The Sound of Music (Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer)
Some movies, such as The Sound of Music, are shown on network television year after year. Having only seen it once before, I decided this year I would take a second look at the famous musical that inexplicably won Best Picture and Best Director honours in 1966 (it was up against Doctor Zhivago and Ship of Fools). It was obvious I wasn't going to be seeing the movie in its entirety, its actual length being toxic for network television. Still, I was up for the challenge of seeing this classic again for the first time, so to speak.
Pleasantly surprised, I was, to view it again. I'd forgotten how thoroughly bright and colourful the picture is. The saccharine images that often come to mind when the title is mentioned quickly evaporate once the wheels start grinding forward and Maria (Julie Andrews), singing the bold "I Have Confidence in Me", leaves the Abbey to look after the seven children of Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer).
I've always believed that Christopher Plummer plays one of the most thankless characters in all of movie history. He's supposed to actually convey to the viewer his stern, naval demeanour towards his family, and then in one fell swoop, after hearing his children sing half a song, his entire character melts down, hugs his children, apologizes profusely to Maria, and to top it all off, falls in love with the singing nun, to boot. Tell me that's not a stretch.
The movie is a smorgasbord of musical delights. The more recognizable ones ("Do-Re-Mi", "Climb Every Mountain", "You are Sixteen, Going on Seventeen" and "My Favourite Things") are always inviting, but my favourites are "Edelweiss", "So Long, Farewell", and "The Lonely Goatherd", in a delightful puppeteering sequence that, again, may be forced into an unwitting narrative but is still sweet nonetheless. As Maria, Julie Andrews is a participant in nearly every song and her exuberant performance remains one of the best in all of musical cinema. Given the relatively generic look of all the children, and the underuse of the Baroness and Max (Eleanor Parker and Richard Haydn), Andrews truly carries the Sound of Music from start to finish.
The undercurrent throughout the film is that the von Trapp family (including, eventually, their new mother Maria) must come to terms with an Austrian homeland that has fallen under Nazi rule, and a Captain who is unwilling not only to serve in the German fleet but even to fly the flag of the Third Reich. This puts the family in serious danger, and, after one last musical performance and with the help of the nuns at the Abbey, they head for the hills. Naturally, history tells a darker story, as the real von Trapps were in hiding for years, but the movie is an adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's stage musical, so in this sense it is certainly faithful to the source material without egregiously simplifying the family's plight.
Not sure if you'd like The Sound of Music? Easiest way to tell: if the lyric "Fa -- a long, long way to run" puts a smile on your face, you're a fan. If it makes you wince like you've just swallowed grapefruit... well, maybe The Sound of Music is not for you.
