The movie:
It has romance, thrill and comedy all beautifully packaged together. As for my experience as a viewer I can assure you that one can watch this movie any number of times and still never tire of it. I watched this movie first in high school and several times after that. The songs in this movie are wonderful and add to its everlasting appeal.
The main cast:
Julie Andrews as Maria
Christopher Plummer as Captain Von Trapp
Doris Lloyd as the Baroness
Richard Haydn as Max
The plot:
Maria is an orphan girl who is being taken care of by the nuns. They soon find her too much to handle because of her naughty ways and her propensity to sing anywhere and everywhere.So she is sent to the Von Trapp family as a governess.The Von Trapp family is made up of Captain Von Trapp and his seven children. Captain Von Trapp seems to be an eccentric sort of person who calls his children with a whistle.The children are naughty and cause a great deal of trouble to Maria but she soon wins them over with her charm.
She teaches the children to sing, play and have fun. When Captain Von Trapp sees his children singing, he reverts back to the music loving person he was before his wife died. Since Maria brought about this transformation in him, he falls in love with her. She too falls in love with him.But there is another complication here, Captain Von Trapp is already betrothed to a Baroness. When Maria realises that she is in love with the Captain she returns to the abbey as she is unable to face her feelings. The nuns send her back to the Captain, she learns to accept her feelings for him and later marries him.
The next part of the movie involves the Nazis. Captain Von Trapp is a very patriotic Austrian but is hunted down by the Nazis since he is a jew. He and his family escape with the help of his friend Max at a singing competition.Later the nuns at the convent help them make good their escape.
Sample Dialogue:
Captain von Trapp: Now, when I want you, this is what you will hear.
[Blows whistle]
Maria: Oh, no, sir, I’m sorry, sir. I could never answer to a whistle. Whistles are for dogs and cats and other animals, but not for children and definitely not for me. It would be too... humiliating.
Captain von Trapp: Fraulein, were you this much trouble at the Abbey?
Maria: Oh, much more, sir.
Captain von Trapp: Hmm.
[Starts to leave the room when Maria blows the whistle. He looks back at her]
Maria: Excuse me, sir, I don’t know your signal.
Salient features:
-> This movie is based on the real life story of Maria Von Trapp
-> This 1965 movie won five well deserved oscars.
-> The performances by all the actors in this movie has been superb.
-> The initial scenes in the movie of the Austrian mountains is breath-taking.
-> The songs in this movie are very popular even today.