The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, with Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr, and Eleanor Parker. The film is an adaptation of the 1959 stage musical of the same name, composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The film's screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, adapted from the stage musical's book by Lindsay and Crouse. Based on the 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young Austrian postulant in Salzburg, Austria, in 1938 who is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. After bringing love and music into the lives of the family, she marries the officer and, together with the children, finds a way to survive the loss of their homeland to the Nazis.

Filming took place from March to September 1964 in Los Angeles and Salzburg. The Sound of Music was released on March 2, 1965, in the United States, initially as a limited roadshow theatrical release. Although initial critical response to the film was mixed, it was a major commercial success, becoming the number one box office movie after four weeks, and the highest-grossing film of 1965. By November 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest-grossing film of all-time—surpassing Gone with the Wind—and held that distinction for five years. The film was just as popular throughout the world, breaking previous box-office records in twenty-nine countries. Following an initial theatrical release that lasted four and a half years, and two successful re-releases, the film sold 283 million admissions worldwide and earned a total worldwide gross of $286 million.

The Sound of Music received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Wise's second pair of both awards, the first being from the 1961 film West Side Story. The film also received two Golden Globe Awards, for Best Motion Picture and Best Actress, the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical. In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) listed The Sound of Music as the fifty-fifth greatest American movie of all time, and the fourth greatest movie musical. In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Storyline[]

Plot[]

Maria is a free-spirited young Austrian woman studying to become a nun at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg in 1938. Her youthful enthusiasm and lack of discipline cause some concern. The Mother Abbess sends Maria to the villa of retired naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp to be governess to his seven children—Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. The Captain has been raising his children alone using strict military discipline following the death of his wife. Although the children misbehave at first, Maria responds with kindness and patience, and soon the children come to trust and respect her.

While the Captain is away in Vienna, Maria makes play clothes for the children from drapes which are to be changed. She takes them around Salzburg and the surrounding mountains, and she teaches them how to sing. When the Captain returns to the villa with Baroness Elsa Schraeder, a wealthy socialite, and their mutual friend, "Uncle" Max Detweiler, they are greeted by Maria and the children returning from a boat ride on the lake that concludes when their boat overturns. Displeased by his children's clothes and activities, and Maria's impassioned appeal that he get closer to his children, the Captain orders her to return to the abbey. Just then he hears singing coming from inside the house and is astonished to see his children singing for the Baroness. Filled with emotion, the Captain joins his children, singing for the first time in years. He apologizes to Maria and asks her to stay.

Impressed by the children's singing, Max proposes he enter them in the upcoming Salzburg Festival but the suggestion is immediately rejected by the Captain as he does not allow his children to sing in public. He does agree, however, to organize a grand party at the villa. The night of the party, while guests in formal attire waltz in the ballroom, Maria and the children look on from the garden terrace. When the Captain notices Maria teaching Kurt the traditional Ländler folk dance, he steps in and partners Maria in a graceful performance, culminating in a close embrace. Confused about her feelings, Maria blushes and breaks away. Later, the Baroness, who noticed the Captain's attraction to Maria, hides her jealousy by indirectly convincing Maria that she must return to the abbey. Back at the abbey, when Mother Abbess learns that Maria has stayed in seclusion to avoid her feelings for the Captain, she encourages her to return to the villa to look for her life. After Maria returns to the villa, she learns about the Captain's engagement to the Baroness and agrees to stay until they find a replacement governess. The Captain's feelings for Maria, however, have not changed, and after breaking off his engagement the Captain marries Maria.

While they are on their honeymoon, Max enters the children in the Salzburg Festival against their father's wishes. When they learn that Austria has been annexed by the Third Reich in the Anschluss, the couple return to their home, where a telegram awaits informing the Captain that he must report to the German Naval base at Bremerhaven to accept a commission in the German Navy. Strongly opposed to the Nazis and the Anschluss, the Captain tells his family they must leave Austria immediately. That night, the von Trapp family attempt to flee to Switzerland, but they are stopped by a group of Brownshirts waiting outside the villa. When questioned by Gauleiter Hans Zeller, the Captain maintains they are headed to the Salzburg Festival to perform. Zeller insists on escorting them to the festival, after which his men will accompany the Captain to Bremerhaven.

Later that night at the festival, during their final number, the von Trapp family slip away and seek shelter at the nearby abbey, where Mother Abbess hides them in the cemetery crypt. Brownshirts soon arrive and search the abbey, but the family is able to escape using the caretaker's car. When the soldiers attempt to pursue, they discover their cars will not start as two nuns have removed parts of the engines. The next morning, after driving to the Swiss border, the von Trapp family make their way on foot across the frontier into Switzerland to safety and freedom.

Genres[]

Children's film
Comedy
Fantasy
Musical
Romance
Drama
Musical Drama

Motion Picture Rating[]

Atp (Argentina)
G (Australia)
Livre (Brazil)
G (Canada) (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec)
F (Canada) (Ontario)
G (Canada) (video rating)
A (Denmark)
S (Finland)
Tous publics (France)
6 (Germany)
I (Hong Kong)
12 (Hungary)
L (Iceland)
U (India)
G (Ireland)
T (Italy)
G (Japan) (2015)
U (Malaysia)
U (Malaysia) (DVD)
A (Mexico)
Unrated (Netherlands)
AL (Netherlands) (1966)
G (New Zealand)
G (Nigeria)
A (Norway) (DVD rating)
A (Norway) (2020)
7 (Norway) (1966)
7 (Norway) (1975)
Apt (Peru)
G (Philippines) (video rating)
0 (Poland) (self-applied)
0+ (Russia)
G (Saudi Arabia)
G (Singapore)
All (South Korea)
A (Spain)
11 (Sweden)
Btl (Sweden) (1966, re-rating)
U (UK)
G (USA) (1969, certificate #20734)
Approved (USA) (1965, pca #20734)
PG (United Arab Emirates) (self-applied)
P (Vietnam)
6 (West Germany) (f, heavily cut)

Images[]

Cast and Crew[]

Directors[]

Robert Wise

Writing Credits[]

Ernest Lehman (screenplay)

Cast[]

Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp
Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp
- Bill Lee overdubbed Plummer's singing
Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa von Schraeder
Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler
Peggy Wood as the Mother Abbess
Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp
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
Anna Lee as Sister Margaretta
Portia Nelson as Sister Berthe
Ben Wright as Herr Zeller
Daniel Truhitte as Rolfe
Norma Varden as Frau Schmidt, housekeeper
Gil Stuart as Franz, butler
Marni Nixon as Sister Sophia
Evadne Baker as Sister Bernice
Doris Lloyd as Baroness Ebberfeld

The real Maria von Trapp has a brief uncredited cameo as a passerby, alongside her children Rosemarie and Werner von Trapp during "I Have Confidence"

Producers[]

Saul Chaplin (associate producer)

Details[]

Country[]

USA
UK

Release Dates[]

March 2, 1965 (USA) (New York Premiere)
March 10, 1965 (USA) (Los Angeles, California) (premiere)
March 29, 1965 (UK)
April 1, 1965 (USA)
April 17, 1965 (Australia)
April 20, 1965 (Canada)
May 3, 1965 (Brazil)
May 8, 1965 (Philippines)
June 14, 1965 (South Africa)
June 19, 1965 (Japan)
September 5, 1965 (Israel)
November 11, 1965 (Hong Kong)
November 18, 1965 (Mexico)
December 1, 1965 (Argentina)
December 9, 1965 (Sweden)
December 17, 1965 (Finland)
December 20, 1965 (Denmark)
December 20, 1965 (Spain) (Barcelona)
December 20, 1965 (Spain) (Madrid)
December 22, 1965 (Italy)
December 25, 1965 (West Germany)
January 1, 1966 (Colombia)
January 10, 1966 (Portugal)
February 17, 1966 (France)
February 17, 1966 (Netherlands)
April 7, 1966 (Norway)
May 20, 1966 (Ireland)
August 1, 1966 (Uruguay)

Television and home media[]

The first American television transmission of The Sound of Music was on February 29, 1976 on ABC, which paid $15 million (equivalent to $68,219,298 in 2020) for a one-time only broadcast that became one of the top 20 rated films shown on television to that point with a Nielsen rating of 33.6 and an audience share of 49%. The movie was not shown again until NBC acquired the broadcast rights in June 1977 for $21.5 million for 20 showings over 22 years and telecast the film on February 11, 1979. NBC continued to air the film annually for twenty years. During most of its run on NBC, the film was heavily edited to fit a three-hour time slot—approximately 140 minutes without commercials, which inevitably cut 30 minutes out of the original film.

The film aired in its uncut form (minus the entr'acte) on April 9, 1995, on NBC. Julie Andrews hosted the four-hour telecast which presented the musical numbers in a letterboxed format. As the film's home video availability cut into its television ratings, NBC let their contract lapse in 2001. That year, the film was broadcast one time on the Fox network, in its heavily edited 140-minute version. Since 2002, the film has aired on ABC on a Sunday night prior to Christmas and has been broadcast on its sister cable network, Freeform, periodically around Easter and other holidays. Most of its more recent runs have been the full version in a four-hour time slot, complete with the entr'acte. ABC first broadcast a high definition version on December 28, 2008. On December 22, 2013, the annual broadcast had its highest ratings since 2007; the increase in ratings were credited to NBC's broadcast of The Sound of Music Live!—a live television adaptation of the original musical which aired earlier that month.

In the United Kingdom, the film rights were acquired by the BBC, who paid a corporation record $4.1 million, and it was first aired on BBC One on 25 December 1978 and, as of December 2016, fifteen times since, mostly around Christmas time. As the BBC channels in Britain are not funded by advertising there was no need to cut scenes to fit within a timeslot and the film was screened in the full 174-minute version without breaks. The film was also intended to be part of the BBC's programming during the outbreak of nuclear war.

The film has been released on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD numerous times. The first DVD version was released on August 29, 2000 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the film's release. The film 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 on November 15, 2005. The film made its debut issue on Blu-ray Disc on November 2, 2010, for its 45th anniversary. For the Blu-ray release, the original 70 mm negatives were rescanned at 8K resolution, then restored and remastered at 4K resolution for the transfer to Blu-ray, giving the most detailed copy of the film seen thus far. On March 10, 2015, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released The Sound of Music 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition—a five-disc set featuring thirteen hours of bonus features, including a new documentary, The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg. A March 2015 episode of ABC's 20/20 entitled The Untold Story of the Sound of Music featured a preview of the documentary and interviews by Diane Sawyer.

In part to the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the film was made available on the Disney+ streaming service upon its debut on November 12, 2019.

Reception[]

Box office[]

The Sound of Music is one of the most commercially successful films of all time. Four weeks after its theatrical release, it became the number one box office movie in the United States, from revenue generated by twenty-five theaters, each screening only ten roadshow performances per week. It held the number one position for thirty of the next forty-three weeks, and ended up the highest-grossing film of 1965. One contributing factor in the film's early commercial success was the repeat business of many filmgoers. In some cities in the United States, the number of tickets sold exceeded the total population. By January 1966, the film had earned $20 million in distributor rentals from just 140 roadshow engagements in the United States and Canada. Worldwide, The Sound of Music broke previous box-office records in twenty-nine countries, including the United Kingdom, where it played for a record-breaking three years at the Dominion Theatre in London and earned £4 million in rentals and grossed £6 million—more than twice as much as any other film had taken in. It was also a major success in the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Tokyo, where it played for as long as two years at some theaters. It was not a universal success, however, with the film only enjoying modest success in France and it was a flop in Germany. It also initially performed poorly in Italy, but a re-release after the Oscars brought better results. It was number one at the US box office for a further 11 weeks in 1966, for a total of 41 weeks at number one. By November 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest-grossing film of all-time, with over $67.5 million in worldwide rentals ($125 million in gross receipts), surpassing Gone with the Wind, which held that distinction for twenty-four years. It was still in the top ten at the US box office in its 100th week of release.

The Sound of Music completed its initial four-and-a-half year theatrical release run in the United States on Labor Day 1969, the longest initial run for a film in the US, having earned $68,313,000 in rentals in the United States and Canada. It played for 142 weeks at the Eglinton Theatre in Toronto. It was the first film to gross over $100 million. By December 1970, it had earned $121.5 million in worldwide rentals, which was over four times higher than the film's estimated break-even point of $29.5 million in rentals. The film was re-released in 1973, and increased its North American rentals to $78.4 million. By the end of the 1970s, it was ranked seventh in all time North American rentals, having earned $79 million. The film's re-release in 1990 increased the total North American admissions to 142,415,400—the third highest number of tickets sold behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars—and about 283.3 million admissions worldwide. The Sound of Music eventually earned a total domestic gross of $163,214,076, and a total worldwide gross of $286,214,076. Adjusted for inflation, the film earned about $2.366 billion at 2014 prices—placing it among the top ten highest-grossing films of all time.

Critical response[]

The film has a 8.1 rating on IMDb.

Company Credits[]

Production Companies[]

Robert Wise Productions (as A Robert Wise Production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's)
Argyle Enterprises (produced by) (as Argyle Enterprises, Inc.)

Distributors[]

Twentieth Century Fox (1965) (USA) (theatrical) (released by) (as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation)
Centfox (1965) (West Germany) (theatrical)
Fox Films (1965) (Argentina) (theatrical)
Fox Films (1965) (Finland) (theatrical)
Hispano Foxfilms S.A.E. (1965) (Spain) (theatrical)
Twentieth Century Fox Film Company (1965) (UK) (theatrical)
Netherlands Fox Film Corporation (1966) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
MGM-Fox Films (1973) (Argentina) (theatrical) (re-release)
Regia Films Arturo González (1976) (Spain) (theatrical)
Magnetic Video (1978) (USA) (VHS)
Magnetic Video (1980) (USA) (VHS)
Magnetic Video (1981) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
20th Century Fox Video (1982) (USA) (VHS)
CBS/Fox (1983) (USA) (VHS) (drawer box release)
In-Cine Distribuidora Cinematográfica S.A. (1984) (Spain) (theatrical)
CBS/Fox (1984) (USA) (VHS)
Fox Films - Europa Vision (1985) (Finland) (theatrical)
CBS/Fox Video (1985) (UK) (VHS)
CBS/Fox (1986) (USA) (VHS) (double tape set)
TV3 (1986) (Finland) (TV)
CBS/Fox (1988) (USA) (VHS)
CBS/Fox (1989) (USA) (VHS)
CBS/Fox (1989) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
CBS/Fox (1990) (USA) (VHS)
CBS/Fox (1991) (USA) (VHS)
Fox Video (1991) (USA) (VHS)
Fox Video (1993) (USA) (VHS)
Fox Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1996) (USA) (VHS) (digitally remastered)
Fox Video (1996) (USA) (VHS) (digitally remastered)
Yleisradio (YLE) (1996) (Finland) (TV)
Gativideo (1997) (Argentina) (VHS)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
FS Film (2002) (Finland) (DVD) (also in 2006) (both 2-disc editions)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (2003) (Finland) (TV)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
Park Circus (2007) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Brazil) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (Blu-ray)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD)
FS Film (2010) (Finland) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Netherlands) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
Chapel Distribution (2012) (Australia) (theatrical) (4K Digital Release)
CTV (2013) (Canada) (TV) (Canadian television single broadcast rights)
Versión Digital (2015) (Spain) (theatrical)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (USA) (Blu-ray)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (USA) (DVD)
Disney+ (2019) (USA) (video) (VOD)
Disney+ (2019) (Australia) (video) (VOD)
A/S MGM-FOX (1975) (Norway) (theatrical) (re-release)
City-Euro-Centra (C.E.C.) (1982) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
Fox Film (1966) (Norway) (theatrical)
Walt Disney Company Nordic (2020) (Norway) (theatrical) (re-release)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (Brazil) (DVD)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (Brazil) (VHS)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
CBS/Fox Home Video (1980) (Australia) (video)
CBS/Fox (Argentina) (VHS)
FR3 (1986) (France) (TV) (dubbed version)
GoldMax (2009) (Turkey) (TV) (Cable)
Showtime Video (Finland) (VHS) (for 20th Century Fox)

Other Companies[]

American Optical Company (Todd-AO developed by) (as The American Optical Company)
BMG/RCA Victor Records (soundtrack released by) (original LP and all CD editions) (uncredited)
Crest Digital (restoration work) (uncredited)
Felsenreitschule (theater) (uncredited)
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) (this picture made under the jurisdiction of) (as I.A.T.S.E. affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.)
Magna Corporation (Todd-AO developed by) (as Magna)
Mi Casa Multimedia (mix and master 5.1 and 7.1 DVD/BD) (uncredited)
The Newman Scoring Stage, Twentieth Century Fox Studios (score recorded at)
Todd-AO Studios (re-recording) (uncredited)
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (sponsor: 2015 US reissue)

Technical Specs[]

Runtime[]

174 mins

Color[]

Color

Aspect Ratio[]

2.35:1 (35 mm prints)
2.39:1
2.20:1 (negative ratio)
4:3 (Full screen prints)

Camera[]

Bell & Howell 2709 Mitchell BFC Modern Cinema Systems MCS-70 (aerial shots)

Trivia[]

Final theatrical movie of Peggy Wood (Mother Abbess).
Charmian Carr, who sadly died on September 17, 2016, was a grandmother and had written two books about her experience of making this movie. She also became a successful interior designer, once creating a mock sweet shop for Michael Jackson. She was working part-time for a doctor when she auditioned for this movie and Robert Wise got her to change her name from Farnon to Carr.
Twentieth Century Fox paid over $1 million for the rights to the movie - a huge amount of money at the time, and a very high price for a studio still reeling from the massive costs of Cleopatra (1963).
First movie of Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews together.
When actor Christopher Plummer died, fellow actor Yorick van Wageningen told in a Dutch newspaper he will never forget the moment when an extra on the set of 'The New World' came to Plummer and asked if he would sing the song 'Edelweiss' (which Plummer sang in 'The Sound of Music' on the cremation of her mother. Plummer looked her in the eye and said: 'You can drop as dead as your mom'.
The real Maria Von Trapp appears behind Julie Andrews at the start of the film.
Heather Menzies-Urich's debut. Also Portia Nelson's debut.

Connections[]

Referenced in[]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) - Truly twirling around on the yard-structure while singing, just as Lisle dances around in the pavilian while singing "I Am Sixteen Going On Seventeen" with Rolfe.
Scrooged (1988) - Frank recites lines from My Favourite Things.
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
Igor (2008) - Poster of Eva as Maria von Trapp at the Malaria Community Theater
The Grinch (2018) - "My Favorite Things" is heard.

Spoofed in[]

The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Wayne's World (1992)
Shrek 2 (2004) - Shrek and Fiona run towards each other in sunflower filled hills. Julie Andrews is in both.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) - Parodies the opening scene "The Sound of Music"

Crazy Credits[]

The 20th Century Fox logo is played in complete silence.
Salzburg, Austria, in the last Golden Days of the Thirties
There are no ending credits.
At the end of the movie, after "The End", the ending credits are shortened to the cast names
On full screen prints. the 20th Century Fox logo is cropped to 4:3 and the opening and ending credits remains in the scope aspect ratio.