Review 80: The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is - a wonderful film, a simply wonderful film.

Based on the musical The Sound of Music by Rogers and Hammerstein which in turn is based on the memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp.
In Salzburg, Austria, 1938, Maria Kutschera (Julie Andrews) is young, free-spirited woman who is studying to become a Nun at Nonnberg Abbey. Her love of music and the mountains as well as her youthful enthusiasm and imagination and her lack of discipline causes concern amongst her fellow nuns.
The Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood), feeling that Maria would be happier outside the abby sends her to the villa of the retired Cap. Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) to be a governess for his seven children.
After bringing and teaching love and music into the lives of the family through kindness and patience, Maria marries Georg and together with their children they find a way to survive the loss of their homeland through courage and faith.

Director Robert Wise's direction is the scenery is breathtaking, the cinematography is gorgeous and captures the beauty of Austria in the late 30's, the songs by Rogers and Hammerstein (The Sound of Music, Maria, Sixteen going on Seventeen, My Favorite Things, Edelweiss) are fabulous and instantly iconic. The production design is magnificent, the costumes are lavish and the effect of the closing sequence is

Julie Andrews is her usual, luminous, lovely self in the role of Maria von Trapp. Whilst the character bears a lot of similarities to the titular character in Mary Poppins, Andrews manages to differentiate herself from the former with her own unique performance. Starting out as a free-spirited woman

Christopher Plummer 

 

5/5

 

The Anonymous Critic.