“My heart will be blessed with the sound of music.”

After a little more than half a year, it’s finally happened: Gone with the Wind has been bumped from its top spot in my BP rankings and replaced with this gem, The Sound of Music (1965, Argyle Enterprises Production; 20th Century-Fox). What a delight of a film! Typically, I’ve been projecting these films (hooked up with a nice little sound system) in order to get a better feel for their “theater quality,” but for The Sound of Music this week, my sister and I just snuggled down in our pajamas on the couch under a bunch of blankets and relished this film’s story while the Christmas tree lights sparkled inside and snow flew outside. I’ve seen this movie a million times. It never gets old. I always get something new out of it. And, it never fails to uplift my spirit and calm my soul—two effects we rarely see in today’s movies, it seems.

For me, The Sound of Music would be “Exhibit A” in an argument regarding Oscar wins not being the determining factor for which film is the greatest of all time. At the 1966 Academy Awards, The Sound of Music only took home five Oscars of its ten nominations, winning for Sound, Film Editing, Music (Scoring of Music—adaptation or treatment), Directing for Robert Wise (who had won previously for West Side Story), and Best Picture. The film failed to win in the following categories: Actress in a Supporting Role for Peggy Wood as the Mother Abbess, Actress for Julie Andrews (who had won the previous year for Mary Poppins), Cinematography (Color), Art Direction (Color), and Costume Design (Color)—losing these last three categories to its toughest competitor of the night, Doctor Zhivago.

Julie Andrews and much of the rest of the cast were virtual unknowns when The Sound of Music began filming; yet as demonstrated by the outpouring of condolences after the passing of Heather Menzies Urich (who plays Louisa) last weekend, the von Trapp film family has become family to all of us who cherish this movie. The film itself hasn’t fared too poorly either. Enthusiastically embraced at the time of its release, it continues to capture the hearts of new generations of fans both domestic and international. In a special feature for the fiftieth anniversary edition of The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews discusses why she thinks the film made the immediate and lasting impression that it did, noting how the film was released amidst the turmoil of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. People just needed this movie, she concludes. It reminds me a tad of Going My Way, 1944’s Best Picture winner. When times are seemingly at their worst, people look for escape, humor, comfort, and hope. The Sound of Music offers all these—and more.

The real von Trapp family.

Based on the Broadway play of the same name, The Sound of Music tells the story of a young woman, Maria, who wants to serve God as a nun, but who discovers that God desires her to serve Him in a different way. Through music—and an almost unending capacity to care for others—Maria transforms the hurting and cold von Trapp household, finding love herself as well. The Sound of Music is the Broadway/Hollywood version of the true story of Maria Augusta Kutschera and is based on the book she published in 1949, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. You can check out more details about the real von Trapp family (and view some interesting documents relating to their American immigration) here: https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html. Suffice it to say, The Sound of Music really “dolls up” the true story! But that fact doesn’t detract from the beauty and depth of this glorious film.

I just had to include this picture! The film von Trapp family (minus Christopher Plummer), reunited in front of their famous puppet stage.

For more thoughts on The Sound of Music and its significance, please check out the full post this weekend!