Admittedly drowning in classic songs and centering around a performance that might as well be Mary Poppins comes to the hills of Salzburg, Austria (the ever affable Julie Andrews nearly turned down the role due to its obvious similarities to that musical), I’ll admit the Best Picture-winning and AFI-favorite The Sound of Music baffled me for about two hours and twenty minutes. The film is egregiously overlong and for long stretches of time it plays out like a family sitcom (I wouldn’t be shocked if “The Partridge Family” isn’t at least partially modeled after the Von Trapp family). That’s not to say there aren’t genuinely funny moments in the film, or that the singing is bad… because it’s not, there’s a reason these songs caught on with audiences. But there are so many corny moments dedicated to these characters that it’s hard to stick with them and some of the songs have not aged well (“Sixteen Going on Seventeen” for one). The story itself plays out poorly, as a prospective nun, Maria (Andrews), is sent by her abbey to be the governess for the seven children of a widowed naval officer (Christopher Plummer). For the next one hundred and forty minutes the story revolves around how the children at first try to get rid of and then bond with the governess, while we also see the increasing relationship between the naval officer and Maria. Most of this involves scenes with the children (or adults) dancing around, spouting off showtunes. Then, finally, in the last forty minutes director Robert Wise gets down to raising the stakes… because up until that point you’d hardly realize that this takes place in Austria as it’s about to be overtaken by Nazi Germany. The remaining forty minutes speed by in comparison, but make the film feel like it had its head buried in the ground from the start. Why focus on singing children when Hitler is coming over those hills and honestly, how long does it take to solve a problem like Maria?
Note: This is one of the funniest bits of trivia I’ve ever come across while looking up a film. Courtesy of IMDB. “Christopher Plummer intensely disliked working on the film. He's been known to refer to it as "The Sound of Mucus” and likened working with Julie Andrews to, "being hit over the head with a big Valentine's Day card, every day." Nonetheless, he and Andrews have remained close friends ever since.”
4 comments:
I don't even know what to say to you right now.
We need a guy now to convince Brian why this is a classic to prove that it's not just aimed towards the female audience. This is a great movie...regardless of some of the songs. Think about how lame the lyrics were in other musicals. Other than Hairspray, most musicals are intended to be cheesy.
Have to admit that quote made me laugh. hahaha. I guess some people really are that bubbly even off screen. People like that are infectious--although you have to wonder if she could be on prozak. Nah, she's too square to do that. :)
Ok so here is another guys perspective. "The Sound of Music" is what it is. I think it was solid in its day, but now its dated. I demand a bit more from my musicals now, not just catchy tunes (which this one undoubtedly has). There are Nazis here, yet there is no darkness to this picture. It is sugary pop with little in the way of nutrition. It doesn't leave me with a great sense of imagination like Mary Poppins, it doesn't evoke fear like Sweeney Todd, and it certainly doesn't satirize like South Park. I think Rocky Horror is a much better musical. And it is way too long. I don't knock it for what it was because that is exactly what this country wanted back than, but its not fresh anymore and it shows. I think it is hard to dislike the film though. It certainly has a naive charm I think, but its naivety keeps it from being anything other than charming.
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