SPOILER ALERT
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Right next to Alan Menken, I consider them some of the finest, most skillful, and most talented musicians and songwriters who ever lived. Making their big break together in theater, they unleashed one classic hit after another, ranging from Oklahoma to The King and I, South Pacific, and even the ahead-of-its-time Flower Drum Song, with catchy songs, likable characters, lurid scenarios, and a cohesion to their storytelling that only leaves a more distinct and hard-hitting impression than meets the eye. They emerged and made history as true artists as they got the craft of theater and songwriting down to a fine art.
However, shortly before Oscar Hammerstein II’s tragic death in 1960, he and Richard Rodgers created what many consider their all-time masterpiece of theater and film: The Sound of Music.
Set in Salzburg, Austria, ‘in the last golden days of the Thirties’, as the film said, it is about a young nun named Maria, who was frowned upon by her peers in their abbey as a wild child, someone who usually frolicked about without ever paying attention to her duties at hand. After the nuns had enough of Maria’s shenanigans and her constantly being late for their sermons and masses, the Reverend Mother, Mother Abbess, agreed with her fellow nuns that something must be done with Maria to set her on the right path. So, what did she decide to do?
She assigned Maria as the governess to seven children, whose father, Captain Georg von Trapp, was a widower and former naval officer. Prepared for whatever uncertainties may have arisen from being assigned this job, Maria lunged forth uneasy but still optimistic that her influence would’ve turned out for the best. As she got settled in the Trapp household, she and Georg almost got off on the wrong foot, for Maria was joyful and prone to look for the best in things and people around her, whereas Georg was sterner, stricter, to the point, and no-nonsense. Ever since the passing of his wife, he made sure to run things like clockwork, even the activities of his own children. He even went so far as to prohibit music in the household, but it wasn’t out of distaste. Georg wanted to ensure that everything was in order after his wife died, down to there being no painful reminders of her, including music.
Then, through slight bickering and ruffling of the feathers, Maria and Georg slowly started letting their guards down and began to finally see each other for who they truly were. And the more they did that, the more smitten they became with each other. Maria started to see more of the sensible, lovesick essences that Georg had carried with him after his wife died while he looked at Maria amazed and awestruck by not only what she had accomplished but also what she reignited inside of him, his children, and his household.
It even caught the attention of Georg’s close friend, Max Detweiler. Outside of being enraptured by the sudden cheerfulness apparent from Georg and his family, he was also impressed with the family’s singing and personally invited them to partake in the upcoming Salzburg Music Festival. As anyone familiar with history would remember, this would’ve been the dawn of a new era for them, for their soon-to-be-global reputation as the Trapp Family Singers was afoot.
However, as Maria and Georg slowly got acquainted and expressed their love for each other, and as their family prepared to hone their musical talents for the festival, Georg had another issue to deal with. It revolved around the invading Nazi forces from Germany, who demanded that he partake in the Third Reich as part of the Kriegsmarine, primarily because of his background as a naval officer.
How would that have interfered with his family life and his love life with Maria? And how was his eldest daughter’s boyfriend involved in any of this?
As far back as when I was only a couple of years old, I remembered seeing the luscious scenery of the Alps and the Austrian forests leading up to the iconic image of Maria wandering about with her arms spread out across the meadows and singing the title theme song in all its glory. I was drawn in by the music, no doubt, but I was also drawn in by how stunningly at ease it all felt. As I got more comfortable in the Austrian landscapes, I felt like I was legitimately transported there, into someplace that was peaceful, brimming with culture, and untouched by outside forces trying to decimate and disregard everything it stood for. It was a blessing that I grew up with movies like this at such a young age because it left me with a taste for the beauty of atmosphere and music.
Much like Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas—I have the beginning of my Lion King VHS tape to thank for that—I’ve been acquainted with ‘The Sound of Music’ number for almost all my life and took it to heart because of what I remember feeling out of it.
But despite having memorized the theme song, the iconic shot of Maria in the meadows, and my acquaintance with the beautiful scenery, it turns out I had only scratched its surface.
It was not until I was older and in middle school that I finally had the courage to watch the movie from beginning to end, for it was almost three hours long. I can tell you this: I looked at it feeling like, underneath its wholesome shell, there lay some brains and brawn to adhere to this movie’s artistic integrity.
It might be a matter of how I was exposed to it, but here’s how I look at this film. Whenever I look at its first half, I always look at it as the family-oriented half, the half that kept its focus on teaching family lessons, like Maria teaching the kids about valuable life lessons, and of course, warming the heart of their stingy father along the way. I also see Act I as family-oriented because it lurked through territory that felt familiar, especially for Julie Andrews. A stingy father who later warms up after a certain period of time? Check. Rambunctious children who play pranks on their caretakers? Check. The importance of having fun with the family? Check. Julie Andrews in the starring role as the one woman who arrives to enlighten the household? Check.
However, whenever I look at the last half, this is when I notice the film take on a more serious angle, confronting more adult issues and complications. To start, it goes beyond just Maria taming the children and teaching the father figure the goodness of what she taught them. What began as a simple friendship between the governess and the Navy captain’s children blossomed into a motherly companionship with them, and it also extended into her relationship with the father himself as Maria ultimately became part of the Trapp family. However, unlike Mary Poppins, which is its first half with fantastical elements added in, The Sound of Music is also whimsical but does not shy away from the harsh realities of Europe as it was on the brink of slipping into World War II. Bedknobs and Broomsticks would also have touched on World War II with the same fantastical ingredients that Mary Poppins did, but The Sound of Music confronts it from a more grounded standpoint. It even does so with more weight to it, as demonstrated by Georg’s determination to flee Austria with his family before he was assigned to the Kriegsmarine out of resistance.
That might be why The Sound of Music is such a truly phenomenal film. If the first half puts the children first and the adults second, the last half puts the adults first and the children second. It covers family dilemmas from every angle while snuggling alongside them more adult topics addressed throughout the movie.
Between family films and mainstream adult films, The Sound of Music feels like it falls somewhere in between. The characters and actors are still the same, but the situations involved have taken on more adult angles. This way, The Sound of Music practically lives up to the term ’family film’ because it literally has something for everybody: some child-friendly aspects from Maria’s character or the seven children to cheer the children up with, and plenty of adult circumstances, situations, and ideas to draw in the adults in equal measure. It’s the type of film that indulges in childlike whimsies while also engaging in enough serious adult situations to lend itself a footing of dignity and respect.
Sometimes, films like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, How to Train Your Dragon, The Lion King, Up, or anything by Hayao Miyazaki tend to have some child-friendly and adult ideas mingling together from beginning to end to create a wholly entertaining and memorable piece. But with The Sound of Music, even though it does mingle with both sides of the spectrum together in some aspects of the movie, I tend to look at The Sound of Music like it started seemingly childlike and free-spirited only to grow savvier of the darkness of the world around them and acknowledge it as such, almost like we’re watching the film mature before our eyes. So, I find it fascinating when a movie starts seemingly lighthearted, only to end as a fully-grown and sensible movie. Or, again, perhaps that’s just how I experienced it as I grew older.
However, outside of its demographic handlement, there are three things I need to address here.
To start, I did not realize until much later that The Sound of Music was based on a real-life historical account. It concerns the famous Trapp Family Singers, who fled Austria and went on tour beginning in Europe. Becoming an early band, they toured abroad together and performed one musical number after another.
It was exquisite, too, because whereas movies like Pocahontas and Balto have introduced kids to historical events in an overtly child-friendly way, The Sound of Music does so in family-friendly ways that not only draw children in but also reward adults who stick with it with clever little tidbits concerning the real-life foundations of Maria’s settlement into Georg von Trapp’s family and their family’s eventual journeys together as musicians.
I also find this interesting because it makes this film stand out as a different type of musical biopic. I should know after watching movies like RocketMan and Elvis. Biopics like these, along with Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody, usually cover the subject’s entire life story, not just how they started with their musical talents. The Sound of Music only focused on the beginning stages of the Trapp family’s musical profession and how the band came to be. So, it was a more distinguished take on the general biographical aspects to utilize in a musical story.
However, this leads to the second portion of the movie that I found tremendous: the acting. Thanks to the contributions of all the actors in this picture, everything about this film felt like it came alive.
Among them is Charmian Carr, who played the eldest child of the family, Liesl, with her childlike yet slightly adult edges to her. She conveyed Liesel as being at an age where her hormonal instincts prompted her to lunge into this world as a full-grown woman. However, despite Leisl’s sensibility suggesting her potential awareness of the ongoing circumstances and how ready she was to take on the world on her own, even Leisl acknowledged that some things, like her supposed ideas of love, peace, and prosperity, may only have been the stuff of naïveté. I can feel the essence of her mature perceptions, but other times, I can see her react to unanticipated events with a slight heartbreak and childlike innocence, like she still had a ways to go before being truly ready to face the world as an adult.
Eleanor Parker conveyed the pure aristocracy of Baroness Elsa Schraeder, Georg von Trapp’s potential suitor, with a slight stuffiness to suggest her role in society while also doing so with enough tenderness to portray her as one of Georg’s closest friends. Parker’s conveyances of Schrader’s personality would’ve suggested some vanity and ill will towards Georg and his children, but Parker’s modesties told me that Schrader meant well, even if her place in society sometimes conflicted with her common sense.
Richard Haydn portrayed Max Detweiler as a cheerful and theatrical kind of guy. There’s a sense that he was the more upbeat half to Georg’s more grounded, confident, and orderly half. Of course, considering his tendency to track down some of the best musicians from across Austria, I can tell that Max’s personality went hand in hand with his career, and that everything he did for the Trapps, he did both out of love for them and out of devotion to his professional career. How can you not enjoy this guy every time he lunged forth, not to mention became the sensible ‘uncle’ the kids always looked forward to having around?
Outside of Charmian Carr, the actors and actresses playing the other six children felt marvelous in their innocent and straightforward portrayals of them as characters. They all fought about like children, marched in the same way any soldiers would’ve marched off, and followed their father’s orders like they were just that. Yet, as they got to know Maria more, they started acting and feeling like children again because of how they were given a window of opportunity to discover things for themselves. It was like they were finally allowed to be children again, even as they prepared to deal with any major travesties on the horizon, like with the Nazis invading Austria. Their innocence made them take it in stride as if they did not know what all went on but were still aware enough of there being something wrong to know when to help or scurry for safety.
The actresses who played the nuns back home, including Mother Abbess, displayed varying characteristics as fellow nuns who felt they had enough of Maria’s antics and wanted to teach her a lesson about humility and discipline. However, what each actress did well was to convey each nun with a distinct personality, like the sweet one, the stingy one, the wise one, the sensible one, and so forth. Each actress did a great job honing their personality with the proper dosage, as did Peggy Wood as Mother Abbess for conveying her with a vast veil of wisdom, sensibility, and consideration. I can feel her experience and having known Maria long enough to know what she considered best for her, and Wood pulled it off wonderfully here.
The young man who played Rolfe, Daniel Truhitte, also unleashed some respectable mannerisms out of him when he started as just a paperboy delivering Georg’s telegrams. However, after being perpetually dismissed by Georg on a whim and disregarded as a potential mate for his daughter, Liesl, this gradually caused Rolfe to undergo personality changes. The actor perfectly reflected that, conveying him with less innocence and more alarming sternness dissimilar to what Georg expressed earlier. I can feel his romantic urges to want to be with Liesl, but when it no longer came to be, his savviness of, and eventual participation in, the Third Reich became more evident. His ever-mounting frustrations when he had to put up with Georg’s negligent tactics for so long didn’t help matters, either.
Christopher Plummer nailed it as Captain Georg von Trapp. Frankly, of all his roles, Plummer’s role in this film might have been one of his most famous. His stern disposition, orderly fashion, proud stride, and believable mellowing of Trapp’s personality made me buy into this character’s progression as he went from being an angry and bitter widower into a proud and sensible man who regained his need to be free in life again. Sometimes, whenever he had his moments of humor, he conveyed them in proper bits, too, before and after he let his guard down and knew more about Maria and his seven children. Everything about Plummer’s performance hits bullseyes, and it is little wonder that it cemented his role as among the finest that Christopher Plummer ever took on in his acting career.
But let’s face it: the crowning achievement in acting in this picture is by Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp.
Much like how Christopher Plummer’s role as Georg von Trapp cemented him as one of the all-time greatest actors, Andrews’ role as Maria von Trapp – not to mention her Oscar-winning role as Mary Poppins – cemented her reputation as one of the all-time greatest actresses.
She owned her character’s free-spirited nature and sense of consideration whenever she confronted the unachievable, the unanticipated, or whatever felt most shady to her. Whatever came her way, she was always ready to approach it with an upbeat attitude and enough awareness of the situation to know when to solve the problem readily and not give in to any shred of cloud-headed antics like she was reported to have back in the alley. Of course, I can also feel her budding instincts not only as a responsible adult but also as an understanding stepmother-to-be who was aware of what the children went through and wanted to see to it that she brought out the best in them in any way she knew how, especially when Maria had to confront forces that she was too nervous to confront. I can feel her inner unease and better conscience competing against each other in their attempts to steer Maria down the right path.
And considering how Andrews was just fresh out of Broadway as she made her breakthrough in film with Mary Poppins and this film, her singing skills soared forth in all their wondrous might. They displayed the tranquility and sometimes prowess necessary to contribute to the musicality of the numbers she performed along the way.
So, Julie Andrews’ performance here was magnificent, one of the main reasons why Julie Andrews is such an iconic star, and why The Sound of Music is one of the most iconic musicals of all time.
Speaking of which, this leads to the third reason why this movie is such a masterpiece: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s music and songs. All but two of the songs in this movie were carried over from the musical – and, in the case of some of its tunes, rearranged – and they all conveyed the proper whimsy, rhythms, messages, and gravitas that are most relished in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical catalog. It’s also a shame that many of these songs originated in theater first, because if any of them were made for the movie, I would’ve seen at least four of them clean up the Oscar for Best Song. They’re that good.
The title theme song brewed about with tranquility and peacefulness as Maria relished all the joys and wonders of the landscapes around her. It is like an invitation to take a step back and soak in all the serene sounds and beauties of the forest around you, which this song makes feel like a most irresistible place to be when your mind is full of other forces beyond your control.
‘Maria’ is a generally low-key and upbeat song about the nuns’ frustrations with Maria and her careless antics. However, the nuns also expressed their unease and woes with a slight beat, making me completely buy into their mannerisms and opinions about Maria in a way that feels easy to follow and fun to tap along to.
‘I Have Confidence,’ one of only two songs that Richard Rodgers wrote exclusively for the movie after Oscar Hammerstein II’s death, conveyed all the unease and optimism apparent in Maria as she prepared to undergo her journey of being the Trapp family’s governess. I can feel her mannerisms going back and forth as she anticipated all the joys to be found in being with the children but also the unease that comes with being in the company of children who happened to be those of a naval captain. So, I can feel her emotional tug of wars going on as she went forth with pride and attempted to be as good a governess as possible for them.
Every time I think of ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen,’ for a long time, I always looked at it as a ‘wishful thinking’ song about youthful romantic pursuits. While it still carries some shades of that – as well as some methods of patriarchy in the song, given the film’s timeframe – it ultimately doesn’t matter. As I reevaluated the song, it laid out what I surprisingly commend about it. After Liesl and Rolfe talked about better methods of communication with each other, they also understood through song what Liesl would’ve had to prepare for as she matured into a woman, specifically the odds of her being a guy magnet. Underneath all the lovey-dovey motions and gestures, there’s a sense that it’s all about Liesl understanding what to expect from womanhood as she transitioned from being a child into an adult. As much as people may see this as exemplifying the old-fashioned role models of men and women in the early to mid-20th century, there’s still a semblance of universal truth that I found and felt out of this number, just as I have demonstrated with the preparations for adulthood.
The general amicability Liesl and Rolf expressed for each other and the rhythms that came with it are enjoyable to see. Half the time, it was a long, extended ballet sequence between the two characters as they made playfully romantic movements toward each other in the gazebo. Considering how Rolfe would later have turned out in the movie, I think it only solidifies how what ‘Love is an Open Door’ from Frozen is to this generation, ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ must have been to the Baby Boomers.
And, of course, who can forget ‘My Favorite Things’ and ‘Do-Re-Mi’? Who would’ve thought that demonstrating the values of being in your comfort zone or learning the simple basics of music can be made so glorious?
‘My Favorite Things,’ an iconic song in and of itself, is an upbeat, contended song chugging along with the values of adhering to what we love most, whether they be material things, spiritual things, or even if they concern people we know. There’s always bound to be something that’ll strike our fancy, and ‘My Favorite Things’ demonstrates that to the fullest extent as Maria tried to ease the seven children in the middle of a potentially severe thunderstorm. Watching her raise their spirits a bit in the middle of such devastating events is not only touching, but as the song went forth, it also became more exciting to listen to, even as Maria flashed on ideas of how to provide the kids their play clothes.
‘Do-Re-Mi,’ also an iconic song in and of itself, illustrates the beauties of music and musicality as Maria steadily taught the seven children. The principles of music and how each note is sung are the proper steps and components necessary to create any shred of music, whether it be the tiniest little tune or the most massive of symphonies. Whenever I think of do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, I always think back to this song because of how skillfully and rhythmically it demonstrates that. As Maria sang,
When you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything.
As for how she did so, again, it resulted in one of the most hummable, instantly recognizable songs in any musical. The creative examples accompanying each note and the song’s simplicity and outward expressions carried the tune forth as it had a ball with the notes being utilized, and educationally speaking, perfectly so.
The next song, ‘The Lonely Goatherd,’ was charming, even if it was slightly insignificant. In this song, Maria and the kids put on a puppet show for Georg, Max, and Elsa Schraeder to demonstrate the musical talents that Maria and the kids accumulated upon their adventures together throughout Salzburg. The storytelling, singing, and yodeling throughout the song were at least on point, and to showcase that through a puppet show centered around classic Austrian customs and cultures was a surprisingly entrancing way to go about it. When all is said and done, this song went forth on it with flair.
Plus, I will admit that the delivery of these lyrics…
One little girl in a pale pink coat heard
Yo-de-lay-di-yo-di-lay-WOO-WOO!
…always cracks me up whenever I hear it.
‘Edelweiss,’ the song that Georg sang as he slowly rekindled his love of music with Maria and his children, was a modest and nice little tune that demonstrated the virtues of their homeland of Austria and that his devotion to his home country was all he needed to believe in himself as a proud soldier and officer of his country. This song was written for the musical, and not as the Austrian national anthem, just so no one gets the wrong idea. Nonetheless, it feels equivalent to remembering the tunes ’America the Beautiful’ or ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ both as our way of appreciating our love of music and expressing our patriotism for our country.
‘So Long, Farewell’ is a mellow and upbeat song showcasing the children’s polite etiquette and ways of greeting their guests and bidding them farewell as they prepared for their bedtime. The way they all sang their gratitude to their guests as they departed one by one up into their quarters was cute to watch, and it got slower and slower as it concluded with Gretl, the youngest child, singing the song’s final verse and everyone left the scene with the guests bidding them goodbye and goodnight. It was a well-choreographed and nicely paced song, and the performances as each child departed for their bedrooms one by one were also charming to watch.
‘Climb Every Mountain,’ sung by Mother Abbess to Maria about pursuing her dreams no matter what obstacles came her way, is a heavenly, uplifting, and motivational song that encourages others like Maria to keep on searching until they find what and who they hold so dear in their lives, come what may. In this case, the Mother urged Maria to return to Georg von Trapp and admit her love for him.
‘Something Good,’ the romantic song sung by Maria and Georg as they finally admitted their love to each other, is the second of the songs Richard Rodgers wrote for the movie after Oscar Hammerstein II’s death. And for what it had going for it, this is a mellow, romantic, soothing song about acknowledging that whatever you’ve done throughout your life may not all have been bad and that, if anything, you may have done some good without even knowing it, even if Maria was on the verge of figuring that out for herself. Everything about the song was well played, and I especially admire where it stands as a romantic duet. Whereas ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ is a very upbeat and innocent look at love, ‘Something Good’ is a very mature and nuanced look at love.
Even The Sound of Music’s song reprises are something to write home about. Each carried on the classic customs of the masterful songs that came before, only to shed new light on the circumstances at hand almost as masterfully as the original songs.
With the reprise of the title theme song, it was sung by the Trapp children to Baroness Schraeder. Before ‘Edelweiss,’ this was what spurred Georg’s inner rekindling of his long-lost love of music, as, after a moment of listening to his children’s singing, he slowly joined in and sang with them, thus cementing his transition from being a stern officer-like father into a loving, understanding father.
The reprise of ‘My Favorite Things’ started with a slight melancholia as the children tried to cheer themselves up with what they loved after Maria left them. However, things quickly rose in high spirits as Maria returned to them out of the blue in the middle of their otherwise downhearted song. So, this reprise did a terrific job of starting low only to end in an unexpectedly better place than where it started out.
However, whereas the reprise of ‘My Favorite Things’ started low only to end in high spirits, the reprise of ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ ended in nothing but low spirits, but not without an optimistic outlook for what may come. What happened was, Liesl started to doubt her chances of love after being rejected by Rolfe, who began showing signs of his allegiance to the Nazis. But because of how vague Liesl was about which man she was talking about to Maria, now her stepmother, some people look at it and think that she still had feelings for Rolfe, but I looked at it thinking she could’ve referred to any man. This time, for every set of these lyrics,
Lo and behold, you’re someone’s wife, and you belong to him.
…the song had these lyrics, too.
Gone are your old ideas of life, the old ideas grow dim.
What it ends on is hopeful and demonstrates how even when things may not look right to you, you need to give it some time before the right match in your life finally comes along. Whereas ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ is a generally innocent and lighthearted look at love, its reprise serves almost as a reality check, showing some of the tragedies of innocent love and how love altogether is more complicated than that. In a way, it makes ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen,’ in all its incarnations, what I never thought I would describe it as being: a coming-of-age song.
A good chunk of the other reprises occurred at the Salzburg Music Festival, as the Trapps sang out their musical numbers from earlier in the movie to demonstrate their musical talents, from ‘Do-Re-Mi’ to ‘So Long, Farewell.’ But there are two reprises that stood out to me and that I consider the strongest in the entire movie.
Starting with ‘Edelweiss,’ Georg began to sing the song, only to later stop out of heartbreak from having to leave his cherished home country behind. Then, after that, Maria, then the kids, and ultimately, the entire audience sang the song with him as their way of voicing their allegiance to Austria and their resistance against the Nazi regime. It started very mellow but ended with a triumphant, uplifting, and overwhelming finish. This is probably the most powerful of the film’s reprises, in my opinion.
Intriguingly enough, in the musical, ‘Edelweiss’ was penned to be sung by Georg only at the festival and never a second time earlier in the household, like in the film. It’s almost like the household song was the appetizer before the main course arrived. Maybe that explains the emotional resonance within what was technically the song’s reprise in the film.
And finally, when the Trapp family sang ‘So Long, Farewell’ during the Salzburg Music Festival, the way they sang it felt a little more suspenseful. Even though they maintained their lightheartedness and innocence about their departure, they were hiding how they were leaving the music festival for good and sneaking away under the Nazis’ noses.
It leads us to the last reprise of the movie, the reprise of ‘Climb Every Mountain,’ which, this time, rather than highlighting Maria’s pursuits for the man she loves, now highlights the urge to keep searching physically until the destination can be reached. In this case, the destination was Switzerland. When I look at the real-life story of the Trapp Family Singers, it may also be a veiled gateway into the world’s outer reaches, such as what the Trapp family, as the Trapp Family Singers, would’ve encountered after they departed from Austria. The way they held onto their determination as a family searching for a place to be safe again added to the bittersweet outcome awaiting the Trapp family.
In short, all the songs in this movie are phenomenal, well-choreographed, and well-written. They helped expose tons of character and make The Sound of Music the cinematic musical icon that it is.
Of course, I was curious and slightly confused about the reprise of ‘Maria’, performed when Maria and Georg von Trapp finally got married. It’s the same lyrics as in the original ‘Maria,’ where the nuns expressed contempt for Maria’s reckless actions and their desire to teach her a lesson. So, hearing them singing it again here, judging from the music and the tone, it seems to me like, rather than being disdainful of Maria, this time, they’re proud of Maria for finding herself a husband. However, doesn’t that say more about what they feel about the marriage than about having Maria out of the picture? Every time I listen to it, I keep thinking there’s a bit of a tonal imbalance going on here. At the same time, though, I remember reading that they were singing to Georg about Maria upon her arrival as if to wish him well on his matrimony with Maria. I can understand the pleasant irony apparent here if that was the case.
While I’m still on the subject regarding music, the instrumental score by Irwin Kostal provided some sophisticated flavoring to the film and its songs. It succeeded in executing its rhythms, mellowness, recurring themes, and their applicability to the situations occurring before us. Its musical intentions of laying out the story may have played out differently in cinema than in theater, but it nonetheless added to the general canvas of the film in ways that helped it leave its mark.
Of course, many other things struck my fancy about The Sound of Music outside of just the acting, the music, the songs, and even the story, for that matter. Another aspect of the movie that works so well for me is the shots of Austria. The trailer I’ve seen that came before the film on my VHS tape tells me that it was shot on location in Austria. So, every time I peeked into the general location of Salzburg or any of its surrounding areas, the movie left me soaking up all the atmosphere and the majesty of such beautiful places.
And part of that may be attributed to the director, Robert Wise. His devotion to sweeping shots of the landscapes and the characters’ inflections in the story helped add to the film’s size, scope, and simultaneous intimacy. He did a great job of honing the shots on whatever locations were showcased while also keeping his focus on the characters’ dilemmas and uncertainties and how well they adjusted to their environment. Of course, I think the cinematographer, Ted McCord, ought to be given some credit, too, because much like Robert Wise, he also had a knack for showcasing some wide-angle shots of beautiful locations, as he’s demonstrated with the shots of the Alps and the Austrian countryside before segueing into the title tune. It feels as splendorous and marvelous as ever to see it done with such finesse here, especially after knowing that Robert Wise achieved this to equally stunning effect earlier with New York City in West Side Story.
The cinematography in and around the gazebo, especially at nighttime, is especially astonishing. It carried a certain luminescence that only added to its collective radiance, thereby giving it a slight magical essence. It helped provide the togetherness and eventual duet between Liesl and Rolfe in ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ with such gaiety and resplendence. But the scenery during the ‘Something Good’ number is what truly left me spellbound.
The song is very mellow, with both Maria and Georg expressing their love for each other and doing so through song with elegance and serenity. However, what I remember the most about this number is how it was shot. Watching Maria and Georg embrace and confess their love to each other while silhouetted against the blue, nightly glow from outside the gazebo…such displays as these are so soft and visually wondrous that they take my breath away every time. This scene was another instance where I felt lost in the atmosphere, not just out of fondness for watching Maria and Georg express their love for each other. In my opinion, it was to The Sound of Music what the scenes of Mr. Banks walking alone to work were to Mary Poppins.
Outside of that, let’s focus on the characters and their personalities.
Starting with Maria, soon to be Maria von Trapp, she felt like a lighthearted, free-as-can-be young lady who was always like a wild child both in church and even in the Trapp household. But it may have been because she was always willing to look for the best in life and out of others. Whenever she had to confront something or someone whose tactics differed significantly from hers, she remained steadfast with them and reasonable about it even if she disagreed with them. However, as she got more comfortable in the Trapp household and expressed who she regretted to not to have in her life, she expressed some self-doubt as to whether the way she felt about someone was valid or if that was just her imagination. So, it was a bit of a test of wills to see how well Maria would’ve adjusted to the household, how well she would’ve done as a governess, and especially how well she would’ve done as a possible stepmother to her children. So, I like that kind of demonstration of her character and how much she grew up to be a considerate young woman and mother with her heart on her sleeve and other people’s best interests at heart.
Captain Georg von Trapp initially started as a stern man with a proud and high-ranking military career since he served as a naval captain while also expressing it to his children after the passing of his wife. I could tell that whatever happened, Georg was too proud of the legacy he left behind because of his roles in war and what kind of gaping hole the passing of his wife left in him before Maria showed up. I could tell that as stingy as he was, there was still an inner portion of him trying to break free and get Georg back to being his old conscientious self again, but the travesties of life and his background made him uncertain how to achieve it properly. So, I noticed some shreds of a complex personality stemming from him, and I appreciated that.
As for the Trapp children, Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl? I will be frank: whenever I think of them, I remember them all for each of their unique little details, yet I tend to remember them more when they were all together as a group. From my understanding, each child’s establishing their own unique identity may have been a little subtle. Still, their general camaraderie, activities together as a group, and casual banter make these characters for me.
Their sense of personality sometimes shone through whenever the children got into some acts together. As soon as Maria settled into the household, she caught onto how their father coordinated the seven children and how they often pranked their past twelve governesses after they tried and failed to negotiate with them. So, when they admitted to Maria that they did it to get their father’s attention, if not out of spite against the assigned governesses, that does shed light on how they’ve coped with their mother’s death, as Georg did.
That’s another thing. When I reflect on Jane and Michael from Mary Poppins, I remember how they each established unique personalities outside of demonstrating their mischievous tactics. With the Trapp children, however, I remember them doing their things more as a group than individually.
Even then, however, the most interesting of all those children would be the eldest, Liesl. Outside of yearning for the attention and love of her father, she’s also on the verge of becoming her own woman and comprehending the uncertainties and convolutions that life would throw at her, sometimes with the help of others. And nowhere was she tested more thoroughly on that than with her relationship with Rolfe. Watching him not be the man Liesl wanted and their relationship slowly crumbling before her may have served as the first instance of Liesl coming to grips with the complexities, rather than the guarantees, of life itself.
I find Baroness Elsa von Schraeder to be a most interesting case. The first time she was mentioned, the characters spoke of her as if Georg’s reuniting with her was part of another business meeting when it turns out they’ve been going out for some time. When she arrived in the movie, she expressed some seductive urges whenever she was around Georg. While she did not think less of the children, there was one moment where she spoke with Max, and to answer his question about how Schraeder can manage all seven children as a stepmother, she responded,
Haven’t you ever heard of a delightful little thing called boarding school?
This detail in characterization felt more intriguing than off-putting. Usually, anyone contemplating sending the spouse-to-be’s children off to boarding school is portrayed as pompous and vain. And with most gold diggers, they usually played nice when, really, they’re deceitful and only in it to have their hands on their spouse-to-be’s money, as if to say they’re seeking to marry the money, not the bearer. Only in this case, while Georg was a highly decorated naval officer with a handsome mansion and presumably a boatload of money, Baroness Schrader was also rich since she was a Viennese socialite. And, outside of her contemplations of sending the children off to boarding school, none of her other contemplations, movements or convictions were devious. Instead, she reacted to what they’ve done with a general tolerance, like she somehow had a shred of contentedness with both the children and even how things went relationship-wise between Georg and Maria when she was still their governess. She’s the type of character who was seemingly set up to be a bad guy but ended up becoming anything but that and rather a decent human being with some flaws about her.
So, in that case, it made her feel less like your everyday gold digger and more like someone like Victoria from Sleepless in Seattle or Stuart from Mrs. Doubtfire. She expressed too many noble qualities for me to judge her as anything less.
The Third Reich does not make its presence known in the film until the last quarter, but once it does arrive, I can feel the fear surrounding these people, what they represented, what they planned to do to Austria, and how much danger they brought with them by the time they slipped into the Trapp family’s lives.
With Rolfe, he only wanted to express his love for Liesl and uphold his duties as the messenger for the Third Reich. But as he continually got rebuffed by Georg, it pushed Rolfe to the point where he gradually no longer cared for Liesl and expressed more of his commitment to the Third Reich and his expectations for Georg to join them, no matter what it took. To see such a mild-mannered, young, and well-intended young man suddenly expressing his disgust towards Georg and his methods of thanking him to a point where his anger tricked him into joining the wrong side makes him look very uncertain, suspicious, but ultimately tragic as a character, despite his pursuits for vengeance against Georg and his progressively traitorous actions.
Though, I will say, compared to some of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s other musicals, like South Pacific and The King And I, it does feel refreshing, yet no less tragic, to see the secondary love interest not die, but rather fall to the dark side.
Now, as far as its historical accuracies are concerned, that’s a little hard to pinpoint because, much like The King and I, I know that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the musical while taking plenty of liberties by tweaking around certain elements and circumstances to make it coherent as a musical. But all the events that did work out couldn’t have worked out better. For example, despite The Sound of Music taking place just as the threat factor of the Third Reich and the germinations of World War II were sprouting about, much of the meetings, marriage, and relocations between the Trapp family occurred from the early 20s up until the late 30s. They also lucked out in not having to intertwine with anything or anyone under the Nazi name because they departed just before the Austrian borders were sealed shut, unlike in the movie, where they fled after they were closed.
In addition, when the Trapp family fled Austria in 1938, they went by train to Italy because Georg already had a residence since he was born there, which, in turn, extended to his family. But here in the movie, all the gates and roads were closed off, which meant that the Trapp family had to escape Austria through the mountains on foot as they fled the Nazis and set out to Switzerland for refuge. Evidently, the Trapp family had it easier in real life than they did in the movie. The way that played out just felt like it added more attention to the climax as it should have, making it feel more gripping and suspenseful this way.
And even though the movie did not display very much information on how the Trapp Family Singers left their mark as a band, I could still feel their rise as they partook in song and performed more, especially at the Salzburg Music Festival. So, that tells me right away just what kind of potential they expressed as a forthcoming band and that everything they picked up and mastered along the way in this film, they would’ve demonstrated in more masterful effect as they went on tour outside of Austria.
Most impressively, there was one instance where, after the film came out, Maria von Trapp herself gave Julie Andrews tutorials on Austrian yodeling. Julie Andrews’ singing throughout the movie was phenomenal, but this felt like the icing on the cake. It even demonstrated the vocal prowess present during such numbers as ‘The Lonely Goatherd.’ You can watch the video here. Watching these two work off each other gives me nothing but respect for people like Maria von Trapp, Julie Andrews, and the rest of the cast and crew for bringing The Sound of Music to life the way they have.
I am probably overwhelming you with the many technicalities of this film, so I might as well get to my point. The Sound of Music is as elegant as it is colossal, one of the best musicals I’ve ever had the luck to be acquainted with, and arguably one of the most underestimated ever made. The shots of Salzburg are beautiful. The characters are all well-defined. The performances are some of the most iconic I’ve ever seen. The songs are some of the best that Rodgers and Hammerstein ever wrote. The directing by Robert Wise is outstanding. Its representations of real-life situations provide a hefty and artistically laid-out introduction to a piece of European and musical history.
I may not have seen the musical, I will admit, but after seeing the movie, I’m convinced that nothing will be able to do The Sound of Music any more justice than Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, writer Ernest Lehman, and Robert Wise have in bringing one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s best musicals into the big screen and in a way that made the movie deservedly walk home with five Oscars under its name, including one for Best Picture.
Wholehearted? Absolutely. Glorious? And then some. Innocent? Not quite.
The hills are alive with the sound of music, and so, too, is this movie.
My Rating
A low A+
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