PREVIEW
The Sound of Music
What: Special 50th-anniversary screening of restored film.
When: Sunday, April 19, and Wednesday, April 22.
Where: Cinemark Valley View and Cuyahoga Falls, Southpark Mall, Solon Cinemas, Crocker Park.
Tickets: Available at the theaters or fathomevents.com. See site for schedule.
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Fifty years ago this spring, the hills came alive with the sound of music. The rest of the world followed. The big-screen adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway musical based on the von Trapp family singers, who escaped Nazi rule in Austria in 1938, took the world by storm in 1965.
The move starring Julie Andrews as novitiate turned nanny to the seven von Trapp children and their brusque father, Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), made such songs as “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” and “My Favorite Things” international classics — and Andrews a mega-star.
In honor of the beloved film’s 50th anniversary, 20th Century Fox has sent a restored version on the road, with screenings Sunday and Wednesday in Cleveland. There will also be a festival in Salzburg this summer, and a gala in October. If you can’t make it to Austria, though, you can still mark the occasion with this list of 50 fun facts and trivia in honor of the film’s golden anniversary.
1. The movie is an adaptation of the 1959 Broadway musical by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
2. The stage show was based on Maria von Trapp’s memoir “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers,” published in 1949.
3. In 1956, German producer Wolfgang Liebeneiner purchased the film rights for $9,000 from Maria von Trapp. “The Trapp Family” movie was released in West Germany in 1956.
4. A sequel, “The Trapp Family in America,” was released in 1958. The movies were among the most successful films in postwar West Germany.
5. Paramount Pictures purchased the U.S. film rights in 1956, planning to make a version starring Audrey Hepburn as Maria. The studio later dropped its option.
6. 20th Century Fox paid $1.25 million for the rights to the movie from the stage show — a huge amount in 1960.
7. “The Sound of Music” was originally to be directed by William Wyler, who wanted to make it a much darker film.
8. William Wyler’s agent asked producers if filming could be delayed so he could direct “The Collector.” 20th Century Fox President Richard Zanuck told Wyler to make the other film and hired Robert Wise (“West Side Story”) in October,1963.
9. Julie Andrews — who had just completed “Mary Poppins” — was the first choice of writer Ernest Lehman and director Wise for the role of Maria. She nearly turned down the part, thinking it was too similar to “Mary Poppins.”
10. Yul Brynner, Richard Burton and Sean Connery were top contenders for the role of Georg von Trapp, which went to Christopher Plummer.
11. Grace Kelly was considered for the part of the Baroness, which went to Eleanor Parker.
12. The names of the von Trapp children were changed for the film because one was named Maria, and producers thought that it would be confusing to have two Marias.
13. The movie was filmed on location in Austria from April to July 1964. Leopoldskron Palace, built in 1736 by Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg Count Leopold Anton Eleutherius von Firmian (1679-1744), was used as the von Trapp villa. The real family villa was somewhat more modest.
14. Maria’s stumble when running through the courtyard to the von Trapp house while singing “I Have Confidence” was accidental. But Wise left it in, since he thought it added to the character’s nervousness.
15. Julie Andrews learned to play the guitar just for the film. So did Christopher Plummer, but his playing ended up being overdubbed.
16. Christopher Plummer sang his own vocals during production, but they were later overdubbed by Bill Lee. Said Plummer: “If I had been singing with someone else other than Julie, my voice might have been OK to use, but Julie’s voice is so perfect, there’s just a difference in quality.”
17. “Edelweiss” is not a traditional Austrian folk song as many believe. It was written for the 1959 musical.
18. Richard Rodgers composed two new songs for the film — “I Have Confidence in Me” and “Something Good.”
19. Mia Farrow and Sharon Tate tested for the role of Liesl, which went to Charmain Carr.
20. “The Sound of Music” received five Academy Awards, including best picture and best director. Julie Andrews lost to Julie Christie, for “Darling.”
21. “The Sound of Music” is one of only four productions to win both the best musical Tony (1960) and the best picture Oscar (1965).
22. In her 1972 autobiography, Maria von Trapp said she was not invited to the premiere of the movie: “When I didn’t hear anything about it and no invitation arrived, I really humbled myself to go and ask the producer whether I would be allowed to come. He said he was very sorry, indeed, but there were no seats left.”
23. “The Sound of Music” was given a limited release at first, opening March 2, 1965, with what was called a “roadshow theatrical release.” It opened in Cleveland on March 24.
24. The movie got mixed reviews at its release. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times said, “Miss Andrews is nothing daunted. She plays a more saccharine nanny than Mary Poppins, but it doesn’t get her goat.” And, “Looking as handsome and phony as a store-window Alpine guide, Mr. Plummer acts the hard-jawed, stiff-backed fellow with equal artificiality.” Yet, Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times described it as “three hours of visual and vocal brilliance.”
25. “The Sound of Music” went on to become the highest-grossing film of 1965.
26. Adding together its initial release plus re-releases in 1973 and 1990, it has grossed $286,214,076. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $2.366 billion, which would make it the fifth-highest grossing film ever.
27. “The Sound of Music ” was censored in Germany for its initial release, with many of the Nazi scenes cut. It was eventually restored, but the film never became popular in Germany. “The Trapp Family” and “The Trapp Family in America” are much more successful.
28. By November 1966, “The Sound of Music” passed “Gone With the Wind” to become the highest-grossing film of all time; it held that distinction for five years.
29. Maria Kutschera, a novice at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg, really was hired as a nanny for the von Trapp family — but just for young Maria Franziska (aka “Louisa”), who had come down with scarlet fever.
30. The opening sequence of Maria on her mountain was filmed on Mehlweg mountain near the town of Marktschellenberg in Bavaria, Germany.
31. “The Sound of Music” broke box-office records in 29 countries.
32. In the movie, the von Trapp family hiked over the Alps to Switzerland, following the Anschluss in 1938. In real life, they walked to the train station and boarded the next train to Italy.
33. In reality, Salzburg is very close to the German border. If they had walked over the mountain, they would have ended up in Germany, not far from Adolf Hitler’ mountain retreat, Berghof.
34. After the von Trapps fled Austria, their home was taken over by SS leader Heinrich Himmler. Adolf Hitler personally visited Himmler there.
35. After Italy, the family fled to London and ultimately the United States.
36. The day after the von Trapp family left Austria, Hitler ordered the borders of Austria to be shut.
37. Max Detweiler, the family music director, is fictional. The von Trapp’s family priest, the Rev. Franz Wasner, was their musical director for over twenty years — and even left Austria with them.
38. In the 1940s, the family moved to Stowe, Vermont, where they eventually opened a lodge and ski resort.
39. Once in the United States, the family performed as the Trapp Family Choir. Said the New York Times in 1938: “There was something unusually lovable and appealing about the modest, serious singers of this little family aggregation …”
40. Maria and Georg von Trapp married on Nov. 26, 1927 — about a decade earlier than in the film. They had three children of their own, too: Rosmarie, Eleonore and Johannes.
41. In real life, Georg von Trapp was not a stern man, and the von Trapp children were said to be upset by his film portrayal. Maria von Trapp asked director Wise to make him more likable, but Wise refused.
42. “Sound of Music” tourism is big business in Salzburg, with more than 10 companies offering tours of Leopoldskron Palace, Nonnberg Convent, Mirabell Gardens, Pegasus Fountain and Mondsee Church (site of the wedding scene).
43. “The Sound of Music” was first shown on TV on ABC on Feb. 29, 1976 — to record ratings.
44. “The Sound of Music” stayed on the charts for over almost five years when first released on video.
45. The American Film Institute (AFI) lists “The Sound of Music” as the 55th-greatest American movie of all time, and the fourth-greatest movie musical.
46. The Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2001.
47. “The Sound of Music” sing-alongs, a la “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” became popular in the early 2000s. A sing-along DVD was released in 2010.
48. A “Sound of Music 50th Anniversary” edition DVD was released on March 10 and quickly became an Amazon Top 10 seller.
49. Despite critical pans, NBC’s 2013 special “The Sound of Music Live,” starring Stephen Moyer and Carrie Underwood, was a huge ratings success, with more than 18.47 million viewers.
50. The musical tradition continues: Grandchildren of Werner von Trapp — Sofia, Melanie, Amanda and August von Trapp — are in a Portland, Oregon-based indie band. The von Trapps released their debut April 14, “Dancing in Gold.”