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Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews in the lead role. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical book written by the writing team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Ernest Lehman wrote the screenplay.
The musical originated with the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. It contains many popular songs, including "Edelweiss," "My Favorite Things," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "Do-Re-Mi," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," and "The Lonely Goatherd," as well as the title song.
The movie version was filmed on location in Salzburg, Austria and Bavaria in Southern Germany, and also at the 20th Century Fox Studios in California. It was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Ted D. McCord. It won a total of five Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1965 and is one of the most popular musicals ever produced. The cast album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Adjusted for inflation, it made $1.022 billion domestically at 2009 prices, putting it third on the list of all-time inflation-adjusted box office hits, behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars.[1] In 2001, The United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
In Salzburg, Austria, Maria, played by Julie Andrews, is studying to become a nun. Maria is a free spirit and Reverend Mother (Peggy Wood) is not sure if convent life is right for her. So the Reverend Mother sends her temporarily to be the governess to seven children of a widower naval commander, Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). Maria and the Captain immediately disagree on the way the children are treated. The Captain, still stricken with the grief of his deceased wife and not wanting to be reminded of the joy they once had (music is expressly forbidden), has been raising them according to the principles of military/navy discipline. He shows this because he is very controlling and stern to the children. He blows whistles at the children when he gives them orders and makes them wear uniforms. Maria, on the other hand, wants them to enjoy life as children while they can. The children are: Liesl (16) (Charmian Carr), who originally thinks she doesn't need a governess; Friedrich (14) (Nicholas Hammond), Louisa (13) (Heather Menzies), Kurt (11) (Duane Chase), Brigitta (10) (Angela Cartwright), Marta (7) (Debbie Turner), who likes the color pink (Maria does too) and Gretl (5) (Kym Karath).
The children, mischievous and initially hostile to Maria, eventually come to love her when she introduces them to the pleasures of music and singing. After a confrontation between Maria and the Captain, at the end of which he orders her to return to the abbey, he unexpectedly hears the children singing. He softens, tells Maria that she was right, and asks her to stay. One of the Captain's friends, Max Dettweiler (Richard Haydn), tries to persuade the Captain to let the children perform in his concert. Maria finds herself falling in love with the captain, who seems likely to marry the wealthy Baroness Elsa Schraeder (Eleanor Parker). The Baroness becomes jealous of Maria's talents and the effect she has on the Captain. She convinces her to leave during a grand party at the house by exploiting Maria's inner conflict about becoming a nun and her discomfort at the Captain's obvious affection towards her. Shortly thereafter, the Captain announces his intention to marry the Baroness Elsa. However, she doesn't have good rapport with the children.
Maria talks with the Reverend Mother, who convinces Maria she must "climb every mountain" to find God's will for her life and how God "wants her to spend her love." Maria decides to return to the von Trapp family to explore where these feelings will grow. Before, Maria felt that her attraction to the Captain was improper, given her assignment and her role at the convent. Upon Maria's return, the Captain confesses to the Baroness that he is in love with Maria and the Baroness decides to leave for Vienna after realizing marriage between them would not work. Afterwards, the Captain and Maria reveal their feelings for each other in Something Good and finally wed.
In a subplot, Liesl, the oldest of the children, falls for a messenger named Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte). At first he encourages Liesl to sneak out and meet him whenever he delivers a telegram to her father, such as in one memorable episode where they are dancing in the rain. The two become estranged after he joins the Nazi Party, as he realizes that her father has no regard for him and does not support Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Rolfe subtly warns the von Trapps about the danger they face for not obeying the summons of the Reich.
The Third Reich takes power in Austria as part of the Anschluss and tries to force Captain von Trapp back into military service. The Captain, unwilling to serve the Reich, delays the matter by insisting to Zeller (Ben Wright), the Gauleiter, or party leader for the district, that he is part of the von Trapp Family Singers and must appear with them during a performance at the Salzburg Music Festival, in a guarded theater. After they fail to appear for their curtain call, a search party is formed to track the family fugitives. Rolfe alone discovers the von Trapps hiding in a cemetery at Maria's old convent, and after a brief confrontation with the Captain, alerts his fellow soldiers to their presence. The soldiers give chase as the family flees, but they are unable to catch up with the von Trapps: their vehicles have been sabotaged by the nuns at Maria's former abbey. The von Trapps are free. The film ends with the von Trapps hiking over the Alps to Switzerland.
[edit] Cast
Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp
Christopher Plummer as Captain Baron von Trapp
Peggy Wood as Mother Abbess
Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp
Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler
Nicholas Hammond as Friedrich von Trapp
Heather Menzies as Louisa von Trapp
Duane Chase as Kurt von Trapp
Angela Cartwright as Brigitta von Trapp
Debbie Turner as Marta von Trapp
Kym Karath as Gretl von Trapp
Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa Schraeder
Daniel Truhitte as Rolfe
Ben Wright as Hans Zeller, Gauleiter
[edit] Production
Julie Andrews as Maria seeks guidance from the Mother Abbess, played by Peggy Wood, in this scene from the 1965 film version.While shooting the dramatic shot near the start of the film of Maria singing on the mountaintop, the downwash of the helicopter used made it exceedingly difficult for Andrews to remain standing.
As Maria passes under an archway on her way from the abbey to the Von Trapp mansion, the real Maria von Trapp, one of her daughters, Rosmarie, and one of Werner's daughters can be seen crossing the road; the von Trapps happened to arrive on set that day and Wise offered them the walk-on roles.
Andrews tripped at one point during filming, a moment the editors left in because it fit Maria's character for that scene.[2]
The nighttime scene between Maria and the Captain in the garden gazebo, where they announce their mutual love for the first time, should have been one of the easiest to shoot in the production. Actually, it took around 30 takes. The cinematographer used one or more arc lights to simulate moonlight, and back in 1964, arc lights used a technology that, as the filaments heated up, gave off an almost human sound. While Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer were standing within inches of each others' faces expressing intimate sentiments, the arc lights would "squeal," as if on cue, sounding like "objections" to their love. Andrews and Plummer, and eventually director Robert Wise, were "on the floor" laughing, tears rolling down their faces. Finally, after 30 takes, Wise decided to remove the arc lights and shoot that particular moment in silhouette. The change, while pragmatically motivated, worked magnificiently artistically.
Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood were the choreographers of the film; they chose not to have Maria and the Captain perform the Ländler dance in the traditional Austrian mode, but as an original version of the dance.
Screenwriter Ernest Lehman was instrumental in arranging many of the pre-production elements of this production, not the least of which was securing the director of the film. Lehman originally was allowed to pursue William Wyler of Wuthering Heights (1939), The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946), and Ben Hur (1959) fame. Lehman took Wyler to the stage production of "The Sound of Music," of which Wyler was not impressed. Lehman told Wyler why this story mattered by asking Wyler if he recalled the scene where the Captain, for the first time in years, joins the children in singing the song "The Sound of Music." "Yes," Wyler said, "I almost cried." To which Lehman responded that that was what this picture was about and why it was important. Wyler accepted the position. However, after Wyler completed location scouting for the production, it was becoming increasingly clear that Wyler had no innate interest in doing this musical, and was simply biding his time until another production was ready. Lehman petitioned the studio to find a new director, one who understood and appreciated the musical genre. Robert Wise was spotted by Lehman, literally, in the studio commissary. Why Wise was not the original selection for director can be baffling. Lehman, as screenwriter, had recently finished translating with director Robert Wise another theatrical stage play (and Broadway smash hit) West Side Story (1961) to the big screen, resulting in a boxoffice smash, and many Oscars including Best Picture (1962) and Best Director (shared with Jerome Robbins). However, like many things associated with "The Sound of Music," things just had a way of working out "behind the scenes."
[edit] Dubbing
Several key members of the cast had their singing voices dubbed by others: Peggy Wood, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Mother Abbess, was dubbed by Margery McKay after Wood discovered she could not handle the high registers of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain." Anna Lee, who played Sister Margaretta, was dubbed by Marie Greene.
Originally Plummer was slated to do his own singing and trained during the film and pre-recorded his singing vocals. However, Robert Wise and the creative team felt his singing voice, while good, was overshadowed by the excellent singing voice of Julie Andrews.[3] Plummer agreed with the assessment, so they enlisted Bill Lee to "ghost" Plummer's singing.
There were once rumors that some or all of the children's voices were dubbed.[4] Wise insists that none of their voices were dubbed, though at times other children's voices were added to theirs for a stronger effect; the extra singers included Randy Perkins, Diane Burt, Sue McBain, and Darlene Farnon, sister of Charmian Carr (Liesl). Farnon sang the high note for Duane Chase, who played Kurt, in the song, "So Long, Farewell," because it was well beyond Chase's vocal range.
The movie features a rare onscreen performance by Marni Nixon, who plays Sister Sophia. Nixon dubbed the singing voices for many famous movie stars, including Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Because Julie Andrews, who originally played Eliza in the stage version of My Fair Lady, was not selected to reprise her role in that film and Marni Nixon had ultimately dubbed Audrey Hepburn's singing voice, the cast and crew were concerned how Andrews would react when they met for the first time.[3]
“ … [E]verybody was sort of worried that Julie would be upset that I was hired, because they imagined that she'd have this great envy of me because I had done the dubbing on a part that she should have done in My Fair Lady. And when they said, "Julie, this is Marni Nixon," everybody was kind of 'how is she going to react?' And she stood up, strolled across the room, and extended her hand … [and said,] "Marni, I'm such a fan of yours." Everybody went 'ahh'; you know, it was going to be all right. ”
[edit] Differences between the stage and screen versions
Plot Changes. The film's plot varies in two major respects from the stage musical's. Broadly speaking, the stage version has the Captain's personality conversion take place very rapidly, while in the film it is stretched over an extended period of time. When Rolfe confronts the von Trapps in the cemetery, his behavior differs considerably between the screen and stage versions: In the movie, mistaking the Captain's compliment ("You'll never be one of them") for an accusation of cowardice, he whistles the alarm summoning the search party, leaving the nuns to rescue the Von Trapps by sabotaging the Nazi vehicles. In the original stage version, he conceals his discovery and diverts the search party to the opposite direction, actively aiding the Von Trapps' escape.
Sequencing and Arrangement of Songs. As is often the case with filmed versions of musicals, the order and composition of songs are changed from the stage version, along with song deletions and additions, to enhance dramatic flow and effect.
The title song's four-line prelude ("My day in the hills has come to an end, I know.…"), sung by Mary Martin on stage, is reduced to an instrumental hint at the beginning of the film. "How Can Love Survive?" was also reduced to an instrumental piece, one of several waltz numbers played at the Von Trapp party.
Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II died in 1960, a few years before the film adaptation went into production; Richard Rodgers had to write the lyrics for two songs that were added to the score: "Something Good" and "I Have Confidence." "Something Good" replaced the show's original love song, "An Ordinary Couple," which Rodgers never liked. "I Have Confidence" is a song that Rodgers wrote as a musical bridge to accompany Maria on her journey from the convent to the von Trapp manor. Two other songs from the Broadway production were cut from the score: "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way to Stop It" (though the former song can be heard briefly as background music towards the end of Act I). The Baroness and Max, neither of whom sing in the film version, were to perform some of these deleted songs.
The stage version uses "Edelweiss" only in the concert sequence towards the end, but the film version makes more use of it in an earlier scene.
In the stage musical, "My Favorite Things" is sung at the convent by Maria and Mother Abbess, whereas in the movie it is sung to the children during a thunderstorm to cheer them up. It was this same 'thunderstorm scene' in the original stage version where "The Lonely Goatherd" was sung by Maria to the children. This song in the film, having been supplanted by "My Favorite Things," was moved much later in the story to after the Captain apologizes to Maria for dismissing her position and asks her to stay.
Likewise, "Do-Re-Mi" was originally sung as soon as Maria meets the children in the stage version. However, in the film, "Do-Re-Mi" is expanded to become a "showcase" production number (albeit masterfully planned so that the central action is the focus and not editing nor camera techniques), and is moved slightly later in the story when the Captain has left for Vienna to be with the Baroness, leaving Maria to her own devices. She, of course, teaches them music.
[edit] Historical accuracy
The film presents a history of the von Trapp family, albeit one that is not completely accurate: Georg Ludwig von Trapp, who was indeed anti-Nazi, lived with his family in a villa in a district of Salzburg, called Aigen. Maria and Georg had been married 10 years before the Anschluss and had two of their three children before that time. Unlike in the film, Georg considered a position in the Kriegsmarine but ultimately did decide to emigrate with his family.[5]
While the film shows the von Trapp family hiking over the Alps to Switzerland, they walked to the local train station and boarded the next train to Italy, from which they fled to London and ultimately the United States.[5] Salzburg is only a few miles away from the Austrian-German border and is much too far from either the Swiss or Italian borders for a family to escape by walking. Had the von Trapps hiked over the mountains they would have in all likelihood ended up in Germany near the Kehlsteinhaus, Hitler's mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden.
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Robert Urich Biographie - An Extraordinary Life - ab 30.08.2019
