A perfect Musical Film that is practically a work of fiction!

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2019)

The cinematography, set design, costumes , choreography, vocal performances are almost perfection! Critics said that Christopher Plummer's "Capt. Von Trapp" was a weak performance, but he was given a very difficult character role to portray, from a heartsick, callus, widower to a loving father in a short period of time. As history, it is very poor indeed. He actually was a very good father who loved his children dearly. The major events (marriage, romance, escape) are out-of-order and highly fictionalized. However, they did perform in several wartime-concerts and won awards. Also, the Captain was "drafted" for Hitler's submarine fleet. All the children's real names were different. Alas, the true events would not have made an enjoyable musical. Postulate Maria was originally given the task to tutor one child recovering from the scarlet fever, that killed her mother. The character "Max" did not exist. Instead, there was a musically-talented Catholic Priest that came with them. Then, a U.S. talent agency almost drove them into bankruptcy. I do agree with one thing that the critics "said": the portrayal of The Nazis was far too nice. No distributor caps were removed by the nuns at the Abby. All that was "made up". The Von Trapp family just took the train (that passed behind their house) to Italy and never hiked up the Swiss Alps, which were nowhere near them. Eventually, they took a steamship to America. The musical score is also a vast improvement with the deletion of two terrible songs from the Broadway version, and the addition of 2 wonderful new songs entirely written by Rogers for the movie: "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good". It may be the most successfully-produced musical of all time, with numerous audio, visual, TV, film and Broadway versions and revivals internationally! If you can ever see this on a big screen, the Oscar-winning cinematography is breathtaking.
If you are curious about the true story, Look for "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" by Maria Augusta Trapp, (Doubleday & Co. 1949) if it is still available.