Retrospective: The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music was my birth parents' favorite film, so it occupied something of a holy place in my childhood. It was always there in the same way that the Bible and Pinocchio and Thomas the Tank Engine was. Yet we didn't watch it very often. I think my parents wanted to savor it, so they'd only watch it once a decade or so. But the songs and characters were always present. I wrote a book report about a biography of Maria Von Trapp in fourth grade. My mother spoke often about Julie Andrews, and how sad it was that she lost her voice to that botched operation.

I don't remember much about seeing The Sound of Music for the first time. I suppose I have an early (even primeval) memory of Julie Andrews in the Alps, as does everyone. The songs were embedded in my brain — I think "Do-Re-Mi" taught me how to sing. But one moment in particular stood out: the scene where a frog hops out of Maria's pocket, startling her into dropping her luggage and her guitar. Something about that scene made a deep impression on me. To have something so startling happen in such a tranquil movie must have shaken me up. I'm sure it didn't upset me, but when I rewatched the movie as an adult, I felt like I'd unlocked some primordial memory.

The rest of the movie had a similar effect. The Sound of Music must have had a hand in shaping my aesthetic tastes and expectations of movies. Which doesn't make the movie good, of course. Luckily, the movie is extraordinary on its own. I've seen The Sound of Music onstage, and while the script is strong on its own, Robert Wise makes The Sound of Music the masterpiece it is. Cinema has just never looked better than the scenes in the Alps or Maria and the Captain dancing at the Von Trapps' villa. Julie Andrews gives just about the most lovable performance ever to come out of Hollywood, and Christopher Plummer makes an extraordinary transformation over the course of the film (the scene where he sings to his children for the first time in years had me weeping uncontrollably). And the third act is extraordinarily suspenseful and dramatic. Sorry, but this is as good as movies get. I can't be objective about this one.