The Sound of Music (film)

Robert Wise, 1990

In December 1962, 20th Century Fox president Richard D. Zanuck hired Ernest Lehman to write the screenplay for the film adaptation of the stage musical.[13] Lehman reviewed the original script for the stage musical, rearranged the sequence of songs, and began transforming a work designed for the stage into a film that could use the camera to emphasize action and mood and open the story up to the beautiful locations of Salzburg and the Austrian Alps.[14] The "Do-Re-Mi" sequence in the play, for example, was originally a stagnant number; Lehman transformed it into a lively montage showing some of the beautiful sites of Salzburg, as well as showing Maria and the children growing closer over time.[14] Lehman also eliminated two songs, "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way to Stop It", sung by the characters of Elsa and Max.[14] In January 1963, he saw the Fox English-dubbed version of the two German films. Not especially impressed, he decided to use the stage musical and Maria's memoir for most of his source material.[15] While Lehman was developing the screenplay, he and Zanuck began looking for a director. Their first choice was Robert Wise, with whom Lehman had worked on the film adaptation of West Side Story, but Wise was busy preparing work for another film, The Sand Pebbles.[16] Other directors were approached and turned down the offer, including Stanley Donen, Vincent J. Donehue, George Roy Hill, and Gene Kelly.[17]

In January 1963, Lehman invited one of his favorite directors, William Wyler, to travel to New York City with him to see the Broadway musical. After seeing the show, Wyler said he hated it, but after two weeks of Lehman's persuasion, Wyler reluctantly agreed to direct and produce the film.[18] After hiring musical supervisor Roger Edens, Wyler, Lehman, and Edens traveled to Salzburg to scout filming locations.[19] In two weeks they managed to see approximately seventy-five locations—an experience that helped Lehman conceptualize several important sequences.[20] During that trip, Lehman began to have reservations about Wyler's commitment to the project and communicated this to Zanuck, who instructed the writer to finalize the first draft of the screenplay as quickly as possible.[21] Lehman completed the first draft on September 10, 1963, and sent it to Wyler, who had no suggestions or changes to add.[21] At that time, Lehman also secretly gave a copy of the script to the agent of Robert Wise, whom Lehman still wanted as the director.[21] Later that month, Wyler's agent approached Zanuck asking that production on the film be delayed so Wyler could direct The Collector. Zanuck told him to tell Wyler to make the other film, and that they would move ahead on schedule with another director, ending Wyler's participation.[21]

Meanwhile, Wise, whose film The Sand Pebbles had been postponed, read Lehman's first draft, was impressed by what he read, and agreed to direct the film,[22] joining the picture in October 1963,[23] and flew to Salzburg with associate producer Saul Chaplin and members of his production team to scout filming locations, including many that Wyler had identified.[24] When he returned, Wise began working on the script. Wise shared Lehman's vision of the film being centered on the music, and the changes he made were consistent with the writer's approach—mainly reducing the amount of sweetness and sentimentality found in the stage musical.[23] He had reservations about Lehman's opening aerial sequence because West Side Story, whose screenplay Lehman had also written, had used a similar opening sequence, but he was unable to think of a better one and decided to keep Lehman's.[23] Other changes included replacing "An Ordinary Couple" with a more romantic number, and a new song for Maria's departure from the abbey—Rodgers provided "Something Good" and "I Have Confidence", especially for the film.[25] Lehman completed the second draft on December 20, 1963,[26] but additional changes would be made based on input from Maria von Trapp and Christopher Plummer about the character of the Captain. Plummer especially helped change a character lacking substance into a stronger, more forceful complex figure with a wry sense of humor and a darker edge.[27] Lehman completed his final draft on March 20, 1964.[28]

Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews on location in Salzburg, 1964

Lehman's first and only choice for Maria was Julie Andrews.[29] When Wise joined the project, he made a list of his choices for the role, which included Andrews as his first choice, Grace Kelly, and Shirley Jones.[30] Wise and Lehman went to Disney Studios to view footage from Mary Poppins, which was not yet released. A few minutes into the film, Wise told Lehman, "Let's go sign this girl before somebody else sees this film and grabs her!"[29] Andrews had some reservations—mainly about the amount of sweetness in the theatrical version—but when she learned that her concerns were shared by Wise and Lehman and what their vision was, she signed a contract with Fox to star in The Sound of Music and one other film for $225,000 (equivalent to $1,970,000 in 2021).[31] Wise had a more difficult time casting the role of the Captain. A number of actors were considered for the part, including Bing Crosby, Yul Brynner, Sean Connery, and Richard Burton.[32] Wise had seen Christopher Plummer on Broadway and wanted him for the role, but the stage actor turned down the offer several times. Wise flew to London to meet with Plummer and explained his concept of the film; the actor accepted after being assured that he could work with Lehman to improve the character.[33]

Wise also spent considerable time and effort on casting the secondary characters. For the role of Max Detweiler, Wise initially considered Victor Borge, Noël Coward, and Hal Holbrook among others before deciding on Richard Haydn.[33] For the character of Baroness Elsa Schraeder, Wise looked for a "name" actress—Andrews and Plummer were not yet widely known to film audiences—and decided on Eleanor Parker.[34] The casting of the children's characters began in November 1963 and involved over two hundred interviews and auditions throughout the United States and England.[35] Some of the child actors interviewed or tested, who were not selected, included Mia Farrow, Patty Duke, Lesley Ann Warren, Geraldine Chaplin, Shelley Fabares, Teri Garr, Kurt Russell, and The Osmonds.[36] Most of the actors selected had some acting, singing, or dancing experience. Charmian Carr, however, was a model who worked part-time in a doctor's office and had no ambition to pursue a career as an actress.[37] After a friend sent her photo to Wise's office, she was asked to interview. Wise later recalled, "She was so pretty and had such poise and charm that we liked her immediately."[37] The last person to be cast was Daniel Truhitte in the role of Rolfe.[37]

Rehearsals for the singing and dance sequences began on February 10, 1964.[38] The husband-and-wife team of Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, who had worked with Andrews on Mary Poppins, worked out the choreography with Saul Chaplin on piano—the arrangements could not be altered under Rodgers and Hammerstein's contract.[39] The stage choreography was not used because it was too restrictive.[40] Breaux and Wood worked out all-new choreography better suited for the film that incorporated many of the Salzburg locations and settings.[40] They even choreographed the newly added puppet dance sequence for "The Lonely Goatherd".[41] The choreography for the Ländler strictly followed the traditional Austrian folk dance.[40] The musical arranger Irwin Kostal prerecorded the songs with a large orchestra and singers on a stage before the start of filming.[42] In her book, The Sound of Music: The Making of America's Favorite Movie, Julia Antopol Hirsch says that Kostal used seven children and five adults to record the children's voices; the only scene in which the child-actors' singing is heard in the released version of the film is when they sing "The Sound of Music" on their own after Maria leaves.[43] Charmian Carr refuted the claim that the voices of the child actors were dubbed in the film and on the soundtrack. Carr contended that all of the children who are in the film sing on the track, but four other children were added to most of the songs to give them a fuller sound; they did not replace them as singers.[44] The voices of some of the adult actors had voice doubles, including those of Peggy Wood and Christopher Plummer.[45]

Schloss Leopoldskron, where scenes representing the lakefront terrace and gardens of the von Trapp villa were filmed

Principal photography began on March 26, 1964, at 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles, where scenes from Maria's bedroom and the abbey cloister and graveyard were filmed.[46] The company then flew to Salzburg, where filming resumed on April 23 at Mondsee Abbey for the wedding scenes.[47] From April 25 through May 22, scenes were filmed at the Felsenreitschule, Nonnberg Abbey, Mirabell Palace Gardens, Residence Fountain, and various street locations throughout the Altstadt (Old Town) area of the city.[47] Wise faced opposition from city leaders who did not want him staging scenes with swastika banners. They relented after he threatened instead to include old newsreel footage featuring the banners.[48] On days when it rained, a constant challenge for the company,[49] Wise arranged for scenes to be shot at St. Margarethen Chapel and Dürer Studios (Reverend Mother's office).[50] From May 23 to June 7, the company worked at Schloss Leopoldskron and an adjacent property called Bertelsmann for scenes representing the lakeside terrace and gardens of the von Trapp villa.[51] From June 9 to 19, scenes were shot at Frohnburg Palace, which represented the front and back façades of the villa.[51] Karath could not swim and was in danger during the capsizing boat scene.[52] The "Do-Re-Mi" picnic scene in the mountains was filmed above the town of Werfen in the Salzach River valley on June 25 and 27.[51] The opening sequence of Maria on her mountain was filmed from June 28 to July 2 at Mehlweg mountain near the town of Marktschellenberg in Bavaria.[53][Note 2] During filming, Birch trees were added and then removed. The brook she walks through was plastic filled with water which was put there during filming.[54] The final scene of the von Trapp family escaping over the mountains was filmed on the Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps.[55]

The Sound of Music gazebo at Hellbrunn Palace in Salzburg was moved here from its original location at Schloss Leopoldskron.

The cast and crew flew back to Los Angeles and resumed filming at Fox Studios on July 6 for all remaining scenes, including those in the villa dining room, ballroom, terrace, living room, and gazebo.[56] Following the last two scenes shot in the gazebo—for the songs "Something Good" and "Sixteen Going on Seventeen"—principal photography concluded on September 1, 1964.[56] A total of eighty-three scenes were filmed in just over five months.[57] Post-production work began on August 25 with three weeks of dialogue dubbing to correct lines that were ruined by various street noises and rain.[58] In October, Christopher Plummer's singing voice was dubbed by veteran Disney playback singer Bill Lee.[59] The film was then edited by Wise and film editor William Reynolds.[60] Once the film was edited, Irwin Kostal, who orchestrated the musical numbers, underscored the film with background music consisting of variations on Rodgers and Hammerstein's original songs to amplify or add nuances to the visual images.[59][60] When dubbing, editing, and scoring were complete, Wise arranged for two sneak-preview showings—the first one held in Minneapolis on Friday, January 15, 1965[61] at the Mann Theater, and the second one held the following night in Tulsa.[62] Despite the "sensational" responses from the preview audiences, Wise made a few final editing changes before completing the film.[62] According to the original print information for the film, the running time for the theatrical release version was 174 minutes.[1] The film was still in release when the Motion Picture Association of America's film ratings system was implemented in 1968,[63] and was subsequently given a "G" rating ("general audiences") in 1969.[1]

The Sound of Music was filmed in Todd-AO by Ted McCord and produced with DeLuxe Color processing.[64] Aerial footage was photographed with an MCS-70 camera.[64] The sound was recorded on a 70 mm six-track using a Westrex recording system.[1][64] The sets used for the film were based on the storyboards of sketch artist Maurice Zuberano,[65] who accompanied Wise to Austria to scout filming locations in November 1963.[66] Wise met with the artist over ten weeks and explained his objective for each scene—the feeling he wanted to convey and the visual images he wanted to use.[65] When Zuberano was finished, he provided Wise with a complete set of storyboards that illustrated each scene and set—storyboards the director used as guidance during filming.[65] Zuberano's storyboards and location photos were also used by art director Boris Leven to design and construct all of the original interior sets at Fox studios, as well as some external sets in Salzburg.[67] The von Trapp villa, for example, was actually filmed in several locations: the front and back façades of the villa were filmed at Frohnburg Palace, the lakeside terrace and gardens was a set constructed on a property adjacent to Schloss Leopoldskron called Bertelsmann, and the interior was a constructed set at Fox Studios.[68] The gazebo scenes for "Something Good" and "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" were filmed on a larger reconstructed set at Fox studios, while some shots of the original gazebo were filmed on the grounds at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg.[69][70][Note 3]

Most of the soundtrack to The Sound of Music was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and arranged and conducted by Irwin Kostal, who also adapted the instrumental underscore passages.[71][72] Both the lyrics and music for two new songs were written by Rodgers, as Hammerstein died in 1960.[73] The soundtrack album was released by RCA Victor in 1965 and is one of the most successful soundtrack albums in history, having sold over 20 million copies worldwide.[74][75]

The album reached the number one position on the Billboard 200 that year in the United States.[76][77] It remained in the top ten for 109 weeks, from May 1, 1965, to July 16, 1967,[78][79] and remained on the Billboard 200 chart for 238 weeks.[76] The album was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 1965, 1966, and 1968 and the second best-selling of the entire decade, spending a total of 70 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart.[80] It also stayed 73 weeks on the Norwegian charts, becoming the seventh best-charting album of all time in that country.[81] In 2015, Billboard named the album the second greatest album of all time.[82][83]

The album has been reissued several times, including anniversary editions with additional tracks in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015.[77]

Robert Wise hired Mike Kaplan to direct the publicity campaign for the film.[84] After reading the script, Kaplan decided on the ad line "The Happiest Sound in All the World", which would appear on promotional material and artwork.[84] Kaplan also brought in outside agencies to work with the studio's advertising department to develop the promotional artwork, eventually selecting a painting by Howard Terpning of Andrews on an alpine meadow with her carpetbag and guitar case in hand with the children and Plummer in the background.[85][86][Note 4] In February 1964, Kaplan began placing ads in the trade papers Daily Variety, Weekly Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter to attract future exhibitor interest in the project.[84] The studio intended the film to have an initial roadshow theatrical release in select large cities in theaters that could accommodate the 70-mm screenings and six-track stereophonic sound.[87] The roadshow concept involved two showings a day with reserved seating and an intermission similar to Broadway musicals.[87] Kaplan identified forty key cities that would likely be included in the roadshow release and developed a promotional strategy targeting the major newspapers of those cities.[85] During the Salzburg production phase, 20th Century Fox organized press junkets for American journalists to interview Wise and his team and the cast members.[85]

The film had its opening premiere on March 2, 1965, at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.[89][90] Initial reviews were mixed.[91] Bosley Crowther, in The New York Times, criticized the film's "romantic nonsense and sentiment", the children's "artificial roles", and Robert Wise's "cosy-cum-corny" direction.[92] Judith Crist, in a biting review in the New York Herald Tribune, dismissed the movie as "icky sticky" and designed for "the five to seven set and their mommies".[89] In her review for McCall's magazine, Pauline Kael called the film "the sugar-coated lie people seem to want to eat", and that audiences have "turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs."[93][Note 5] Wise later recalled, "The East Coast, intellectual papers and magazines destroyed us, but the local papers and the trades gave us great reviews".[87] Indeed, reviewers such as Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "three hours of visual and vocal brilliance",[87] and Variety called it "a warmly-pulsating, captivating drama set to the most imaginative use of the lilting R-H tunes, magnificently mounted and with a brilliant cast".[87] The "wildly mixed film reviews" reflected the critical response to the stage musical, according to The Oxford Companion to the American Musical.[95] After its Los Angeles premiere on March 10, The Sound of Music opened in 131 theaters in the United States, including a limited number of roadshow events.[87] After four weeks, the film became the number one box office movie in the country and held that position for thirty out of the next forty-three weeks in 1965.[96] The original theatrical release of the film in America lasted four and a half years.[96]

A few months after its United States release, The Sound of Music opened in 261 theaters in other countries, the first American movie to be completely dubbed in a foreign language, both dialogue, and music.[97] The German, French, Italian, and Spanish versions were completely dubbed, the Japanese version had Japanese dialogue with English songs, and other versions were released with foreign subtitles. The film was a popular success in every country it opened, except the two countries where the story originated, Austria and Germany.[98]

In these two countries, the film had to compete with the much-loved Die Trapp-Familie (1956), which provided the original inspiration for the Broadway musical, and its sequel Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (1958), both films are still widely popular in German-speaking Europe and considered the authoritative von Trapp story.[98] Austrians took exception to the liberties taken by the filmmakers with regard to the costumes, which did not reflect the traditional style and the replacement of traditional Austrian folk songs with Broadway show tunes.[98] The film's Nazi theme was especially unpopular in Germany, where the Munich branch manager for 20th Century Fox approved the unauthorized cutting of the entire third act of the film following the wedding sequence—the scenes showing Salzburg following the Anschluss. Robert Wise and the studio intervened, the original film was restored, and the branch manager was fired.[99]

The Sound of Music holds an 83% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on seventy-two reviews. The site's consensus states: "Unapologetically sweet and maybe even a little corny, The Sound of Music will win over all but the most cynical filmgoers with its classic songs and irresistible warmth."[100]

The Sound of Music is one of the most commercially successful films of all time.[101] Four weeks after its theatrical release, it became the number one box office movie in the United States,[102] from revenue generated by twenty-five theaters, each screening only ten roadshow performances per week.[96] It held the number one position for thirty of the next forty-three weeks,[96] and ended up the highest-grossing film of 1965.[103] One contributing factor in the film's early commercial success was the repeat business of many filmgoers.[97] In some cities in the United States, the number of tickets sold exceeded the total population.[97][Note 6] By January 1966, the film had earned $20 million in distributor rentals from just 140 roadshow engagements in the United States and Canada.[104] Worldwide, The Sound of Music broke previous box-office records in twenty-nine countries,[105] including the United Kingdom, where it played for a record-breaking three years at the Dominion Theatre in London[106] and earned £4 million in rentals and grossed £6 million—more than twice as much as any other film had taken in.[105] It was also a major success in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, where it played for as long as two years at some theaters. It was not a universal success, however, with the film only enjoying modest success in France and it was a flop in Germany. It also initially performed poorly in Italy, but a re-release after the Oscars brought better results.[107] It was number one at the US box office for a further 11 weeks in 1966, for a total of 41 weeks at number one. By November 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest-grossing film of all time, with over $67.5 million in worldwide rentals ($125 million in gross receipts),[105] surpassing Gone with the Wind, which held that distinction for twenty-four years.[108][Note 7] It was still in the top ten at the US box office in its 100th week of release.[109]

The Sound of Music completed its initial four-and-a-half year theatrical release run in the United States on Labor Day 1969, the longest initial run for a film in the US, having earned $68,313,000 in rentals in the United States and Canada.[110][107] It played for 142 weeks at the Eglinton Theatre in Toronto.[111] It was the first film to gross over $100 million.[112] By December 1970, it had earned $121.5 million in worldwide rentals, which was over four times higher than the film's estimated break-even point of $29.5 million in rentals.[113] The film was re-released in 1973,[114][115] and increased its North American rentals to $78.4 million.[116] By the end of the 1970s, it was ranked seventh in all-time North American rentals, having earned $79 million.[117] The film's re-release in 1990[115] increased the total North American admissions to 142,415,400—the third-highest number of tickets sold behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars—and about 283.3 million admissions worldwide.[118][119] The Sound of Music eventually earned a total domestic gross of $163,214,076 and a total worldwide gross of $286,214,076.[120] Adjusted for inflation, the film earned about $2.366 billion at 2014 prices—placing it among the top ten highest-grossing films of all time.[118]

The Sound of Music has been included in numerous top film lists from the American Film Institute.

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – No. 55[125]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 40[126]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – No. 41[127]
• AFI's 100 Years of Musicals – No. 4[128]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – No. 27[129]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • "The Sound of Music" – No. 10[130]
  • "My Favorite Things" – No. 64[130]
  • "Do-Re-Mi" – No. 88[130]

The first American television transmission of The Sound of Music was on February 29, 1976, on ABC, which paid $15 million (equivalent to $71,429,825 in 2021) for a one-time only broadcast that became one of the top 20 rated films shown on television to that point[131] with a Nielsen rating of 33.6 and an audience share of 49%.[132] The movie was not shown again until NBC acquired the broadcast rights in June 1977 for $21.5 million for 20 showings over 22 years and telecast the film on February 11, 1979.[133][134] NBC continued to air the film annually for twenty years.[131] During most of its run on NBC, the film was heavily edited to fit a three-hour time slot—approximately 140 minutes without commercials, which inevitably cut 30 minutes out of the original film.[135]

The film aired in its uncut form (minus the entr'acte) on April 9, 1995, on NBC. Julie Andrews hosted the four-hour telecast which presented the musical numbers in a letterboxed format. As the film's home video availability cut into its television ratings, NBC let their contract lapse in 2001. That year, the film was broadcast one time on the Fox network, in its heavily edited 140-minute version. Since 2002, the film has aired on ABC on a Sunday night prior to Christmas and has been broadcast on its sister cable network, Freeform, periodically around Easter and other holidays. Most of its more recent runs have been the full version in a four-hour time slot, complete with the entr'acte. ABC first broadcast a high-definition version on December 28, 2008. On December 22, 2013, the annual broadcast had its highest ratings since 2007; the increase in ratings were credited to NBC's broadcast of The Sound of Music Live!—a live television adaptation of the original musical which aired earlier that month.[136]

In the United Kingdom, the film rights were acquired by the BBC, who paid a corporation record $4.1 million,[137] and it was first aired on BBC One on 25 December 1978 and, as of December 2016, fifteen times since, mostly around Christmas time. As the BBC channels in Britain are not funded by advertising there was no need to cut scenes to fit within a timeslot and the film was screened in the full 174-minute version without breaks.[138] The film was also intended to be part of the BBC's programming during the outbreak of nuclear war.[139]

Notably, this film was one of the very first movies released by Magnetic Video, in 1977. Upon release, this film was known to be too long to be released on a single VHS tape (especially with VHS length constraints at the time). To solve the issue, Magnetic Video placed the movie on two VHS tapes (the first tape being 120 minutes long and the second tape being 60 minutes long). They did the same with Betamax, albeit with slightly different running times.[140] Throughout the 1980s, CBS/Fox Video released the movie on two VHS tapes - sometimes placing both tapes in one double sleeve, other times releasing the tapes in separate sleeves; the same thing happened with Betamax, replacing a small red label with a blue label.[141] After several two tape releases throughout the era (including a few releases in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Collection), the movie was finally released on one VHS tape in the '20th Century Fox Family Feature' catalog in 1996 (when the company was known as Fox Video); this release was also THX Certified.[142] In the later years, the movie was released on VHS single-tape only, in collections and other general releases.

The film has been released on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD numerous times. The first DVD version was released on August 29, 2000, to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the film's release.[143] The film is often included in box sets with other Rodgers & Hammerstein film adaptations.[143] A 40th anniversary DVD, with "making of" documentaries and special features, was released on November 15, 2005.[143] The film made its debut issue on Blu-ray Disc on November 2, 2010, for its 45th anniversary.[143][144][145] For the Blu-ray release, the original 70 mm negatives were rescanned at 8K resolution, then restored and remastered at 4K resolution for the transfer to Blu-ray, giving the most detailed copy of the film seen thus far. On March 10, 2015, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released The Sound of Music 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition—a five-disc set featuring thirteen hours of bonus features, including a new documentary, The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg.[143][146] A March 2015 episode of ABC's 20/20 entitled The Untold Story of the Sound of Music featured a preview of the documentary and interviews by Diane Sawyer.[147]

In part to the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the film was made available on the Disney+ streaming service upon its debut on November 12, 2019.[148]