through the meadow and singing? Aside from every other reason why that would have been impossible, the helicopter would have had to stop on a dime very close to the ground and then reverse direction.

People love to talk down to other people on DL.

R270 they didn't need to do the whole thing in one continuous shot, but the cut before she starts singing is jarring, and wasn't intended

I think the shot works.

R271 Are you new here?

[quote] The conductor at Georg's party is Oscar-winning composer/musical director Saul Chaplin, the film's Associate Producer.

R237 Julie Andrews tells a story about Chaplin in the second book of her autobiography. No one really liked the original “I Have Confidence” number except Richard Rodgers, who had written the music and lyrics (Oscar Hammerstein II had died by the time the movie version of SOM was made). Andrews called Rodgers’s version “solemn and slow.”

Chaplin was unable to get Rodgers to successfully rewrite the number in a manner more like the number we know. Chaplin managed to get permission from Rodgers to work on it alone, and he took bits of unused music from Rodgers, added a lot of his own music, and wrote new lyrics. Rodgers didn’t like the result (of course) but was persuaded to let it go. I had always assumed the music and lyrics were written by Rodgers, although now in retrospect I realize it’s not in his style.

Although Andrews doesn’t state in her autobiography her opinion of the final musical number or the sequence, she said elsewhere that she didn’t like the whole thing. She thought it was weak, unnecessary, and slowed down the movie. Kind of like what Rodgers told choreographer Agnes de Mille about the long length of the Dream ballet sequence in “Oklahoma.”

R274 People like you...

R275 It probably would have slowed the movie down more if Chaplin hadn't re-written it.

That's interesting, R275, thank you for sharing! I didn't know that Chaplin had reworked it (or I'd forgotten)..and I agree with R277.

While it was one of the weaker songs/numbers of the film, relatively speaking (Something Good was worse), I don't agree with Julie (whom I adore) that it was "unnecessary". It explained Maria's whole mindset going into the governess-situation, foreshadowed her first interaction with Captain & the children, and further illustrated why she wasn't ready to become a nun -- and was just unsuited for it, period. "I've always longed for adventure" types generally do not become cloistered nuns. JMO.

I think TSOM is the only R&H stage musical that doesn't have a book by (or co-written by) Oscar Hammerstein.

R278 Indeed, that’s what Julie wrote was the reason the producers and director wanted to add that number in the first place:

[quote] DURING PREPRODUCTION, Bob Wise, Saul Chaplin, and Ernie Lehman had decided that we needed a new song to capture Maria’s journey from the abbey to the Captain’s house—something that conveyed her anticipation, excitement, and anxiety.

Perhaps all the fuss about the music and lyrics soured her on the whole thing. Rodgers made her a star on television with “Cinderella.” Mary Rodgers wrote in her autobiography that her father was getting neurotic about losing his talent. He may have been doubly pissed off about the whole thing because of that.

Julie wrote that she was seeing a psychotherapist sometimes 5 days a week when she was in the States. She tended to be the peacemaker when working. The whole thing may have distressed her.

R278 Oh, and one of the things Julie was in therapy for was her lack of confidence in her talent (I know it’s hard to believe, but that’s what was going on in her mind at the time). So singing a song about not hanging confidence was pretty ironic!

*Having not hanging!

She sounds like a nut case!

[R270] they didn't need to do the whole thing in one continuous shot, but the cut before she starts singing is jarring, and wasn't intended

You are completely wrong about this. OF COURSE, that cut was always intended because it was absolutely necessary. If you feel otherwise, please explain how the camera mounted on the descending helicopter could have continued filming Julie Andrews as she started singing, without a cut to another camera on the round. And if you can't explain it, please admit that you don't know what you're talking about.

P.S. I don't find the cut "jarring" in the slightest. Quite the opposite, I've read at last one review of the film that says that moment is filmed and edited so well that it almost does appear as one continuous shot. And I suspect everyone else in the world feels the same about it, except you.

^^^Sorry, that was supposed to be:

[quote][R270] they didn't need to do the whole thing in one continuous shot, but the cut before she starts singing is jarring, and wasn't intended

You are completely wrong about this. OF COURSE, that cut was always intended because it was absolutely necessary. If you feel otherwise, please explain how the camera mounted on the descending helicopter could have continued filming Julie Andrews as she started singing, without a cut to another camera on the round. And if you can't explain it, please admit that you don't know what you're talking about.

P.S. I don't find the cut "jarring" in the slightest. Quite the opposite, I've read at last one review of the film that says that moment is filmed and edited so well that it almost does appear as one continuous shot. And I suspect everyone else in the world feels the same about it, except you.

Well, I am another person in the world who doesn't feel the same way about it.

The film really needed Liza Minnelli as Maria. It would have added a much needed jazz hands and pizzazz.

Liza had to wait a few more years for her Weimar Republic Oscar win movie.

When I was a young gayling watching SOM, I thought Baroness Schraeder was the most beautiful, glamorous woman on the planet and was devastated she didn't end up with the Captain and living in that marvelous lakeside manor. I didn't really care for Maria, who I thought was a plain Jane.

R179-curious why you have always hated it? I used to love it but now I don’t-maybe because we know the family’s true story or maybe because we may be entering an authoritarian take over and singing will not help us.

No, R286, YOU are the most boring nit ever. And if you feel that way about the subject, why did you even comment?

Girls! Girls! You're BOTH heinous cunts!

[Quote]I didn't really care for Maria, who I thought was a plain Jane.

I was rooting for Maria, but even as a child I knew the Baroness was the better choice. I mean, the DRESSES. My God, the DRESSES.

The Baroness had Georg's huge cock first.

And the harmonica!

She could fit Georg's cock AND the harmonica inside her at the same time?

Brava, Baroness! My kind o' gal!

[quote]When I was a young gayling watching SOM, I thought Baroness Schraeder was the most beautiful, glamorous woman on the planet and was devastated she didn't end up with the Captain and living in that marvelous lakeside manor. I didn't really care for Maria, who I thought was a plain Jane.

I always rooted for Lina Lamont in "Singin' in the Rain" over the boring Debbie Reynolds character. Lina seemed like lots of fun. Debbie seemed like a drip. I hate the final scene in which Lina is humiliated. Everyone takes such malicious glee in it.

A photo of Julie and Christopher during filming

R296, the fact that Lina Lamont is very entertaining and hilarious to watch in Jean Hagen's brilliant performance doesn't mean that the character is "fun." She does some pretty nasty, selfish things over the course of that movie.

R298 That's why she was fun.

I don't think Debbie Reynolds EVER came across as a "drip" in ANYTHING. Debbie was always with it.

I think TSOM should be shown as a double feature with Inside Daisy Clover (1965) in which Christopher Plummer plays the evil studio head, Raymond Swan. Also in the 1930s.

No the whole idea of that being one continuous shot with a helicopter is so idiotic that pointing it out to someone is not 'looking down' on a person it's saying how in the world could such a shot be done. It makes no sense. Like the helicopter shot with the Jets in WSS. To be fair they did manage close to such a shot in Funny Girl but the helicopter hovers for a bit then pulls back. The camera can't hover over Julie. It pulls in and follows her as she sings.

And thank god that you can see that it's Julie when the helicopter comes towards her before the cut and not her stand in. Unlike in Mary Poppins where it is very obviously her double when Poppins descends close to the house. It takes me out of the movie. Disney fucked up there. Also Michael coming out of the chimney is so obviously a dummy. Disney should have taken the time to do it better.

Fun(ish) fact: Nicholas Hammond, who played Friedrich, played director Sam Wanamaker in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."

[quote]No the whole idea of that being one continuous shot with a helicopter is so idiotic that pointing it out to someone is not 'looking down' on a person it's saying how in the world could such a shot be done.

Thank you. If someone here posted that I was "looking down" on whoever made that comment, I can't see that post, so I must have blocked that person.

[quote]To be fair they did manage close to such a shot in Funny Girl but the helicopter hovers for a bit then pulls back. The camera can't hover over Julie. It pulls in and follows her as she sings.

That shot is really one of the most spectacular in film history. The first time a friend of mine saw it, he couldn't believe how long the shot from the helicopter keeps Barbra in a close medium shot, and how steady that shot is. This in the days before steadicams.

[quote]And thank god that you can see that it's Julie when the helicopter comes towards her before the cut and not her stand in. Unlike in Mary Poppins where it is very obviously her double when Poppins descends close to the house. It takes me out of the movie.

Interesting. I never realized that wasn't Julie until she herself pointed it out on the commentary track for one of the home video editions of the movie. By the way, does anyone know how that shot of Mary Poppins landing was achieved without any visible wires whatsoever? Did they somehow go frame by frame and somehow paint them out? That's the only explanation I can think of.

Regardless, Julie and Christopher gave one hell of a performance

I've never heard Julie's commentary but it is obvious to me it's not her. And it's a very short distance and in other scenes she spends time in wires so why couldn't she have done that shot? Disney had already done a brilliant job with wires in The Absent Minded Professor with the remarkable basket-ball game where the players have flubber on their sneakers and are jumping high over the opposing team.

Thanks R305, but do you have any idea how Disney made the wires completely disappear in that scene of Mary's landing? For that matter, we don't see any wires in the scene where all of the nannies blow away down the street right before Mary's arrival. And I assume they MUST have been wired, because I can't think of any other special effect available at the time that could have been used. It certainly doesn't look like rear projection or double exposure or anything like that.

[quote] Unlike in Mary Poppins where it is very obviously her double when Poppins descends close to the house. It takes me out of the movie. Disney fucked up there.

Although Julie had been on TV, I'm guessing most people who went to Mary Poppins when it came out were probably not super familiar with her. Since it's Mary's first appearance in the movie, and it's Julie's first movie, most people probably weren't going to think "that's not Julie Andrews."

Mary arrives.

I'm curious as to how many others posting here think that's very obviously Julie's double in the scene of Mary Poppins landing, because again, I never knew that it was until I heard Julie herself mention it in a home video commentary track.

I assumed it was Julie. I guess I didn't look very closely. Haven't seen it since I was 6, besides.

MARY!!!!!

POPPINS!!!

MARY MARIA MARY MARIA

Haven’t seen it since I was 5. The color of the clip was beautiful!’ Need to revisit.

R307, Julie was a familiar and famous performer from her TV appearances - there were quite a few - and her musicals on Broadway and the one, Cinderella, on TV. Audiences for Mary Poppins knew who she was, and I think most people who went to MP would have recognized her on sight. She was already a star, just not yet a movie star.

On the other hand, she wasn't the world-famous icon she became after TSOM, so audiences may not have been looking as closely at her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins.

If you look at the section of her Wikipedia entry for 1954-1962, you can see that was quite busy becoming famous in the US well before Mary Poppins.

So, was Richard Haydn gay in the film?

You wouldn't have even had to ask the question R316 had Wise not edited the moment write after the Baronness makes the crack about sending the children to bording school and Max responds, "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrllllllllllllllllllllllll!" Unfortunately it was cut because the film was running to long and Hayden's rolled r's took over two minutes to complete.

R317 don't you just miss the Mid Atlantic accent?

I guess I saw that scene with the double enough times where it was obviously not Julie. Again if it were her double in the helicopter shot in Music(and I've purposely watched it a number of times)I would have been bereft.

R319, I don't imagine they ever considered having Julie's double do that stride across the meadow before the title song starts, because a large part of what makes that shot SO thrilling is that the camera on the helicopter really gets VERY close to Julie before the cut to the other camera on the ground as she starts singing. So much so that, as at least one critic pointed out at the time, it almost seems like one continuous shot.

I recommend watching that amazing moment in the film at home in slow motion, and then frame by frame. It's really astonishing how well done that cut is.

It is so brilliant that Wise does that opening just like Leni Riefenstahl(It's practically plagiarism) in I believe Triumph of the Will. But where she goes from the mountains to a Nazi parade in what may be Berlin Wise turns his camera in another direction towards an open meadow with Julie Andrews singing.

Interesting, R321. I never knew that, because I've never seen any of Riefenstahl's movies.

Riefenstahl was a great filmmaker. Problem is she was an ardent Nazi till her death at 101. And her films are an exaltation of Nazism.

R318 Richard Haydn was English.

R315 Jack Warner didn't think she was famous enough to cast in My Fair Lady, though.

R321 Triumph of the Will begins with a plane flying over Nuremberg, it keeps cutting from the plane to the view from the plane (with the shadow of the plane going over the city) then it touches down and Hitler gets off the plane, to cheering crowds. It's not much like the opening of TSOM.

Wise already used overhead shots to open West Side Story so if anything he was stealing from himself.

R320, at the risk of repetition, here's the scene.

It's magnificent. And what a voice!

R325, Jack Warner was an idiot, at least with regard to that decision. I was only a child at the time, but I seem to remember a lot people thought so back then, too.

A drone could do it better.

Time for a remake?

[quote]1965 was only 20 years after WW2 ended. Many Austrians were still suffering the sting of humilation that their once mighty nation capitulated to Hitler during Anschluss and ended up on the losing side. I doubt they were thrilled that this sad chapter in their history served as a backdrop to a glossy Hollywood musical.

They didn't mind a decade later when West Germany turned the story into a glossy dramedy, DIE TRAPP-FAMILIE (1956), which was a box-office smash in Europe, including Austria.

It was so popular that a sequel was made, DIE TRAPP-FAMILIE IN AMERIKA (1958), which was also successful.

[quote]Fun(ish) fact: Nicholas Hammond, who played Friedrich, played director Sam Wanamaker in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."

He also has the distinction of being the first live-action Spider-Man in the '70s TV series/movies.

Now we’re in the last golden days of the democracy…

Ruth Leuwerik, who played Maria in Die Trapp-Familie, was a dead ringer for Deborah Kerr.

Who is going to annex the USA? Canada?

R333, I'm sure the person who made that comment about the last golden days of our democracy didn't mean to imply that we are in EXACTLY the same situation as Austria in 1938. But there certainly are lots of horrifying parallels.

If democracy in the US falls there's no doubt who will be the entire TRUMPet section!

Good one, R335.

Ben Wright always scared me-heir Zeller

The Hills Are Alive....RUN!

I am watching on Disney Plus. I forgot how fast it goes by!

The Baroness married a much younger hot man who needed her cash. I'm sure she got good young dick every night.

She won in the end.

Plus, no kids, R340!

R341 Why would you want seven kids? That's a lot of mouths to feed.

Catholicism, Rose

Yes somebody should make a musical about Rose Kennedy.

They should revise MINNIE'S BOYS as ROSIE'S BOYS, but instead of a stage mother pushing her sons to be showbiz stars, it's politics.

And what about us?

Lewis J Stadlen who was a sensation as Groucho in that musical and made quite a splash despite its short run is interviewed on youtube and pretty much says Winters was miserable to work with.