I don't get it; THIS is a classic?

Rating: 5/10 (7 September 2000)

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade here. I know TSOM is alleged to be one of the greatest musicals ever. That's why I (finally) watched it last week on DVD with my wife, who is a huge TSOM fan.
Now that I have seen it, I don't get it. I admit up front that I have never been a big fan of musicals. When I was a kid and a song broke out in a cartoon, I usually lost interest. That hasn't changed.
But even allowing for that, *this* is a classic film beloved by millions? Why? I mean, the setting is gorgeous, granted. And the actors do OK. But the plot, the pacing, even the music ... is this any better than most other musicals?
My DVD player said this movie was almost three hours long. But *nothing happens* until you've watched it for 2 hours and 23 minutes (that's when the Nazi threat comes in). Until that point, here is the plot (and I don't think this is a spoiler for anyone, though maybe some people who haven't seen TSOM, like me until last week, might expect more): Former war captain who lives in inexplicably huge house in Austria with his seven kids and no wife meets former nun who starts as nanny and they fall in love and get married. That's it! More than two hours of kids singing, the nanny singing, the kids and nanny singing while they play, and increasingly loving looks and conversations between the captain and the nanny (though few of them compared to the singing). This plot could have occurred in less than an hour. There is very little original, or new, it. It is very, very slow. There is a minor B plot about a rich woman the captain is engaged to who bows to the inevitable and agrees to end the engagement. But that's all.
There is no conflict (which most stories revolve around) until 2 hours and 23 minutes in, when the local townspeople who join the Nazis make a move. Then, when it gets interesting, the movie ends in less than 30 minutes after that point! Amazing! It ended with the family cresting a mountain and I said out loud, "That is IT?!" I expected much more. Watching a movie with no conflict (and the relationship between the nanny and the captain is hardly a conflict) is like idly following a river's current, with no destination in mind. If you like that kind of aimlessness, great. But if you want something that will hold your interest, and you don't enjoy aimless wandering, then TSOM isn't for you.
Also, I thought the musical was amateurish in scenes that required background music. About 90 percent of the time, when two actors were having a discussion and music played in the background, that music was the melodies from various songs used elsewhere in the movie, one after another! So you are watching what is supposed to be a touching scene between the captain and the nanny outside at night, and under the dialogue is "The hills are alive, with the sound of muuuuuuuusiiiiccccc!" and "Edel-weisssss, Edel-weissssssss," and other tunes over and over. It was *extremely* distracting. I kept trying to listen to the dialogue but my mind was filling in the words to the melodies underneath it. Couldn't the film have used the same notes as background music but dropped the melodies? It seemed very odd. I can't remember ever hearing that before in a movie, or being so distracted by it.
I'm puzzled by this love for TSOM. So many people care for this film, there must be *something* to it. But I'm not sure what it is. I do know that the people I know who like TSOM are all women. Most of my male friends haven't even seen it (other than snippets on TV now and then). Maybe it's a gender thing. In any case, I gave TSOM a 5. Don't shoot me!