Pure Magic

Rating: Null/10 (12 June 1999)

The first time I saw The Sound of Music, I was with 50 other 14-year-olds in a tour bus. We watched the movie because that day we were arriving in Salsburg, Austria, where it was filmed. The chaperones figured the cultural enrichment would be good for us. That was some time ago, and then I didn't really appreciate the real beauty of Music--understandable, I suppose, since some kid kept kicking my seat and yelling "Where's the beef?" But the movie is so well-known and revered all over the world, it's become a basic cinematic staple. In Salsburg, tours feature landmarks made famous in the movie. You can buy music boxes in any souvenier store that play "Eidelweiss." They're still nuts about Music over there. And in a way, I suppose everyone is. The movie is a double romance. The obvious one is between Maria and the Captain. The other, just as powerful, is the love of music. The only character I really didn't like was Liesel--pretty as she was, she seemed a textbook musical actress--fake and perfectly rehearsed. But the famous gazebo scene with Maria and the Captain is still my favorite, as is their lovely dance at the party. Incidentally, it was Julie Andrews who was originally slated to play Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (the role went to Audrey Hepburn.) Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marnie Nixon, Sister Sophia in Music. She appears in the "How Do You Solve a Problem..." number before Maria rushes in.
If you haven't seen it, why not? Even if you're the kind that just mocks musicals for their cheesiness, watch it and do that. It's a great movie experience, even after forty-some years.