Saccharine? Yes... but also wonderfully entertaining and supremely well put-together.

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2013)

Already a successful Broadway musical, it was inevitable that The Sound Of Music would eventually be turned into a film. Not so inevitable was the extraordinary level of critical and commercial success that greeted the film – it scooped numerous nominations and awards at the Oscars and Golden Globes (winning Best Picture at both), and usurped Gone With The Wind as the highest grossing movie of all-time up to that point. A colossal hit with critics and the public alike.
The deceptively simple story charts the experiences of Sister Maria (Julie Andrews), a postulant nun at a convent in the foothills of the Austrian Alps. Maria is a constant nuisance to the other nuns with her happy-go-lucky attitude and terrible record for punctuality. The Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) questions whether Maria truly has what it takes to be a nun, and suggests that she goes out into the world to experience more of life and see what she truly wants from it. To aid her to this end, the Mother Abbess arranges for Maria to take up a post as the new governess at a nearby mansion, where the widowed Captain Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) needs assistance bringing up his seven children. Maria is initially shocked to discover that the Captain treats his children like a military unit, whistling them to order and expecting exemplary behaviour and time-keeping of them. A long line of governesses have come and gone, either fired by the Captain for failing to meet his impossibly strict standards or driven out by the mischievous antics of the children. Soon, however, Maria brings a sense of fun and freedom into their world and the youngsters quickly come to love her. The Captain himself is mellowed by Maria – she brings music and joy back into his life long after it had faded away. Two things threaten the happiness of Maria and the Von Trapps – firstly, the Captain is engaged to a wealthy baroness (Eleanor Parker) from Vienna, even though it's plain as day that they're not meant to be together; secondly, the Nazis are slowly increasing their stranglehold over Austria and expect the Captain to join their navy as it gears up for war, despite him expressing devoutly anti-Nazi beliefs. Ultimately, the Von Trapps' only choice is to flee from Austria and seek safety in neutral Switzerland if they are to live out their days in peace.
From the opening aerial shots of Alpine Austria through to the closing view of the Von Trapps marching over the mountain-tops into Switzerland, the film is a visual treat. Ted D. McCord's cinematography is fabulous (indeed in most years it would have been showered with accolades but 1965 was dominated by Freddie Young for his sterling work on Doctor Zhivago). Scene for scene, however, The Sound Of Music is majestically shot, a real feast for the eyes. The performances are uniformly excellent – Andrews is incredible as Maria, Plummer excellent as Captain Von Trapp, and Parker very convincing as the jealous baroness. Even the child actors – so often the weak link in otherwise well-acted films – are superb in this one. The Sound Of Music has often been criticised for being saccharine in the extreme, a claim that even the film's most ardent admirers would struggle to deny, but there are enough pleasures to be had from viewing it to forgive such shortcomings. Certainly few musicals can claim to contain as many classic songs under one roof (How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, Do-Re-Mi, 16 Going On 17, Edelweiss, My Favourite Things, Climb Every Mountain to name only some) while many of the more celebrated scenes are so iconic they're instantly recognisable even to people who've never seen the film. The Sound Of Music is a feel-good classic and a thoroughly watchable (and rewatchable) film.