Rating: 
Summary: Classic Musical
Review: This film accomplished a rare feat when it was released in 1965, one duplicated by only two other movies. It garnered the biggest box office gross in the history of movies at its time, and it took home the Oscar for Best Picture. The only other two movies to accomplish this were "Gone With The Wind" in 1939 and "Titanic" in 1997.I watched it for the first time last night, and when it was over I tried to figure out why it became such a huge hit. It certainly wasn't for the plot. What was the conflict, and who was the antagonist? At the beginning, the conflict was between Maria and Captain Von Trapp, with the captain coming across as a tyrannical father. But he soon softened up with very little effort on the part of Maria and the children. Then there was the competition between the Baronness and Maria for the Captain's affections. Maria left and came back, but the Baronness left much too easily when the Captain told her it was over. Both of these conflicts were pretty weak in my opinion, and their resoulutions were a big let-down. The only real suspenseful part of the movie came in the last 30 minutes, and the Nazis were the only compelling villains. So for a three hour film, the story is pretty weak. But the songs are absolutely wonderful. The characters are colorful and well-played, especially the Captain by Christopher Plummer. And the background of the Austrian mountains is breathtaking. The film looks beautiful and sounds beautiful. And you can watch it with your kids. My 18-month-old even enjoyed watching the musical numbers.
Rating: 
Summary: Extra features and sound quality worth the money
Review: The extra features on this dvd exceeded my expectations. I was surprised at the sound quality and the picture quality of this older film. The fact that you cannot view it pan-and-scan is a little annoying, but the letterbox size really really adds to the viewing experience. If you like this movie at all, take the time to watch it in letterbox. So much of the beautiful scenery and lavish sets are lost in pan-and-scan.
Rating:
Summary: Widescreen Woes
Review: I bought this DVD the other day thinking that I would finally have in my possession my favorite childhood musical. While that wish partially came true, I must alert buyers that this DVD, while no doubt excellent, is not the classic that its being touted as. I, for one, am waiting for a more definitive version of the DVD to come out. The main problem with this is that the movie here is available ONLY on widescreen. While this is much preferred to certain audiences, I would much rather have the option of watching it on full-screen. I found myself squinting at the screen on occasion (and I have a large television, mind you) just to catch the details. Disc One was a complete letdown due to this. Also, and I'm not the first to say this, the color transfer is wretched. One would think that for this price you'd get an impeccable transfer, and this version leaves much to be desired. Disc Two is the real scene stealer. The easily navigable and user friendly format is appreciated, as is the 87 minute long documentary. Luckily the documentary has some scenes of the movie presented in full-screen, so that was a relief. All in all, this version of the DVD is not entirely satisfactory. In fact, after watching the movie on widescreen, I actually wondered if I should have bought this on VHS. And that really speaks volumes for the qaulity of this Disc. I fail to understand the multitude of reviewers who have heaped praise upon these two discs. To love the movie is one thing, but I do not believe that they love the way its been reproduced here. Highly disappointing, and not really recommended to DVD lovers who know their digital discs.
Rating:
Summary: Both discs great
Review: Too often, I have been disappointed in the supplemental material included in DVDs.
This one is an exception. The supplemental DVD has the "Making of" special, as well as a lot of other historical information which I found interesting. My child is too young to appreciate the significance of the von Trapp's flight from Austria, but for an older child this could be an easy way to pique their interest in history.
The movie disc is also wonderful. I watched Sound of Music for the first time in wide screen format and was amazed at the overhead shots of the mountains. They looked totally different in wide screen format.
Rating:
Summary: The best movie ever - but widescreen only?
Review: Sorry, I don't have the space for a 'theater screen' in my house, so I'm still a "fullscreen" fan. I found it very annoying to see that the DVD version doesn't seem to be available in fullscreen. That is I still can't enjoy one of my favorite movies in superb digital quality without sitting closer than wanted to my TV. That is not what I wanted. Doesn't take away from the beauty of the movie, so.
Rating: 
Summary: Not while I'm eating please
Review: I saw this film originally when I was a child, and it brought back many memories to see it again after all these years. What surprised me most was to discover how absolutely terrible this movie is. If you like the music I guess you can fast forward through the rest of it.. but why not just buy the soundtrack? Why suffer through this abomination? I cannot really fault the actors, they do a reasonable enough job. I think they should be congratulated for keeping a straight face while participating in this bare-faced theatrical fraud. From my point of view a film should attempt to be a believable portrayal of reality, or if not, there should be some point made by its disconnection with reality, whether that point be satirical or strictly humorous. This film wallows in the most unbelievable sentimental drivel from first scene to last. There isn't a single moment in the entire movie where you are under the impression that you are doing anything other than watching actors deliver mind-numbingly stupid lines. Oddly enough I was actually looking forward to watching this movie, I had fond memories of it as a child. Maybe that's all it ever was, propaganda for children. A 'how to behave' movie for kids before they are smart enough to know better. If you have children you are trying to brainwash you might want to buy this, otherwise GET REAL!
Rating:
Summary: If it works, don't knock it
Review: Is this my favorite movie? No. Top ten? No. Top thousand? Nope. But I always enjoy watching it when I come across it. Robert Wise was no slouch; this is expert family filmmaking, funny and uplifting and even suspenseful. Sure, it's supposedly based on fact even while we know that no family with this many kids of this many ages could possibly get along this well. And sure, you can't expect complex moral dilemmas in a movie that posits, "Nuns, singing, and children are good; Nazis are bad." But no one approaches this movie without knowing what he or she is in for, and therefore I'd be amazed to find anyone who was genuinely disappointed by it. Let's just be thankful there were never any sequels or prequels. One is enough.
Rating:
Summary: The Sound of Mucus
Review: Sickeningly sweet, and relentlessly cheerful, the continuing endurance of this movie baffles me beyond belief. By now the story is well known -- young woman becomes governess to seven children in 1930's Austria. Their father is a stern captain who has known no joy since his wife's death. Said young woman spontaneously bursts into song, the children adore her, and the captain finds joy again until the Nazi's put an end to their fun at which point they escape Austria. Even Maria Von Trapp, the woman on whose life this story was based, did not care for this film and it is amazing that it is not required to come with a saccharine warning label.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent edition... but some things could improve.
Review: I've always been a big fan of Julie A., and this movie is just great. I loved to sing the songs when I was a little kid. The DVD quality is great, the extras are very interesting, and the case is acceptable, less the disc holder, everytime I want to remove the disc, I feel I'm going to break it. The subtiles in english are ok, but in spanish they could write the translated versions of the songs, even better, they could include the spanish audio, the songs in spanish are as good as the english version, I wonder why they didn't. Isn't the best feature of a DVD the possibility to have many audio tracks and many subtitles. I think they should consider that.
Rating:
Summary: Classic movie for people of all ages
Review: This wonderful movie, known by virtually all in America, is an inspirational movie. Julie Andrews brilliantly acts as the star of this classic. It shows that one's vocation is not always what they expect it to be. Even though one may think they're called to the religious life, they may be trying to hide a problem or fear by living in the monastery or convent. That's what the character in this movie did, but, after a conversation with Mother Superior, she went back to the Von Trapp house and fell in love with the head of the household. They then got married, and she was grateful that Mother helped her to discern her real vocation.
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