Wonderful Musical

Rating: 6/10 (22 October 2008)

I resisted watching "The Sound of Music" for many years. The plot sounded too sickly sweet to me. Once I finally broke down and watched this movie from beginning to end, I realized that the movie was sickly sweet, but it was also so compelling and the songs were so catchy that it was impossible to resist this movie. I know you just can not wait to hear me tell you whether you should have this movie in your collection, so I will tell you now that you should. This movie initially centers on Maria, played by Julie Andrews in one of her first film roles. Maria is a novitiate at an Abbey in Austria. Though Maria is earnest, being a nun seems a poor fit with Maria's outgoing and gregarious personality. The Mother Abbess, played by Peggy Wood in one of the final roles of her career, wisely decides that Maria needs a different perspective on life before facing the decision to take her vows. The Mother Abbess sends Maria to the Von Trapp family to be the children's governess. We quickly discover that Captain Von Trapp, played by Christopher Plummer, is a strict disciplinarian. We immediately see the primary conflict in this movie, one which can only lead to love and marriage as the two dominant personalities recognize that they need the strength of each other to survive in the world. However, before we get to the excitement that happens later in the movie, Maria needs to remind Captain Von Trapp that families are not armies, and that children need love, not marching and saluting. In the background of the main story is Nazi Germany's ambition of empire that led to the Anschluss or annexation of Austria into Greater Germany. Captain Von Trapp was a strong Austrian nationalist and was very opposed to the Anschluss. World events and Nazi Germany's insistence that Captain Von Trapp become a part of the German navy soon overshadow the honeymoon of Maria and Captain Von Trapp. The end of this movie must count as one of the most awe-inspiring endings ever filmed in a musical. Every scene with Julie Andrews is a treat. Andrews lights up the screen with her presence and her singing, fully justifying the Academy Award nomination she received for best actress in 1966 and the awards she won from BAFTA, the Golden Globes, and the Laurel Awards. Andrews' four octave singing voice is the vocal anchor that provides the basis for many of the charming and frequently beautiful songs. The songs range from soaring to sweet and catchy. Among these songs are "Edelweiss," "The Lonely Goatherd," "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi" and the title song. Though Julie Andrews was certainly a powerful force in this movie, the other stars helped complement Andrews' considerable talents. Christopher Plummer was outstanding as Captain Von Trapp, though he looks back on his role in this movie with distaste. The children were outstanding, and did an excellent job of singing and acting. Some of the children have gone on to extensive acting careers, others left acting after only this movie or a few roles to other activities. Eleanor Parker was awesome as Baroness Schraeder, the woman we all loved to hate because she came between Maria and the Children and the Captain. I will provide a brief word about the sound and the picture. I thought the sound was excellent, but I only have a 50" television with stereo speakers. I do not have surround sound connected. The sound was very good though I have some issues with lower frequency reproduction (I guess I need a subwoofer). I have a bigger issue with picture quality. The color keeps shifting between scenes. In some scenes the color is excellent. In other scenes, the color seems off. At first I thought something was wrong with my television, but I checked the quality of the picture against other inputs and realized that the problem was the DVD itself. The color shifts are often subtle, but in a few places they are annoying. I hope future releases have this problem fixed. This movie routinely makes top ten lists of the greatest musicals, as well it should. This movie may fall short of being a perfect movie, but I am unable to suggest how it could have been any better. I have watched multiple releases of this movie multiple times and regardless of the quality of the release, I watch each time almost as though I had never seen the movie before. You must have this movie in your collection, especially if you are a romantic at heart or have a family. Enjoy!