I think it's around now that we're getting to movies for which I really don't have much to say. I mean, I've seen the Sound of Music, and everyone else has too. What can be said about it that hasn't yet been said?
The photography/cinematography is great. Clearly, the Austrian and Bavarian filming locations help, but even the indoor scenes (probably shot in a Hollywood studio) are beautiful. In every way My Fair Lady is shot like a musical play, the Sound of Music is shot like a film. I can't imagine seeing the play version, when the sets could not possibly compare. And, of course, the songs are great. Unlike Audrey Hepburn, Julie Andrews actually COULD and DID sing, and her voice is much more memorable and melty than Marni Nixon's dubbing in My Fair Lady (though, interestingly enough, Marni Nixon played a bit part as one of the nuns in the Sound of Music as well). The characters are great, the story is great, etc.
But the main problem with this film is its sudden tone shift with little development. Though the Baroness and the Captain (Christopher Plummer) seemed to be genuinely in love, and the Captain and Tennille--oops, Maria--seemed to have a compatible, friendly, platonic relationship, suddenly the Captain was in love with Maria out of nowhere. Dancing together once does not add up to love. And what's with this, "I loved you when you blew the whistle," and all that crap? I'm sorry, it's just NOT true to the viewer. The intermission has ended, and there is not a lot of time left in which to suddenly cram in a mutual love declaration and wedding, a singing performance, AND the Anschluss. So they take a sequel's worth of plot and fit it into half an hour. Pacing suffers, and the end product suffers. Either way, it's a 9/10.
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