Saw This On My Eighth Birthday-Still a Classic 47 Years Later

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2012)

My grandmother (God rest her soul) took me to see this movie on my eighth birthday, which was of course, in 1965; the year that it was released. Except for the thunderstorm scene, this was a great movie! The opening scene with Julie Andrews dancing through the Alps singing the title song still brings tears of joy to my eyes! They just don't make movies like this anymore. Even my grandmother loved it.
Since this was filmed over in Austria, I always wondered how they filmed those thunderstorm scenes. Did they go out in an actual thunderstorm and film this? I also read that it did rain in Austria while they were over there filming this.
I finally got the answer to that question: no. The interior shots were filmed at the 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood. The first scene filmed was where Liesl (played by Charmian Carr) was coming in from a thunderstorm, with her dress all wet and dirty from the rain, and climbed into Maria's bedroom window. (She was outside in the gazebo with Rolf, played by Daniel Truitte, when it started to rain, and they ran into the gazebo.) Anyway, they sprayed Charmian Carr with water several times and she had to be wetted down for every take.
Sadly, they just don't make movies like this anymore. Today's films are simply filled of sex, violence, and cursing. The Sound of Music was a huge success at the box office, and is still a timeless classic! It won five Academy Awards; including the Best Picture of the Year. The songs from the film are just memorable: "My Favorite Things", "Do-Re-Mi", "Edelweiss", "Climb Every Mountain", and of course the title song. In fact, "My Favorite Things" is played on the radio at around Christmas time; especially the version done by Diana Ross and the Supremes.
It's a shame that Julie Andrews and Peggy Wood didn't win the Academy Award for their acting performances. And Christopher Plummer should have been nominated for Best Actor as well. They were just fantastic in this movie. In fact, every time I see Julie Andrews on TV, I always think to myself, "The best movie that she ever did was The Sound of Music", and believe me; it was.
Forty-seven years after it's release, The Sound of Music is still a timeless classic!