The Sound of Music

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On Sky Movies Screen 1 13/12/09 10:55

Director: Robert Wise

Stars: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Richard Haydn, Eleanor Parker

Year: 1965 Running Time: 174 mins Rating:

"How do you solve a problem like Maria?" Well, it seems the best thing to do with musical nun Julie Andrews is to sling her a guitar, deck her out in a natty apron and put her in charge of seven children belonging to a widowed naval captain (Christopher Plummer). Telling the true story of the Von Trapp family's flight from the Nazis in wartime Austria, Rodgers & Hammerstein's evergreen classic thrums along to some of the most hummable tunes ever written. With five Oscars and a songlist that includes Edelweiss, My Favourite Things and Do-Re-Mi, the hills couldn't be more alive if they tried.

Review

The film opens with the classic aerial shot of Maria twirling around on the mountaintop singing the title song.

All of this singing on mountaintops has made her neglectful of her duties in the convent and the Mother Superior assigns the unruly nun the task of governess to Captain von Trapp's seven children.

Maria meets the von Trapp children, who seem as regimented as a military troop.

They are in fact unruly themselves and have managed to dispense a string of governesses before Maria.

Defying the captain's orders for discipline, Maria makes the children play clothes, takes them out boating and even teaches them to sing.

The captain is outraged by her disobedience and orders her out at once, until he hears his children singing The Sound of Music and is visibly touched.

Meanwhile, budding romantic feelings confuse Maria's devotion to the convent, and the encroaching Nazi threat endangers their Austrian home.

This cinematic epic was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture and Director in 1966.

It is full of beautiful scenery, memorable characters and, of course, the brilliantly catchy Rogers and Hammerstein songs, effortlessly sung by the fantastic Julie Andrews.

Dominic Bloch