new perspective

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2003)

Possible Spoilers This has been my favorite movie for, gosh, about 10 years now. (Considering I'm 19 going on 20, that's an accomplishment.) I always thought it was great-it made me fall in love with Julie Andrews' talents and taught me about chemistry between romantic leads. ("Mommy, the Baroness and the Captain don't GO together-he goes better with Maria.") My roommate was in the chorus of the play at her hometown civic theater over the summer, and we watched the video of one of her performances. Their play, taken almost directly from the original Broadway version, was obviously different than the film, including a few different songs and a totally different way of Maria and George falling in love. Seeing the play, aside from giving me new ways to lovingly torture my roommie ("1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 step together! now step-hop..."), has only made me appreciate the movie even more. I never gave Ernest Lehman, the film's screenwriter, enough credit. The play dialogue really wasn't that good-VERY schmaltzy (if you think the movie's bad, you haven't heard anything yet). The love scene came across very differently-not as playful or subtle as the movie. It just wasn't as good, let's just put it that way. The movie has great actors and a fantastic writer doing what they do best, and though the score helps, I now see that a great score doesn't a great musical make. That and the scenary-thank you to whoever made that cast and crew go to Austria-brilliant move on your part. This movie will remain my favorite, and my mother's, for years to come.