The Sound of Music (film)

The Sound of Music
poster by Howard Terpning
Directed by	Robert Wise
Written by	Autobiography: Maria von Trapp Book of musical: Howard Lindsay Russel Crouse Screenplay: Ernest Lehman
Produced by	Robert Wise
Starring	Julie Andrews Christopher Plummer
Cinematography	Ted D. McCord
Edited by	William H. Reynolds
Music by	Richard Rodgers (music/lyrics) Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) Irwin Kostal (musical score)
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release date	2 March Template:Fy
Running time	174 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language
Budget	$8,200,000 (est.)
Box office	eventually $158 million

Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a Template:Fy 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. 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 Rolf (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. Rolf 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. Rolf 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.

Cast

• Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp, a free-spirited young Austrian woman, studying to become a nun. Due to her often singing and seeming somewhat out of place in the abbey, Mother Abbess sends her to the nearby town of Salzburg to be governess to the seven children of Captain von Trapp. Although initially hostile toward her, the children come to love Maria through her introducing the joys of music and singing, and she develops a special relationship with Liesl, the eldest. Throughout the film, the Captain grows closer to both his children and Maria through the reintroduction of music, and Maria falls in love with him. Fearful of how returning the Captain's affections might seem in God's eyes (as she is the children's governess), Maria returns to the abbey, but is convinced to return and see what her love might bring. Eventually, the Captain admits his feelings for her, and they marry. However, the Third Reich is taking power via the Anschluss, prompting Maria and her new family to leave Austria.

• Christopher Plummer as Captain Baron von Trapp, a former Austrian captain in its military whose wife died, leaving behind their seven children. He extends his military background into raising his children, at first represented as a strict disciplinarian. However, the Captain's attitude toward both the children and Maria softens considerably after she reintroduces music into the family. The Captain is courting Baroness Elsa Schraeder throughout the film, and becomes engaged to her, but they call it off, and he proclaims his love to Maria, marrying her instead. The Captain firmly believes in Austrian independence, proudly displaying the Austrian flag and tearing down the Nazi one, as well as refusing to join the Nazis. He, Maria and the children leave Austria at the end of the film by crossing the Alps to Switzerland.

• Peggy Wood as Mother Abbess, the head of Maria's abbey, who convinces her to leave the abbey and explore life as a governess a while. When Maria returns, she has her explain why she left and realizes Maria is in love, and convinces her to return and face her problems, to see what might come of this love. This proves to be good advice, as Maria later marries the Captain. Mother Abbess also shelters Maria and her family while they are hiding from the Nazis and helps them escape to Switzerland.

• Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp, the eldest of the von Trapp children, sixteen ("going on seventeen"). She at first believes she doesn't need a governess, but soon comes to trust Maria. Liesl is in love with a messenger named Rolf, who delivers their telegrams. However, Rolf changes after joining the Third Reich, no longer caring for Liesl. She seeks advice from Maria about this, who tells her to "wait a year or two" to find love. She is shocked to see Rolf is one of the search party, and begs him to stop and to let them escape.

• Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler, a good friend of both the Baroness and the Captain, he is one of the few to call him Georg. Max seeks out talented musicians and singers, and reveals them to the public eye. In searching Salzburg for talented singers, he finds what he wants in the von Trapp family, and constantly tries to convince the Captain to let him enter the children in the Salzburg Music Festival. He is also somewhat neutral when it comes to the Third Reich, and although he doesn't like or approve of it, Max is more willing than the Captain to let it quietly take place. Nevertheless, due to their close friendship, he helps the von Trapps escape during the festival.

• Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa Schraeder, the Captain's lady friend from Vienna, and later his temporary fiancee. The Baroness becomes jealous of Maria's talent, and 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. The Captain announces their engagement to the children, but she doesn't go over well with them. After Maria's return, the Captain confesses to the Baroness that he is being unfair to her. Seeing the marriage wouldn't work, she decides to return to Vienna.

• Nicholas Hammond as Friedrich von Trapp, the second oldest of the children, fourteen. He is very quiet; he is also somewhat of a gentleman, despite his involvement in the tricks against the previous governesses, which the children confess were merely to get the Captain's attention.

• Heather Menzies as Louisa von Trapp, the third of the children, thirteen. She and Brigitta are often together, and Louisa is somewhat of a daydreamer.

• Duane Chase as Kurt von Trapp, the second boy, eleven. Kurt often tries to act manly and is outspoken against the previous governesses and often questions Maria about things, once trying to learn an Austrian waltz. He is notable for being somewhat loud and boisterous at times.

• Angela Cartwright as Brigitta von Trapp, the fifth child, ten. Brigitta is very sharp-witted, honest, and somewhat nonconformist, not afraid to speak her mind about things (e.g., Maria's dress being ugly). She is sometimes shown to have her head in a book.

• Debbie Turner as Marta von Trapp, the sixth child, seven. Marta gets along well with Maria, sharing her love of pink and being the first to like her.

• Kym Karath as Gretl von Trapp, the seventh and youngest of the children, five. She speaks very little, and is often shy.

• Daniel Truhitte as Rolf, a messenger who is in love with Liesl. 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. Rolf subtly warns the von Trapps about the danger they face for not obeying the summons of the Reich.

• Ben Wright as Hans Zeller, Gauleiter, an enforcer of the Third Reich, who is oppositional against the Captain as early on as the party held for the Baroness. He later returns to inform Max that the Captain is to be escorted to his new position in the German Navy, personally meeting the Captain himself. Through the intervention of the abbey and the festival, the von Trapps ultimately elude his grasp.

• Anna Lee as Sister Margaretta, a nun who looks fondly on Maria. She, as well as Sister Berthe, helps her to escape by sabotaging Gauleiter's car.

• Portia Nelson as Sister Berthe, a nun who doesn't believe Maria belongs in the abbey; she nevertheless helps her escape by sabotaging Gauleiter's car.

Production

File:SoM2.jpg

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, Rosemarie; and one of Werner's daughters, Barbara; 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.

• 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."

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. 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. 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.

… [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.

— Marni Nixon

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.

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.

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. 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.

Although the film does not recount an entirely accurate story of the family, it was filmed at original locations in the city and county of Salzburg and Upper Austria, including Nonnberg Abbey, and St.Peter cemetery. Leopoldskron Palace, Frohnburg Palace, and Hellbrunn Palace were some of the locations used for the Trapp Villa in the film. The opening scene and aerial shots were filmed in Anif (Anif Palace), Mondsee, and Salzkammergut (Fuschl am See, St. Gilgen and Saint Wolfgang). Hohenwerfen Castle served as the main backdrop for the song "Do-Re-Mi." Another Location used in the Movie, was the Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg, where Maria and the Children sing "do re mi", dancing around the Horse fountain and using the steps as a musical scale.

Songs

The Sound of Music LP cover.

All songs have music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II unless otherwise noted. Instrumental underscore passages were adapted by Irwin Kostal.

• "Prelude and The Sound of Music"
• "Overture" (Main Titles, consisting of "The Sound of Music", "Do-Re-Mi", "My Favorite Things", "Something Good" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain") segué into the Preludium
• "Preludium: Dixit Dominus", "Morning Hymn" (Rex admirabilis and Alleluia, based on traditional songs)
• "Maria"
• "I Have Confidence" (lyrics and music by Rodgers)
• "Sixteen Going on Seventeen"
• "My Favorite Things"
• "Salzburg Montage" (instrumental underscore based on "My Favorite Things")
• "Do-Re-Mi"
• "The Sound of Music" (reprise)
• "The Lonely Goatherd"
• "Edelweiss"
• "The Grand Waltz" (instrumental underscore, based on "My Favorite Things")
• "Ländler" (instrumental based on "The Lonely Goatherd")
• "So Long, Farewell"
• "Processional Waltz" (instrumental underscore)
• "Goodbye Maria/How Can Love Survive Waltz" (instrumental underscore, incorporating "Edelweiss" and the deleted song "How Can Love Survive?")
• "Edelweiss Waltz" (instrumental, Act 1 Finale, based on "Edelweiss")
• "Entr'acte" (instrumental, consisting of "I Have Confidence", "So Long, Farewell", "Do-Re-Mi", "Something Good" and "The Sound of Music")
• "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"
• "My Favorite Things" (reprise)
• "Something Good" (lyrics and music by Rodgers)
• "Processional" (instrumental) and "Maria"
• "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" (reprise)
• "Do-Re-Mi" (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
• "Edelweiss" (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
• "So Long, Farewell" (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
• "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (reprise)
• "End Titles"

"Edelweiss", thought by some to be a traditional Austrian song or even the Austrian national anthem, was written expressly for the musical by Hammerstein. Originally unknown in Austria, it has since been heavily merchandised there, especially in Salzburg.

Reception

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Maria with the von Trapp children.

The film premiered in the United States on March 2, 1965. It ultimately grossed over US$158 million at the U.S. and Canada box office, and displaced Gone with the Wind as all-time champion. Adjusted for inflation, it made $1.022 billion 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.

The soundtrack album on the RCA Victor label has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, and has never been out of print. The soundtrack album was included in the stockpile of records held in 20 underground radio stations of Great Britain's Wartime Broadcasting Service, designed to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack.

Despite the enormous popularity of the movie, some critics were unimpressed. Walter Kerr of the New York Herald Tribune had written the one negative review of the stage musical by calling it "not only too sweet for words but almost too sweet for music"; similarly, noted film critic Pauline Kael blasted the film by calling it "the sugar-coated lie people seem to want to eat," and "we have been turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs." This review allegedly led to Kael's dismissal from McCall's magazine.

Kael herself admits that her review of "The Sound of Music" was not the sole reason for her dismissal from McCall's, but was, she says, "...because of [reviews of] a lot of movies." McCall's then-editor, Bob Stein, says her dismissal was the result of a long series of infractions in which her reviews were deemed "personal attacks" on the life choices of the actors and producers themselves, and not of just the movie itself. "I don't know what particularly brought it on," Stein states, "...[M]y own guess is that reviewing for a mass magazine, she seemed to have some need to make it clear how independent she was." 20th Century Fox executives close to the "Kael incident" categorically denied having anything to do with it. They even met with Kael shortly after her dismissal to clear this up with her. By the time Kael's review came out, they asserted, "The Sound Of Music" was a world-wide hit of such proportions that "another high-brow blast would not effect business."

Controversy surrounded the film's release in Germany. According to a 2000 documentary, "...the film's Nazi overtones brought about the unauthorized cutting of the third act," which begins directly after Maria's wedding to the Baron and contains images of post-Anschluss Austria. Eventually, the third act was restored to the German release, but audience attendance did not improve, and the movie is ironically unknown in Germany and Austria. This can be mainly attributed to the former German-made movie "Die Trapp-Familie" (1956) and its sequel "Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika" (1958), but also to the dark period of Austrian history, cursorily displayed in the latter movie.

Ten years later, Robert Wise would later make another historical film known as The Hindenburg which also used at least some of the film's plot keywords and settings.

The Sound of Music is credited as the film that saved 20th Century Fox, after high production costs and low revenue for Cleopatra nearly bankrupted the studio.

Retitles

The film was adapted for other countries, including:

• Lithuania (Muzikos garsai,The Sound of Music)
• Germany (retitled Meine Lieder, Meine Träume, or My Songs, My Dreams)
• Hungary (A muzsika hangja, The Sound of Music)
• Portugal (Música no Coração, or Music in the Heart)
• Brazil (A Noviça Rebelde, or The Rebel Novice)
• Italy (Tutti insieme Appassionatamente, All Together with Passion)
• Netherlands (De mooiste muziek, The Most Beautiful Music)
• Spain (Sonrisas y Lágrimas, Smiles and Tears)
• Greece (Η μελωδία της ευτυχίας,I melodia tis eftihias, The Melody of Happiness)
• Israel (צלילי המוזיקהTzeliley ha-muzika, The Sound of Music)
• Saudi Arabia (صوت الموسيقى Saut al-musiqa, The Sound of Music)
• Latin America (La Novicia Rebelde, The Rebel Novice)
• Iran اشکها و لبخندها (Ashkha va labkhandha, Tears and Smiles)
• Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Moje pjesme, moji snovi, My Songs, My Dreams; Slovene: Moje pesmi, moje sanje, My Songs, My Dreams)
• Thailand ( มนต์รักเพลงสวรรค์ , Love Spell, Heavenly Songs)
• Taiwan (真善美, Truth, Kindness and Beauty)
• France ("Mélodie du bonheur", "Happiness Melody")
• India (Santhi Nilayam 1969 by Gemini Pictures) & (Raja Chinna roja) this film's songs were used as a base by Ilayaraja for three films and by A.R.Rahman for Lagan.Chandrabose used this movie's song in Raja Chinna roja

Awards and honors

Academy Awards

Wins

• Best Picture
• Best Director (Robert Wise)
• Sound
• Best Adapted Score
• Film Editing

Nominations

• Best Actress (Julie Andrews)
• Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Wood)
• Best Cinematography
• Best Art Direction (Boris Leven, Walter M. Scott, Ruby Levitt)
• Best Costume Design

Golden Globe Awards

Wins

• Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
• Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Julie Andrews)

Nominations

• Best Director - Motion Picture (Robert Wise)
• Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture (Peggy Wood)

Television and video releases

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DVD cover

The first American television airing was on ABC on February 29, 1976. ABC controlled the TV rights to the film until NBC acquired them; their first telecast of the film was on February 11, 1979. NBC continued to air it annually for twenty years, often preempting regular programming. During most of its run on NBC, the film was heavily edited to fit a three-hour time slot (approximately 140 minutes without commercials).

Starting in 1995, the movie aired in an uncut form on NBC (on April 9, 1995, minus the entr'acte). Julie Andrews hosted the four-hour telecast which presented the musical numbers in a letterbox format. As the film's home video availability cut into its TV ratings, NBC let their contract lapse at the turn of the 21st century. In 2001 it had a one time airing on the Fox network, again in its heavily-edited 140-minute version. Currently, it airs at Christmas time on ABC since 2003 and around Easter on its sister cable network, ABC Family, where its most recent runs have been the full version in a four-hour time slot, complete with the entr'acte. ABC broadcast the movie in HD resolution on December 28, 2008.

In the UK, the first television airing was on BBC One, on Christmas Day, 1978 at 4.20pm.

The film has been released on VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD numerous times. The movie is often included in box sets with other Rodgers & Hammerstein film adaptations. A 40th anniversary DVD, with 'making of' documentaries and special features, was released in 2005.

Legacy

It has topped numerous lists from the American Film Institute including:

• 1998 AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies #55
• 2002 AFI's 100 Years…100 Passions #27
• 2004 AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs:
  • "The Sound of Music," #10
  • "My Favorite Things," #64
  • "Do-Re-Mi," #88
• 2006 AFI's 100 Years…100 Cheers #41
• 2006 AFI's 100 Years of Musicals #4
• 2007 AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #40

Every year starting in 2005 the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California holds an annual Sound of Music sing-a-long, where the film is played with song lyrics underneath the screen. The actors who played the Von Trapp Children in the film along with the real Von Trapp children have made appearances at this event. Called "The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Prozac", this event has sold out every year since its inception.

Bibliography

• Hirsch, Julia Antopol (1993). The Sound of Music: The making of America's favorite movie. Chicago: Contemporary Books. ISBN 0809238373.
• Maslon, Laurence (2007). The Sound of Music Companion. New York: Fireside. ISBN 1416549544.

External links

• The Sound of Music at IMDb
• The Sound of Music at the TCM Movie Database
• The Sound of Music at AllMovie
• The Sound of Music at Rotten Tomatoes
• R&H Theatricals
• Original NY Times review