The Sound of Music (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bouncehoper (talk | contribs) at 04:15, 11 July 2007 (→‎Trivia & Other Media References). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Sound of Music
Original movie poster
Directed byRobert Wise
Written byHoward Lindsay (book)
Russel Crouse (book)
Ernest Lehman
Maria von Trapp (autobiography)
Produced byRobert Wise
StarringJulie Andrews
Christopher Plummer
Richard Haydn
Peggy Wood
Anna Lee
Portia Nelson
Ben Wright
Eleanor Parker
CinematographyTed D. McCord
Edited byWilliam H. Reynolds
Music byRichard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers (new songs for film)
Distributed byTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release dates
March 2, 1965
Running time
174 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8,200,000 (estimated)

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

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

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

Plot synopsis

Act I

In Salzburg, Austria, Maria, played by Andrews, is studying to become a nun but is not sure if the nun's life is right for her. She is sent from her abbey to be the governess to seven children of a widower naval commander, Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp. Maria and the Captain immediately disagree on the way the children are raised; the Captain raises them as in a military camp, while Maria wants them to be free and able to enjoy life as children while they can.

The children, initially hostile and mischievous, eventually come to love her when she introduces them to the joys of singing. Once the Captain finds out about this, he feels very remorseful for them and decides to let them be free and enjoy life. He apologizes to Maria for being strict with the children, asks her to stay for a while, and goes back to the joys of living. One of the Captain's friends - Max Dettweiler - tries to convince the Captain to let the children perform in his concert. Maria finds herself falling in love with the captain, who is engaged to a wealthy baroness. The Baroness becomes jealous of Maria and convinces her to leave during a grand party at the house.

Act II

Although the Captain announces his plan to marry the baroness, the baroness does not have good rapport with the children. After a talk with the Mother Abbess at the abbey, Maria decides to return to the Trapp family. Upon return, the baroness realizes the Captain is in love with Maria and decides to leave for Vienna after the Captain reveals his liking. After that, the Captain and Maria reveal their feelings for each other and finally wed.

The Nazis take power in Austria as part of the Anschluss, and attempt to force Captain von Trapp back in service. The Captain, unwilling to serve the Reich, delays Zeller - the gauleiter (party leader for the district) - by insisting he's part of the Von Trapp Family Singers and must remain with them during a performance at the Salzburg Music Festival, in a guarded theater. After a curtain call, the whole family flees and hikes over the mountains to Switzerland, escaping with the help of Maria's former convent.

Cast

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

Production

File:SoM2.jpg
Julie Andrews as Maria, seeks guidance from the Mother Abbess, played by Peggy Wood, in this scene from the 1965 film version.

The film, which was released in 1965, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Robert Wise won an Academy Award for Directing for the film, which stars Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp. Hammerstein, who wrote the lyrics, died in 1960, several years before the film adaptation went into production, so Rodgers had to write the lyrics for two songs that were added to the score: "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good". "Something Good" replaced the show's original love song, "An Ordinary Couple". Two other songs from the Broadway production were cut from the score as well: "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way to Stop It", though they can be heard briefly as background music. Other songs were shifted to different scenes.

Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood did the choreography for the film.

The film grossed over $158 million at the North American box office. Adjusted for ticket price inflation this is the equivalent of $911 million at 2006 prices, putting it third on the list of all time inflation adjusted box office hits according to boxofficemojo.com. [1] It is important to note that The Sound of Music is the only movie in the top four grossing films to be reissued one time in 1972. Later The movie was sold to TV and was the highest rated show of the week when it played in 1976 . The soundtrack album on the RCA Victor label has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, and has never been out of print.

CD cover

The film has since been seen on television and re-released on VHS and DVD for its 40th anniversary. When Plummer did not join the rest of the cast for a 40th anniversary reunion in New York, reports said Plummer was distancing himself from the movie. The reports were fueled by a comment from the President of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Society who said "[Plummer] used to refer to it as the 'Sound of Mucus'". As Plummer took part in interviews and commentaries for the DVD version of the 40th anniversary, and is overwhelmingly positive about the experience in those recordings, it is difficult to know where his feelings truly lie.

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

International release dates

Songs

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

In order of appearance:

  1. "Prelude And The Sound Of Music"
  2. "Overture (Main Titles, consisting of The Sound of Music, Do-Re-Mi, My Favorite Things and Something Good)
  3. Preludium: Dixit Dominus, Morning Hymn (Rex admirabilis), Alleluia (based on traditional songs)
  4. "Maria"
  5. "I Have Confidence" (Lyrics as well as music by Rodgers)
  6. "Sixteen Going On Seventeen"
  7. "My Favorite Things"
  8. Salzburg Montage (instrumental underscore based on My Favorite Things
  9. "Do-Re-Mi"
  10. "The Sound Of Music (Reprise)"
  11. "The Lonely Goatherd"
  12. Edelweiss
  13. The Grand Waltz (instrumental underscore)
  14. Laendler, based on The Lonely Goatherd'
  15. "So Long, Farewell"
  16. Processional Waltz (instrumental underscore)
  17. Goodbye Maria/How Can Love Survive Waltz (instrumental underscore, incorporating Edelweiss and the deleted song How Can Love Survive?)
  18. Edelweiss Waltz (Instrumental, Act 1 Finale, based on Edelweiss)
  19. Entr'acte, Instrumental, consisting of I Have Confidence, So Long, Farewell, Do-Re-Mi, Something Good and The Sound of Music
  20. "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"
  21. "My Favorite Things (Reprise)"
  22. "Something Good" (Lyrics as well as music by Rodgers)
  23. "Processional And Maria"
  24. "Sixteen Going On Seventeen (Reprise)"
  25. "Do-Re-Mi" (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
  26. "Edelweiss (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)"
  27. "So Long, Farewell" (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
  28. "Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Reprise)"
  29. "End Titles

This track listing refers to the original film soundtrack released in 1965.

Singing voices dubbed

Several key members of the cast had their singing voices dubbed by others. Peggy Wood, who played Mother Abbess and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for this movie, was dubbed by Margery McKay after she found that she couldn't handle the high registers of Climb Ev'ry Mountain. Anna Lee, who played Sister Margaretta, was dubbed by Marie Greene.

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

Authenticity; 1965 Salzburg

The film presents a history of the von Trapp family which is not wholly accurate. Georg Ritter von Trapp lived with his family in a villa in a suburb of Salzburg, called Aigen. Even though the film does not recount an accurate story of the family, it was filmed at original locations in the city and county of Salzburg and Upper Austria, including the following:

  • Palace and Garden Mirabell in Salzburg: where Maria and the children sing the song "Do-Re-Mi"
  • Café Winkler, today's restaurant "M32" on the "Mönchsberg" in the midst of Salzburg: where Maria and the children sing a verse from "Do-Re-Mi"
  • Residenz Square in Salzburg city: Maria on the way from the Nonnberg Convent to the Trapp singing the song "I Have Confidence in Me"
  • Nonnberg Abbey: The Mother Abbess and the nuns sing "Maria" - this was filmed on a set. No filming was allowed inside the actual Nonnberg Abbey. Filming WAS permitted outside the front gate of the Abbey and in the outer courtyard only.
  • Summer Riding School: Baron Georg Ritter von Trapp sings "Edelweiss"
  • St. Peter's Cemetery: where the family Trapp hides behind the tombstones - this was filmed in a studio, not in the actual cemetery.
  • Leopoldskron Palace: was one of several locations used for the Trapp Villa in the film. The scene where Maria and the children fall from the row boat into the lake was filmed here, but only for the camera views that faced toward the lake. Camera shots that faced the villa were made at a different location. The glass gazebo was also located here at the time of the filming, but was later moved, to make it more accessible to tourists.
  • Frohnburg Palace along the avenue to Castle Hellbrunn: was also used for the front views of the Trapp Villa. Scenes that were filmed here include the outdoor views of Maria's first arrival after singing "I Have Confidence", the tearing down of the Nazi flag by the captain, and pushing the car across the courtyard in the family's attempt to leave at night. The rear of this building was not suitable for the lakeside and terrace scenes, and they were shot at different locations.
  • Mountain Untersberg: Opening scene and fleeing scenes
  • Hellbrunn Palace: The gazebo was ultimately relocated here, to the Hellbrunn Palace park. It was in the Leopoldskron Palace gardens during the film. However, the musical scenes that took place within the gazebo, "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" and "Something Good" were filmed on a set in Hollywood.
  • Anif Palace: the moated castle can be seen in the opening scene
  • Hohenwerfen Castle: picturesque backdrop for the song "Do-Re-Mi"
  • Mondsee, Upper Austria: Maria runs across the Hill to the covent and in the Mondsee Church: where the Baron and Maria are married in the film (originally in the Nonnberg Convent)
  • Fuschl am See, St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang in the Lake District "Salzkammergut": opening scene and aerial shots.

Awards

The movie garnered 10 Academy Award nominations and won five:

It was also nominated for Best Actress (Julie Andrews), Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Wood), Best Cinematography (color), Best Art Direction - Set Decoration (color) and Best Costume Design (color).

Television airings

Starting in 1995, this movie aired on NBC, most of the time on the same weekend as It's a Wonderful Life. Sometimes the full movie would air (with commercials it would extend to 4 hours) or a shorter version would air (3 hours, commercials included) until 2001 when it had a one time airing on FOX. Now, it airs on ABC.

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

Trivia & Other Media References

File:SoM1.jpg
Maria with her young charges.
  • Many people believe "Edelweiss" to be a traditional Austrian song, or even the national anthem.[2]. In fact the song was written for the musical and is little known in Austria. The song was the last that Oscar Hammerstein II wrote.
  • The Ländler dance that Maria and the Captain shared was not performed in the traditional Austrian way.
  • "I Have Confidence" is a song that Rodgers wrote as a musical bridge, needed in the movie to get Maria from the convent to the von Trapp manor (as he explained). During that segment, at one point Julie Andrews passes under an archway. As pointed out in one of the DVD's extras, the real Maria von Trapp, one of her daughters, Rosmarie, and one of Werner's daughters (Maria's granddaughter, Werner being "Kurt") can be seen starting to cross the road at that point. [3] The von Trapps happened to arrive on set that day and director Wise offered them this walk-on role. It has also been reported that Andrews tripped at one point during the filming, a moment the editors left in because it seemed to fit the character.
  • The order of several of the songs is markedly different between the stage play and the film, thanks to the screenwriting of Ernest Lehman. One example is that in the play, "My Favorite Things" is sung at the convent, whereas in the movie it is sung to the children. A couple of the songs were altered. "How Can Love Survive?" (which did not fit the flow of the movie very well) was reduced to an instrumental, one of several waltz numbers played at the party occurring just before intermission. The title song's four-line prelude ("My day in the hills has come to an end, I know..."), sung by Mary Martin in the stage play, is reduced to an instrumental hint during the overture and dramatic zoom-in shot to Julie Andrews on the mountaintop at the start of the movie.
  • Ironically, the movie featured a rare onscreen performance by Marni Nixon, who plays Sister Sophia and is well known to have dubbed the singing voices for many famous movie stars such as Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. In fact, the producers weren't sure how Julie Andrews would react to her after Marni dubbed Hepburn in a role made famous by Andrews; however, when Andrews first met Nixon, she exclaimed, "Marni, I'm a fan of you!" and the producers were relieved.
  • Despite the enormous popularity of the movie, which at the time became the largest grossing picture of all time, noted film critic Pauline Kael blasted the film in a review in which she called the movie "The Sound Of Money." This review allegedly led to Kael's dismissal from McCall's magazine.
  • The Sound of Music became the highest grossing film of all time in December 1965, when it beat Gone With the Wind by slightly less than one million dollars. The Sound of Music remained the highest grossing film of all time, until 1970 when Gone With the Wind was re-released and it became #1 again. After that, several films (The Godfather, Jaws, etc) have pushed The Sound of Music further down on the list.
  • According to boxofficemojo, the film ranks third in both all-time number of tickets sold (142,415,400) and in gross adjusted for inflation ($911,458,400) in North America (behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars) Combine this with its success around the world in sales of tickets, videocassettes, laserdiscs, DVDs and its frequent airings on television, it is called "the most widely seen movie produced by a Hollywood studio" by Amazon.uk
  • The film was released in several foreign countries. In Germany it was re-titled Meine Lieder, Meine Träume (My Songs, My Dreams); France -- La mélodie du bonheur (The Melody of Happiness); Portugal -- Música no Coração (Music in the Heart); Brazil -- A Noviça Rebelde (The Rebel Novice); Italy -- Tutti insieme Appassionatamente (All Together with Passion); Netherlands -- De mooiste muziek (The Most Beautiful Music); Spain -- Sonrisas y Lágrimas (Smiles and Tears); Greece -- Η μελωδία της ευτυχίας (I melodia tis eftihias, The Melody of Happiness); Israel -- צלילי המוזיקה (Tzeliley ha-muzika, The Sound of Music); Saudi Arabia -- صوت الموسيقى (Saut al-musiqa, The Sound of Music); Mexico -- La Novicia Rebelde (The Rebel Novice); Iran -- اشکها و لبخندها (Ashkha va labkhandha, Tears and Smiles); Yugoslavia -- Moje pesme, moji snovi (My Songs, My Dreams)
  • Controversy surrounded the film's release in Germany. According to a 2000 documentary: "...the film's Nazi overtones brought about the unauthorized cutting of the third act." The third act, with its initial images of post-Anschluss Austria, begins directly after Maria's wedding to the Baron. Eventually, the third act was restored to the German release, but audience attendance did not improve.
  • According to the British tabloid The Sun, the movie was selected by BBC executives as one to be broadcast after a nuclear strike, to improve the morale of survivors. The BBC did not confirm or deny the story, saying "This is a security issue so we cannot comment" [4]. However, this would not be broadcast on television, due to both the electromagnetic pulse and blast knocking down power lines, though radio broadcasts could be possible.
  • Legend has it that South Koreans were even more taken by the movie. A theatre owner in South Korea, wanting to show the movie more times per day to take the money of more customers, allegedly cut out the musical pieces [5].
  • While the von Trapp family hiked over the Alps to Switzerland in the movie, in reality they walked to the local train station and boarded the next train to Italy. From Italy, they fled to London and ultimately the U.S. [6] Salzburg is in fact only a few miles away from the Austrian-German border, and is much too far from either the Swiss or Italian borders for a family to escape by walking. Had the von Trapps hiked over the mountains, they would have ended up in Germany, near Hitler's mountain retreat, and one of the last places on Earth any Austrian nationalist would have wanted to be.
  • Ironically, the US-made movie is virtually unknown in Germany and Austria.[7] This can be mainly attributed to the former German-made movie "Die Trapp-Familie" (1956) and its sequel "Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika" (1958) but also to the dark period of Austrian history which is cursorily displayed in the later movie as well as in the former Austro-German films, which starred popular German and Austrian actors. According to the German Wikipedia entry for the movie, the real baroness von Trapp says of the first film that 'not a word in it is true, but it is delightful'.
  • The soundtrack album was included in the stockpile of records held in 20 underground radio stations of Great Britain's Wartime Broadcasting Service, designed to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack[8].
  • In her autobiography, Charmaine Carr mentions that during filming the gazebo scene, her shoes were too slippery to dance in. As a result, she crashed through the glass side of the gazebo during the dance. Luckily, the only injury was a twisted ankle. She still wanted to do the scene, though, and make-up was applied to the wrap on her ankle and a few camera angles changed so that the injury wouldn't show.
  • Christopher Plummer likened working with Julie Andrews to "being hit over the head with a Valentine's Day card every day!" and reportedly didn't like working on the movie. Still, he and Andrews are good friends to this day.
  • The Cult adult humor comic Viz had a pastiche of the film poster on the front cover of issue 163, with Millie Tant as Maria.
  • The Will and Grace episode Von Trapped heavily references the film.
  • In an episode of Family Guy, the Griffin children use the song "So Long, Farewell" in the same manner as the von Trapps do, including the stair scene.
  • In MADtv, they show us 3 comical alternate endings of The Sound of Music: one in which the von Trapps are brutally murdered by Rolfe in the Churchyard, another in which the von Trapps surprisingly embrace Nazism, and a third in which the family escapes Austria with the help of superpowers.
  • In the scene where the von Trapps are hiding in the cemetery, the behaviour of Rolfe differs quite considerably between the stage and screen versions. Whereas in the movie he raises the alarm when he discovers them, in the original stage version he conceals the fact that he has found them, thus aiding their escape.

References

  1. ^ "DOMESTIC GROSSES Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation". 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  2. ^ "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?". BBC. 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  3. ^ http://youtube.com/watch?v=wPBqDZT0gE4&mode=related&search= "I Have Confidence" on YouTube, scroll to 1:08.
  4. ^ The Sun 7 October 2004
  5. ^ This apocryphal tale is recounted, for instance, at the IMDb
  6. ^ The Real Story of the von Trapp Family (from the US National Archives)
  7. ^ Dassanowsky, Robert Von (2003). "An Unclaimed Country: The Austrian Image in American Film and the Sociopolitics of The Sound of Music". Bright Lights Film Journal. 41. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  8. ^ Hellen, Nicholas (1999-07-11). "Julie Andrews to sing to Brits during nuclear attack". Sunday Times.
  • Hirsch, Julia Antopol The Sound Of Music-The Making of America's Favorite Movie, McGraw-Hill Publishers (1993) ISBN 0809238373

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Sound of Music (film).
Template:S-awards
Preceded by Academy Award for Best Picture
1965 		Succeeded by


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Sound_of_Music_(film)&oldid=143893253"