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Summary: A Great Movie
Review: This movie has been a favorite of mine since I can remember. The music is wonderful and the cast is great! If you want to see a great movie and have a good cry, get this movie.
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Summary: I finally saw this film...
Review: No DVD? Well what's the hold up? Fox will release the silly "Wing Commander"* on DVD but not a classic like this? Priorities people! I finally, after years of hearing about this movie and seeing clips from it, sat down and watched it. I'm not a big musical buff but what can I say. It was charming and well done. It was also something else I didn't expect it to be. Moving. I wasn't expecting the whole Nazi subplot later in the film. The story actually got a little cryptic with one of the VonTrapp daughters falling in love with a local young man who was actually in training to become a Nazi. Sheesh! Christopher Plummer is magnificent as the patriarch widower Baron VonTrapp who eventually finds love for Maria played by Julie Andrews, a young nun who is asked to be a governess for his children. Good show. *(Actually, I liked "Wing Commander").
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Summary: Watching SOM has become a family tradition
Review: I was seven when I saw SOM at the theatre for the first time. My parents were such avid fans, we saw the movie another 10 times during its stint at the little "Capitol Theater" in Owosso MI. Now 25 years later, I own the Soundtrack CD, and the VHS. I can't wait for the DVD. VHS on a normal TV does not do this movie justice. My family often watches it after big meals on holidays. Ms. Andrews portrayal is superb. Sad about Julie Andrews' voice...this movie shines because of her. Mr. Plummer's portrayal grows on you as you get older. When you watch this movie with children, they begin to ask questions about WWII because it puts things in a perspective that they can understand. In a word, the movie is "Inspiring"
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Summary: it's just pure joy to watch!
Review: Watching the Sound of Music is such pure joy, if only for the breathtaking scenes and wonderful musical score. I'm pretty sure it had sparked an interest in music in many children in my generation. I remember being filled with awe watching the movie the first time and I never tire watching it to this day. The wedding scene was just so "beautiful", made more memorable by Maria's Wedding March sung by the nuns (sigh!) It's a pity they don't make wholesome movies like this anymore. This is the perfect movie for every family for all time.
Rating: 
Summary: From My Favorite Things through Do-Re-Mi: 30 Perfect Minutes
Review: In some circles SoM is known as the corniest movie ever made. In Hollywood, it's held in at least a grudging esteem. After all, is was a blockbuster unlike anything else up to that time. But SoM also represents a very high level of film craft - in my opinion it earned every ticket it sold. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is first rate. You really should subject yourself to the stage play some time to see how much he improved on the source material. For example, on Broadway "The Lonely Goatherd" is sung by Maria to calm the children through the thunderstorm. It's a throw away song. In the movie, it's that spectacular puppet show. What an original idea! Plus it underlines how close Maria and the children have become (especially to the Baroness!) Then there is a sequence that makes up maybe 20% of the film that begins with "My Favorite Things" and ends with the spectacular "Do-Re-Mi" that has practically no dialog. Yet it vividly chronicles the transition in the relationship between Maria and the children as she goes from enemy number one, to beloved surrogate mother. While both songs were in the Broadway show, neither one moved the story forward in this way. And what style! Do-Re-Mi builds on the cutting from one location to another pioneered in Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's "On the Town" (specifically the New York, New York number). But it does it so much better. The scenes are carefully choreographed so they edit together smoothly; you are not jarred at all by the quick transitions. This is a musical that takes advantage of everything film can do well, such as collapse time and space so a single song (Do-Re-Mi) shows us weeks in the lives of these characters. Julie Andrews takes a potentially sappy role, and gives her some bite. Christopher Plummer underplays superbly. Interestingly, his performance looks better every time I see it. The second half drags a bit. "Something Good" has never really appealed to me. It's always seemed like the ideal time to sneak out and get some more popcorn. But, I guess the love scene had to be in there in some form. I do like the fact that they end the song in silhouette, and the background reminds us of "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" - the other love song - which occurred in the same location. Some people think Hollywood butchers Broadway musicals. To those people I recommend two films - Sound of Music and Cabaret. Some stories can be improved on film.
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Summary: ONE OF THE BEST FAMILY MUSICALS OF ALL-TIME
Review: This is JUST the type of musical the entire family can enjoy. I was really really little when I first saw it, and I have loved it ever since. It has everything a movie/musical needs : an exciting plot, romance, suspense, danger, humour, sad moments, happy moments, not to mention a splendid Rodgers and Hammersteins score. It is probably the most memorable musical ever. Julie Andrews was born to play Maria, and Christopher Plummer did a superb job portraying the self-righteous Captain Von Trapp, so good-looking, so manly. My favourite character is the proud, heartless, jealous baroness who was portrayed so 'exquisitely' by Eleanor Parker. And last but by no means the least, the children who were splendid, not to mention Liesel's lover : Rolfe. My fav. songs are MARIA, SIXTEEN GOING ON SEVENTEEN & CLIMB EV'RY MOUNTAIN. However, I like MY FAIR LADY & THE KING AND I more than this, yet I still feel that this was Rodgers and Hammertsein's greatest triumph. The songs are much nicer in THE KING AND I, and I prefer Marni Nixon's singing voice to Julie Andrews' for teh simple reason that it's more 'sweet' and 'smoothe'. I think Marni Nixon plays the role of Sister Sophia, which reminds me, the Nuns were my other set of fav. characters, as they are 'typical' nuns. As THE KING AND I and THE SOUND OF MUSIC are Rodgers and Hammerstein's greatest hits, there's a Julie Andrews vs Deborah Kerr, Christopher Plummer vs Yul Brynner saga. In any case, THE KING AND I is more touching than THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and I liked the subtle Anna/The King romance better than the the Maria/Captain Von Trapp romance. However, THE SOUND OF MUSIC is rather simmilar to THE KING AND I in many ways. For instance, THE KING AND I itself is based on a British Governess who travels to Siam in order to tutor the King of Siam's children, the same way Maria leaves the Abbes in order to be governess to Captain Von Trapp's children. Then the conversation between Maria/The House-keeper is rather like the conversation between Anna/Lady Thiang. The secret love affair of Liesel/Rolfe is simmilar to Tuptim and Lun Tha's love affair, and Captain Von Trapp himself is much rather like the self-righetous, arrogant King of Siam. In addition, the Lonely Goatherd is much rather like the famous 'Small House of Uncle Thomas - Ballet' from THE KING AND I. Plus, Mother Abbess's advising song CLIMB EV'RY MOUNTAIN resembles Lady Thiang's SOMETHING WONDERFUL in which she counsels Anna on the King. However, as much as I like THE KING AND I more than THE SOUND OF MUSIC, it is better developed than KING AND I, and it will always remain everybody's favourite family musical, and I'd much rather see THIS than TITANIC any day. The most important message you can learn from this is that God's Will always leads one to joy, content and happiness, no matter how difficult and impossible it may seem as first. The other reviewers are right. On a scale from one to ten, this musical deserves ELEVEN stars...
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Summary: This classic is available in Europe, so why not in the US?
Review: While I greatly appreciate it for its superior cinematic qualities, The Sound of Music is also special to me for other reasons. I first saw it as a six-year-old in New Zealand in early 1966; it was the second full-length feature film that my parents had taken me to see (the first having been what could be considered its twin, Mary Poppins). My impressions of the film back then were so vivid that even today I can still remember exactly what I felt during most of it. I remember seeing the backdrops of Salzburg and the Alps hugely sprawled across the cinema screen and wondering where these fantastically beautiful places were, and whether one day I would be able to see them for myself. My father bought the soundtrack LP, and of course the songs inevitably became ingrained in my memory. Years later, I felt the desire to tour Europe, as Australasians do, and was unexpectedly offered work near Munich. Since then, I have often hiked in the Bavarian and Austrian Alps and made the day trip from Munich to Salzburg, and, not surprisingly, my thoughts drifted back to the film that first drew my attention to the region long ago. When I see SoM today, I am struck by its epic sweep, stunningly beautiful photography and lighting, those somehow unforgettable songs, and its intense, sometimes pensive loveliness and sweetness of tone, something that has become increasingly rare in modern cinema. True, the film is perhaps a bit too sugary at times, but, in view of its overwhelming positive attributes, not enough to really matter. I was surprised to see that it is unavailable to buy in the U.S. just now - so here are two tips in the meantime for true devotees, just for fun: 1) For the sake of sheer curiosity, try to see the original German film on which SoM is partially based, Die Trapp Familie (1956). At the least, excerpts of both this film and its sequel, Die Trapp Familie in Amerika (1958), are available in the U.S. as a dubbed compilation (which, like the sequel, I haven't seen), although I strongly suspect a full-length, subtitled version of the original would be preferable. It is a fascinating experience to watch this modest, but quite well written and acted, pleasantly old-fashioned "Heimatfilm" ("heartland" film), little known abroad, when you know what it helped to inspire. (Georg Hurdalek, who wrote the screenplay, is given due credit in SoM's opening titles.) It is very different in style to SoM. Strictly speaking it is not a true musical, though there are the expected traditional folk songs instead of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Its tone is much more restrained and naturalistic, really quite underwhelming by comparison. Many of the characters, including the children, are different, although some still have their obvious counterparts in SoM. To be fair, as might be expected, Die Trapp Familie is more authentically Central European. SoM, while to my mind far superior and infinitely more spectacular, is unavoidably anglicized to an extent, with its mostly British or North American actors (manner and body language!), and, as a musical, its story line is in any case more stylized. It is especially fascinating to see how many sequences, camera shots, and even pieces of dialogue in Die Trapp Familie were later used in SoM with comparatively little modification. The line "When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window" (in German) is just one example, and numerous sequences, including Maria's scenes with the Mother Abbess, her departure from the Abbey and first meeting with the family, and the wedding will be instantly familiar to anyone who has seen SoM. In particular, the scene in which the children come into Maria's bedroom, frightened by the thunderstorm, is almost identical in both films. If you see Die Trapp Familie, ponder the bewildering fact that this, if any, and not SoM, is the film that a great many Germans associate with the story of the Trapps. Unlike Die Trapp Familie, at the time of its release Germany's most successful postwar film at the box-office, SoM flopped here and now never even seems to be shown on national television - presumably, the Germans were too fond of their own film and couldn't relate to a "Hollywood remake." When talking to people here, I have generally met with the same response: most of whom I've asked (even in Bavaria) had never even heard of SoM before (!), let alone seen it, although the film is known to some enthusiasts and to those who have otherwise come across it by chance, and is occasionally mentioned in the press. Given its truly universal renown elsewhere, and the Germans' enthusiasm for Hollywood movies in particular, this is quite remarkable, even considering that Rodgers and Hammerstein aren't as well known here either. SoM has an understandably higher profile in neighboring Austria though, since the film was set and partially made there and draws many tourists to Salzburg each year. Here, I have shown SoM to a number of unsuspecting German friends who I thought might enjoy it and have watched their eyes glued to the screen growing wider and wider and wider and wider and wider... (For some reason, the puppet theater and the song "Edelweiss" go down particularly well...) 2) The official SoM website is a mine of information, but for an extra treat, don't miss Angela Cartwright's (Brigitta) own delightful and very personal website. Look at page 2 of her scrapbook (be sure to click on "What are the 'Sound of Music kids' doing now?") and her December 1998 news update in particular. I am fond of many different film genres, but for me, The Sound of Music remains unquestionably one of the most consistently entertaining, enjoyable, and enduring of all the big Hollywood classics, despite some excessive sentimentality. Now, it is a fond childhood memory come back into the present; looks like I'll still be watching it when I'm old and gray.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: This is a perfect movie. After checking out from the university's library more than ten times, I fell I need have one as my permanent family collection. Julie Andrews' beauty and great dancing and voice is fascinating. After seeing this movie, I search everywhere Julie Andrews' movies. I think she is charming, gifted. All most all her movies' genre is musical. Her voice is great and she dances greatly. That's a real beauty to watch her movie. She is the greatest actress. I like her. When the lord closes a door, somewhere he open a window.
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Summary: Timeless Classic for the Romantic
Review: I have loved this movie from the day I first watched it as a child. It is a permanent in my family collection. It shows the power of song and love. You will definately want to watch this silly little movie over and over.
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Summary: Sound of Music is Music to My Ears
Review: Since I was a small child, I have loved the Sound of Music. It is a delightful and entertaining movie. It is unquestionably my favorite movie. The subplots are outstanding. The music stays with you and uplifts your spirits. The children are adorable. The love story between the Captain and Maria is breath-taking. The dance scene always makes my heart beat faster. Determination and the human spirit are the forces behind this movie. The movie is time-consuming but worth it. I still wait for the movie to be released on DVD. You haven't lived a complete life without seeing "The Sound of Music."
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