# Is the Sound of Music supposed to be a good movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710 "2020-01-20T17:50:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/41 "2020-01-21T14:56:02Z")
I remember seeing TSOM and MP in theaters as a kid. I’m not generally a big fan of musicals, but TSOM has always impressed me as just about as good as any, and better than many. My eldest was/is a HUGE Julie Andrews fan, so this was in heavy rotation in out house in the 90s/00s. More innocuous than a lot of the kids’ fare we were watching. Lots of catchy music. So yeah, I think I’d call it a good movie. Probably not great, but certainly better than a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/42 "2020-01-21T15:27:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Urbanredneck** : > > It is a popular high school musical. And junior high. We did it when I was in eighth grade. Remember Admiral von Schreiber, the largest non-singing part in the play? Well, probably not… he wasn’t in the movie at all, and even in the play he only got six lines… but anyway, that was me. One of my friends got the second-largest non-singing part… about a week before opening night. When the director realized that that part existed at all, and that he therefore needed someone on stage to deliver that line. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/43 "2020-01-21T15:31:08Z")
One of the panels in the Mad satire has Maria saying something like “But if he is love with me, that means he wants to marry me. But I can’t marry him. That doesn’t make any sense, but I didn;'t write this script. Did anyone?” Someone did – Ernest Lehman, who’d adapted the stage musicals _The King and I_ and _West Side Story_ for the screen (as well as an unproduced musical adaptation of _Zorba the Greek_). As in those other cases, he rewrote the plays, re-arranging events and songs, even dropping two songs (although two others were added). So, not only isn’t this the original Maria von Trapp story, it’s not the story told in the two German films that attracted the attention of Hollywood and Broadway, and it’s not even exactly the story told in the Broadway musical. (I have a copy of the script) Lehman was more familiar to me as the screenwriter of Hitchcock’s _North by Northwest_, which I love. He also wrote the screenplay for Hitchcock’s last film, _Family Plot_, which feels like a tires retread by both Lehman and Hitchcock. But they can’t all be winners. I think the general consensus is that TSOM of a great Hollywood musical, but REALLY schmaltzy, and not really a great story. It really does deserve the swipes Mad took at it, both in “The Sound of Money” and “The Sound of More Music” in 1970. My cousin, a year younger than me, apparently had the right idea when he very vocally did NOT want to see the film when it first came out. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/44 "2020-01-21T15:36:58Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I seem to be the only one here who is old enough to have seen it in the theater when it was first released. I was in high school. No, Father Flynn from my parish brought a group of us from our parochial high school in the Bronx to see it in a big movie house in Manhattan. It was of course made to order as wholesome fare for Catholic kids. > [@silenus](#): > > Every time I think of “The Sound of Music” I take great pleasure in remembering that as they walk over the mountain at the end of the movie, they are walking into Nazi Germany. > [@terentii](#): > > I thought it was Switzerland? :dubious: 😕 > [@silenus](#): > > Not the mountains they were walking over! He’s being oblique about the fact that, according to iMDB: > [@](#): > > The ending scene where the family is walking up and on top of a grassy hill is not Switzerland at all but in Germany itself, the Berchtesgaden, Obersalzburg to be exact, where Hitler’s Bavarian hideaway was. In the movie, they were supposed to be crossing from Austria (technically already part of Nazi Germany) into Switzerland. As mentioned, in actual fact they merely took a train from Austria to Italy. Of course, since the roles were played by actors instead of the actual von Trapps, one could say that Berchtesgarden was playing the role of the Swiss Alps in the movie.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/45 "2020-01-21T16:07:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Remember Admiral von Schreiber, the largest non-singing part in the play? Well, probably not… he wasn’t in the movie at all, and even in the play he only got six lines… but anyway, that was me. Me too! Me too! I started with one line and worked my way up as kids kept dropping out of the production. As I recall the stage book was aimed at a slightly more mature audience than the movie (it didn’t have those damn puppets, for one thing) But the movie had great scenery and Julie Andrews, and that was more than enough for moviegoers. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/46 "2020-01-21T16:07:13Z")
_The Sound of Music_ is a classic Broadway musical adapted to a movie format. It has great songs and the right amount of plot to make things interesting. I’m happy if a musical has two great songs, and tSoM has at least five. Its primary flaw is it doesn’t have a proper dance number. I’ve never seen it in a movie theater, but have watched it on the small screen innumerable times. And its soundtrack is on my rotation of albums to listen to. I’ve seen the stage version, but the production I saw got a little too enthusiastic with the Nazi paraphernalia. Even if it was only acting, I’m very uncomfortable with “patriotic” displays of Nazism. The best viewing of the movie is at the annual Hollywood Bowl Sing-A-Long (and costume contest!). Nothing like belting out the songs with ten thousand other fans. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/47 "2020-01-21T16:49:26Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > _The Sound of Music_ is a classic Broadway musical adapted to a movie format. It has great songs and the right amount of plot to make things interesting. I’m happy if a musical has two great songs, and tSoM has at least five. Its primary flaw is it doesn’t have a proper dance number. I’m fond of the two (?) songs that are in the stage show but not the movie - “How Can Love Survive?” and “No Way to Stop It” which give the Baroness and Max something to sing (and give Max some chance to grow from the collaborator he is in this song to risking his life by the end). McSweeney’s has some humorous SoM material, by the way > **[An Update on the Problem of Maria](https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-update-on-the-problem-of-maria)** > > FROM: The Reverend Mother > TO: The Nuns > My Sisters, > As you know, our little convent has been plagued in recent months by “Maria problem.” I must say... > **[I Regret to Inform You That My Wedding to Captain Von Trapp Has Been Canceled](https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-regret-to-inform-you-that-my-wedding-to-captain-von-trapp-has-been-canceled)** > > Dear friends, family, and Austrian nobility, > Captain Von Trapp and I are very sorry to inform you that we no longer plan to wed. We offer our deepe... > **[The Von Trapp Children Speak to a Geneticist](https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-von-trapp-children-speak-to-a-geneticist)** > > LIESL: Why is it that we can all sing very well? > GENETICIST: Liesl, that is an excellent question! And essentially one that boils down to the class... ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/48 "2020-01-21T18:05:02Z")
I’ve never seen a musical with Nazis that I didn’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/49 "2020-01-21T18:28:47Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I’ve never seen a musical with Nazis that I didn’t like. You know, there are more musicals with Nazis than just Sound of Music, _Cabaret_, and _The Producers_. It would be more correct to say you’ve never seen a \*\*successful \*\*musical with Nazis you didn’t like. Heck there have been at least[two](https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/08/nyregion/theater-story-of-anne-frank-is-basis-for-a-musical.html) [different](https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/ANNE-FRANK-A-Musical-Opens-Off-Broadway-This-September-20190806) musicals about Anne Frank. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/50 "2020-01-21T18:50:22Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > You know who else hated this movie? Godwin? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/51 "2020-01-21T19:37:55Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Me too! Me too! I started with one line and worked my way up as kids kept dropping out of the production. > > As I recall the stage book was aimed at a slightly more mature audience than the movie (it didn’t have those damn puppets, for one thing) > > But the movie had great scenery and Julie Andrews, and that was more than enough for moviegoers. The “damn puppets” weren’t in the original script. They added that number (“lonely Goatherd”), I understand, at Mary Martin’s request (she was the original Maria), because of her ability to yodel. I don’t think they used puppets in the original stage production, either – they put I into the film as a way to rationalize the song. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/52 "2020-01-21T19:51:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 3.) When you consider that Christopher Plummer CHOSE top appear as The Emperor of the Universe in the low-budget cheesy SF film _Starcrash: The Adventures of Stella Star_, not to mention plenty of other questionable projects, it really does say something about his belief that _The Sound of Music_ was beneath him. I think Plummer gets a bad rap because of the Mucus comment, but my understanding was that his reaction was similar to Alec Guinness’s for _Star Wars_–a perfectly fine journeyman role whose popularity skewed the perception of his career (and talent) out of proportion. I think his comment was in reaction to that (he also famously said meeting Andrews was like “being hit over the head with a Valentine’s card”). I think he’s actually quite good in the film because he reigns the performance in in a way that acts as a perfect counterpoint to the over-the-top Ray of Sunshine that’s Andrews. She does what she needs to for the role but his performance is slyer (and even a little self-amused) than simply “phoning it in”. My favorite piece of current trivia: Two actors from THE SOUND OF MUSIC are in films nominated for the Oscar this year–and both are competing against each other in the same category!: - Plummer is, of course, the patriarch in KNIVES OUT. - Nicholas Hammond, who played the oldest Von Trapp boy Friedrich, plays real-life actor/director Sam Wanamaker in Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD. Both films are up for Original Screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/53 "2020-01-21T19:52:05Z")
Is the Sound of Music supposed to be a good movie? No. But I love it. It was the first movie my parents took us to. We got dressed up and drove downtown to a huge glitzy theater. It was fun. How many movies have schmaltzy songs, Julie Andrews… _and_ Nazis? (Ooh, not just Nazis, but Nazis outfoxed by nuns!) I’ve been meaning to go to a Sing-Along, but I keep missing them and I’d have to go with the right people… a senior White Guy all by himself might look weird (Hey, I got to go to a Frozen Sing-Along with my niece’s kids). But a great, quality movie? Naaah… Don’t forget (I’m sure someone mentioned it here, but I missed it): Pauline Kael called it “The Sound of Mucus”. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/54 "2020-01-21T19:53:13Z")
I’m not a fan of musicals and think most of them are boring, but I found Julie Andrew’s singing captivating in that movie. Even if the movie is just a flimsy story strung together so she can sing, that’s fine with me. Her singing was like auditory candy to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/55 "2020-01-21T20:10:20Z")
My Catholic church choir sang the highlights every year as part of their music ministry fundraiser. Everyone loved it. Growing up, we had the soundtrack (along with many other musicals, my dad has always been fond of them), so I long have had all the songs in my memory bank. ---
**Author:** ![baileygrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@baileygrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baileygrrrl)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/56 "2020-01-21T20:35:59Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Even as a young child, when the nuns were singing about how to solve the problem of Maria I supposedly was shouting something along the lines of for goodness sake you can start by getting her out of a convent! Definitely not nun material. > > Problem is that until fairly recently there just weren’t that many options for women. > Yes, some really really do love this movie. It always bugged the hell out of me that those nuns sang “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” at Maria’s wedding. RUDE. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/57 "2020-01-21T20:44:34Z")
BTW, I always thought the song How do you solve a problem like Maria? sounded just like one of the songs from the Rex Harrison Doctor Doolittle movie (possibly “My Friend the Doctor”, but it’s been a long time since I saw it). ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/58 "2020-01-21T20:55:47Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > You know who else hated this movie? > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Godwin? Considering in particular SMV’s signature: Aziraphale. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/59 "2020-01-21T20:58:00Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The 1960’s had a lot of bad stuff going on, I think part of the initial appeal was escaping contemporary reality. Rather like the lavish musicals of the 1930’s - the world was going to hell, let’s watch something that’s superficial fun to get away from all the grimdark. It came out in 1965. The world wouldn’t really start going to hell for another two years or so. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/60 "2020-01-21T20:59:29Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Come up to Stowe VT and ski at the Trapp Family Lodge. They have a wonderful restaurant in the lodge (the Trapp Family Lodge Dining Room), and a Bierhall a short distance away. We ate at both last year, and will be back next month when we head up to Stowe for a long ski weekend. The main dining room has a fantastic Wiener Schnitzel; probably the best I’ve had on this side of the Atlantic. They have Glühwein, too. P.S. They also have lots of memorabilia of the von Trapp family in the lodge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710.md?page=4)