As this is my 100th blog, thank you for sticking around if you’ve been here since blog 1 and if not still thank you for reading, I wanted to do one of my favorite movies of all time, not to mention one of the greatest musicals of all time. The Sound of Music, released in 1965 and based on not just the legendary Rodgers & Hammerstein musical but a true story, has been in my life for as long as I can remember, not to the point of I can name exactly where the 1 hour 45 minute 53 second mark is; I’m not that obsessed. That being said my mom introduced this movie to me when I was very young because Julie Andrews is one of her favorite actresses, and mine as well for many reasons. While I do not watch it every time it is on TV (it’s almost 5 hours with commercial breaks), this film will always be near and dear to my heart. If you have not seen it spoiler alert. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.
Taking place in Austria, Maria (Julie Andrews) is a free-spirited nun which sadly makes her a “problem” for the other nuns. The Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) who thinks Maria will be happier outside of the abbey has Maria become the governess of the seven children of a retired Navy captain Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) who runs the house like a ship. It takes a while but soon Liesl (Charmian Carr), Friedrich (Nicholas Hammond) Louisa (Heather Menzies) Kurt (Duane Chase) Brigitta (Angela Cartwright) Marta (Debbie Turner) and Gretl (Kym Karath) warm up to Maria and accepts her as part of the family. The Captain returns from his trip and almost throws Maria out of the house because it disrupted how he runs the family, until he sees how happy his children are because of her. It is not long before the Captain and Maria fall madly in love, much to the chagrin of the two people the captain brought back, a man known as Uncle Max (Richard Hayden) and the Baroness Elsa von Schraeder (Eleanor Parker) who hoped to marry him. Meanwhile Liesl has her own love story with Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte) which sadly doesn’t end well and the Second World War has begun, which is a huge part in the second half of the movie. Cannot go into more without giving the rest away.
The Sound of Music is constantly listed as one of the best musicals of all time, however if it was just for the songs it may not be as high. The story is so beautifully written, the acting is top notch, cinematography is gorgeous and oh so much more. It won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Music among others, and was nominated for Best Actress in both Leading and Supporting Role for Andrews and Wood respectively. I seriously cannot say enough good things about this movie. Julie Andrews is absolutely fabulous in this movie; she is one of the very few actresses than can say so much with her eyes more than a 10 minute monologue. I know Christopher Plummer strongly dislikes this movie, I was somewhat surprised but I wasn’t even born and wasn’t there so he has his reasons. That being said he was still so good in the movie. The actors playing the Von Trapp children were great as was the rest of the cast.
If you are not singing along with the legendary songs in this musical than I strongly suggest checking your pulse. I’m not saying you have to sing as well as Andrews or Wood (God knows that’s almost impossible) but you can do the best you can with so many incredible songs such as “Maria”, “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”, “Edelweiss” “Do-Rei-Me”, “The Sound Of Music” and my personal favorite, pun completely intended, “My Favorite Things”
There have been many adaptions of this musical; perhaps the most famous was the NBC live musical adaption staring Carrie Underwood, which may show up at a later time. If you have not seen this amazing musical put it at the number one spot on the must watch list.
Films or Television Worth Watching 