# No one told me The Sound of Music was 3 hours long! Is this cruel and unusual? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541 "2010-10-27T16:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/41 "2010-10-28T14:50:54Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > I think you saw it in the wrong setting. TSOM is best seen on TV on Christmas day, so you can nap in between the Do-a-deer song and when the Nazis show up, and the nuns hide the spark plugs. Well _thanks_ Mr Blow-the-picture-for-me! šŸ˜› TSoM is my mumā€™s favourite film of all time, thank Jebus for format wars it means I never have a problem finding a Christmas present: SoM on Beta, on VHS, on DVD, on Vinyl, on CD, on DVD, on bluray, etcā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/42 "2010-10-28T16:26:40Z")
My two memories of TSOM are 1) my family seeing it when it came out and the theater was packed. The seven of us had to split into three groups to find seats. 2) In 1989 I was visiting my parents for Christmas and one of the NYC TV stations showed it that night. Just as Julie Andrews was breaking into her ā€œthe hills are aliveā€¦ā€ a news bulletin broke in to say former and possibly future Yankee manager Billy Martin was killed in a car crash returning from a bar. Donā€™t plan on seeing the movie again and donā€™t think Iā€™ll go to a sing a long. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/43 "2010-10-28T16:30:45Z")
Oprah has a [reunion of the cast](http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/For-the-First-Time-in-45-Years-The-Sound-of-Music-Cast-Reunites) this week. Christopher Plummer usually abstains from these but is at this one along with Julie and the chirren. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/44 "2010-10-28T16:35:39Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > ā€¦ > > Don es trato de varĆ³n, > res selvĆ”tico animal > mi denota posesiĆ³n > far es lejos en inglĆ©s > sol ardiente esfera es > la al nombre es anterior > si asentimiento es > y otra vez ya viene el do, do, do, doā€¦ Well **Nava** , this is what Google Translate gives me: Donā€™s treatment of male wild animal res I denotes possession English is far away hot sun sphere is the name predates the if consent is and again comes the do, do, do, do ā€¦ šŸ˜ƒ Perhaps you could run it through the **Nava** translator for us? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/45 "2010-10-28T17:49:34Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Well **Nava** , this is what Google Translate gives me: > > Donā€™s treatment of male > wild animal res > I denotes possession > English is far away > hot sun sphere is > the name predates the > if consent is > and again comes the do, do, do, do ā€¦ > > šŸ˜ƒ > > Perhaps you could run it through the **Nava** translator for us? Wow, that really sucks. I studied Spanish for two years, 25 years ago, and I can beat that: Don es trato de varĆ³n, (Don is a title for a man) res selvĆ”tico animal (re is a wild animal? I donā€™t get that one) mi denota posesiĆ³n (mi, i.e., my, denotes possession) far es lejos en inglĆ©s (far is ā€œlejosā€ in English) sol ardiente esfera es (sol, i.e., the sun, is a burning sphere) la al nombre es anterior (la, is in front of the name? Because it means ā€œtheā€? I donā€™t really get that one either.) si asentimiento es (si, i.e., yes, is an assent) y otra vez ya viene el do, do, do, doā€¦ (which will bring us back to do, do, do, do ā€¦) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/46 "2010-10-28T18:31:13Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > [Quote=Musicat] > > Yeah, matte paintings are beautiful when you have a good artist. Psst. All the outdoor stuff was filmed on location. [/QUOTE] Fooled you, too, hunh? šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/47 "2010-10-28T19:26:18Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > **I donā€™t remember any of the kids wearing suits in TWSS, but guys certainly did wear much tighter clothing back in that time.** Wearing their trousers with the waistband around the knees as a uniform for gangbangers is a much more recent phenomenon. > > ETA: _The Sound Of Music_ is a good film as musicals go; I could watch it again. But a sing-a-long sounds dreadful. During ā€˜_America_ā€™ b/c theyā€™ve just all been at The Dance. Itā€™s sad how little of Natalie Wood shows up in WSS; she wasnā€™t really Puerto Rican or singing. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/48 "2010-10-28T20:32:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I like West Side Story, though these days I view it more cynically than when I was a kid. Now I see it and I think: > > [ul] > [li]Wait, did these people look like gang-bangers in the 60ā€™s? Because today they look like a bunch of theater majors, sorted by color into rival gangs.[/li][li]Wait, Natalie Wood is Puerto Rican?[/li][li]Why is the estimation of life in America split along gender lines?[/li][li]All these gang-bangers own tight-fitting suits?[/li][li]So, does that dance symbolize an actual rape, or an attempted rape?[/li][li]After depressing me for two-and-a-half hours they donā€™t have the guts to kill off the girl, too?[/li][/ul] > > Funny, none of this bothered me as a kid. Mention none of this in the company of the RhymerSisters, for a passionate and deadly argument will ensue. If you feel you absolutely must have the discussion with them, remove all knives from the vicinity first. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/49 "2010-10-28T20:45:53Z")
I keep hearing that _West Side Story_ was some kind of breakthrough in presentation of racism and violence on the stage. I canā€™t sit through the drama-majorā€™s idea of a menacing street thug, myself. I once made the mistake of agreeing to attend a showing of _Triumph of the Will_. I was begging for the parts where Hitler actually gives a speech so that I could get a break from the endless parading. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/50 "2010-10-28T20:45:54Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Psst. All the outdoor stuff was filmed on location. Not only was it filmed on location but the actual[von Trapp villa](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00671/trapp-hot-404_671152c.jpg)was seen in some of the shots (though I think they used another house for the exterior scenes of the home). After the family lost it the interior was gutted first for use as a home for Nazi officers and then for use as a B&B style hotel so it would have been useless anyway. The real Maria von Trapp has a non speaking walk by cameo in a couple of scenes. She showed up at her own expense to watch the shooting. She officially got nothing from the film itself because she had long since sold the rights to her life story (she sold them to a German film company who in turn sold them to Rodgers & Hammerstein) but they paid her an honorarium for ā€œconsultingā€ that I think was fairly substantial just as an act of kindness. Trivia: 20th Century Fox was on the verge of bankruptcy and had this picture flopped it would have ruined them. Since it succeeded beyonded their most optimistic expectations it saved them. More trivia: the real Baron von Trappā€™s money came from marriage to English heiress Agathe Whitehead; her grandfather was a munitions giant whose torpedoes and or their knockoffs were used on all sides in WW1. His title was granted for his service as a U-Boat commander in WW1. He was 25 years older than Maria and she was not governess to all 7 of his children but to one who had special needs due to childhood illness. The fortune was devastated in the Depression and they began renting rooms and singing professionally strictly to raise money (except for the Baron who wouldnā€™t work), and their music had a sound similar to Sacred Harp in America (unaccompanied religious vocals) rather than the upbeat showtunes. They were married long enough to have two daughters and she was pregnant with their son when they fled Austria. Two things in the play and movie that were right: The baron really was engaged to a very wealthy countess when he decided to marry Maria instead (though she was French, not German), and he really was extremely anti-Nazism and refused to serve them. His childrenā€™s main criticism of the movie was that it portrayed their father as stern and distant before Maria- they all claimed he was not at all, he was very affectionate and fun. They unanimously said Maria was the strict parent. Itā€™s well known the family ended up in Vermont and opened a ski resort, but perhaps less well known is that Maria spent many years after she was widowed in New Guinea. Among other things she worked at a leper colony and with former cannibals who had converted to Catholicism. The funniest part in her books is when she relayed a frank conversation her curiosity forced her to have asking about human body parts as food: the former cannibal said the armpit was the tastiest and the buttocks was too tough. Useless trivia: Amanda Plummer went to the premiere with her nanny but somehow lost her ticket. When asked for proof she was who she said she was the nanny pointed to the picture of Christopher Plummer on the poster and then to Amanda and said ā€œLook at herā€. They let her in. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/51 "2010-10-28T20:52:04Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] I once made the mistake of agreeing to attend a showing of _Triumph of the Will_. I was begging for the parts where Hitler actually gives a speech so that I could get a break from the endless parading. [/QUOTE] An early piece of filmed political satire- [The Nazis do the Lambeth Walk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYJ5F8ctyus) (popular British dance in the Depression era). Supposedly the clip was seen by the Nazis and while some thought it was funny Hitler was furious. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/52 "2010-10-28T21:03:24Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Thereā€™s Lawrence of Arabia (216 minutes of sand), Titanic (194 minutes of water) and Dr. Zhivago (192 minutes of snow). They make TSOM (174 minutes) look like a Three Stooges short. Yeah, but _Lawrence of Arabia_ is fast-paced and awesome. Even the slow moments, like Lawrence riding out of the desert, are tension filled. Here is what bugs me about _The Sound of Music_: Austria is a \*\*\*\*ing landlocked country! Being a captain in its navy is probably the equivalent of being the Chief Justice of the Republic of Saugeais. The historical Georg Ludwig von Trapp was at least an officer in the navy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WWI, although he had to go to the East Indies and China in order to actually see action. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/53 "2010-10-28T21:07:25Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Here is what bugs me about _The Sound of Music_: Austria is a \*\*\*\*ing landlocked country! Being a captain in its navy is probably the equivalent of being the Chief Justice of the Republic of Saugeais. The historical Georg Ludwig von Trapp was at least an officer in the navy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WWI If you know that the real Von Trapp was an Austrian naval officer, then what is the trouble youā€™re having with the ficitionalized Von Trapp being an Austrian naval officer? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/54 "2010-10-28T21:24:30Z")
I was just reading about his war experiences. [He sure killed a lot of guys!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_armoured_cruiser_L%C3%A9on_Gambetta) I bet the kids kept that in mind when he was tweeting his boatswains whistle at them: \*ā€œbetter line up straight: Dadā€™s killed a lot of guys!ā€ \*Or Maria on her wedding night \*ā€œtonight I will know ecstacy in the arms of the Captain, who has killed a lot of guys!ā€ \* ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/55 "2010-10-28T22:09:13Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > If you know that the real Von Trapp was an Austrian naval officer, then what is the trouble youā€™re having with the ficitionalized Von Trapp being an Austrian naval officer? The historical von Trapp was an officer of navy of Austria-Hungary which at least had a substantial coastline of what is now Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, if a horribly ill-trained and obsolete navy. However, following the Treaty of Trianon and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the coastline was taken by what would become the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. I donā€™t think Austria even maintained a Navy during WWII; if they did, it was a few skiffs pulling distraught poets out of the Danube. The other offensive thing about _The Sound of Music_ is how it portrays Austria as being a poor victim of the _Anschluss_, whereas there was widespread support among the Prussian majority for a union with Germany to form a greater Germanic state. This maintains the fiction that Austria was a victim of German aggression, when in fact many collaborators and enthusiastic members of the Austrian Nazi Party remained in positions of authority after WWII. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/56 "2010-10-28T22:24:13Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The historical von Trapp was an officer of navy of Austria-Hungary which at least had a substantial coastline of what is now Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, if a horribly ill-trained and obsolete navy. However, following the Treaty of Trianon and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the coastline was taken by what would become the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. I donā€™t think Austria even maintained a Navy during WWII; if they did, it was a few skiffs pulling distraught poets out of the Danube. Iā€™m not following here. Are you saying that it would have been absurd for the Austrian Nazi party sympathisers to want to have him re-enlist in World War II? Presumably, he would have served in the German navy - you would think that World War II Germany could use experienced naval officers. Or did Austria have its own separate army/navy in World War II? eta: [This page](http://countrystudies.us/austria/41.htm) says " On an individual level, however, some 800,000 Austrians were drafted into the army (the German Wehrmacht), and another 150,000 served in the Waffen SS, an elite Nazi military unit. Austrians were integrated into German units, and no specifically Austrian military brigades were formed." ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/57 "2010-10-28T22:57:55Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] Presumably, he would have served in the German navy - you would think that World War II Germany could use experienced naval officers. [/QUOTE] Exactly. IIRC thereā€™s even a line in the movie that heā€™s to be taken to Berlin immediately following the concert to receive his commission and assignment in the Kriegsmarine. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/58 "2010-10-28T23:17:14Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > whereas there was widespread support among the Prussian majority for a union with Germany to form a greater Germanic state. Prussian majority? In Austria? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/59 "2010-10-28T23:20:42Z")
Shit, now Iā€™m worried that if they donā€™t sneak off from the reunion special taping, Christopher Plummer will be drafted to become an _Oprahfuher_ in some weird womenā€™s empowement navy on Lake Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541/60 "2010-10-28T23:23:23Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Trivia: 20th Century Fox was on the verge of bankruptcy and had this picture flopped it would have ruined them. Since it succeeded beyonded their most optimistic expectations it saved them. Unfortunately, its success convinced Fox that big-budget roadshow musicals were the wave of the future, leading to a series of flops, such as Dr. Doolittle, which nearly killed the studio again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-told-me-the-sound-of-music-was-3-hours-long-is-this-cruel-and-unusual/558541.md?page=4)