A Complete Curmudgeon's Guide To 'The Sound Of Music'

NPR ^ | 11/08/13 | Linda Holmes

[yarddog]

I didn’t think the movie was all that great but the music was pretty darned good.

Our high school class (class of 65) chose “Climb Every Mountain” as our class song. I still think it was a pretty good choice.

[Huntress]

I love the Sound of Music in all its corny glory and I’ll probably watch this. Having said that, I think Carrie Underwood sings well, but she’s nowhere near the level of Julie Andrews in her prime.

[TurboZamboni]

NBC? I figured “Climb ev’ry mountain” would be “Tax ev’ry producer”.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

I am 46 years old. This movie has aired on network TV just about every year of my life, and I have yet to watch it in its entirety.

Reading this list almost makes me want to. :)

[higgmeister]

Out of "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do," the only one Maria apparently can spell is "la." This is no educator.

I do not even understand what this is supposed to mean. I tried to read a few more but it became obvious that this person is not a curmudgeon but simply an idiot with a proclivity for rationalization. It is "The Sound of Music" and is therefore sacrosanct, period.

[yarddog]

I guess I was around 18 when the movie came out. I thought Liesl was a real babe but I don’t recall ever seeing that actress in anything else.

The Baron had a pretty good voice too.

[elcid1970]

“Innocent as a rose,” Liesl sings while spinning around so her boyfriend can see her underpants.”

I take it this isn’t the Julie Andrews version.

[TEXOKIE]

ROFL!

[jaz.357]

Will "NBC" let them use the "N" words?

(Nazi & Nuns)

[Uncle Chip]

While they are on their daytrip singing in the mountains and hanging from trees they mysteriously change clothes and then change back again. Too much of an effort for them to fix that, I guess.

[central_va]

“The Von Trapp Family Singers”

[BunnySlippers]

The whole von Trapp family stayed at my school [Marymount Girls School] when they had to leave Austria, Yes, it was before my time [1940s?] but I always remembered it when I took classes in the part where they stayed.

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

We enjoyed a “Sound of Music” tour in Salzburg, where most, if not all, of the movie was filmed. We saw the house exterior with the lake, the gazebo, the church where they were married, the graveyard scene, and more.

[Dr. Sivana]

1. Out of "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do," the only one Maria apparently can spell is "la." This is no educator.

Despite her British accent, Maria's primary language is German. Those Italian notes needed correcting anyway.

2. Rolfe is presented as a romantic hero despite the fact that he is clearly intimidated by Liesl's burgeoning sexuality to the point where he calls her "timid and shy and scared" at the very moment she is leaning in

That is called irony. The same thing happens later when Christopher Plummer tells him he's not a man, and Rolfe calls for "Daddy" ("Guard!")

3. You only have 17 favorite things*, and one of them is "doorbells"?

Maria clearly states that these are a FEW of my favorite things. The kids didn't get out much , so she was appealing to things they experience.

4. Maria claims that the hills are alive with the sound of music,[ . . . ] they are, in fact, alive with the sound of wind.

and birds, and things that rustle in the wind. I suppose that when Homer tells his muse to sing, that there is no evidence an actual tune comes out should put the Iliad into the realm of kitsch as well?

5. Maria needs a gap year, or she's going to enter into a series of unsatisfying short careers.

I have known several women who entered the convent and decided against the religious life, going on into stable and loving marriages. Also, when you are in the shadow of the Thrid Reich, a gap year seems more like a luxury.

6. When Mother Abbess tells Maria, "Climb ev'ry mountain," she is setting a very unrealistic expectation of success, especially since they are in the Alps.

Well, maybe, but beats the heck out of that journey is the reward business we hear these days.

I could go on. Interestingly, the curmudgeon omits the crowd singing "Goodbye" to the retiring children after their performance at the party. Fact is, the movie holds up quite well 50 years later.

[gaijin]

I have seen this movie 20 times and my father metbthe REAL Maria long ago.

She has a brief unspoken cameo in the movie.

[Kirkwood]

The person who wrote this takes everything literally. Must be completely joyless, lacking in humor and whimsy, and totally obnoxious to boot. But then she works for NPR, so that says it all.

[Revolting cat!]

Then don’t watch it. I won’t, it’s fluff.

[Borges]

It’s good fluff.

[BenLurkin]

“Follow your heart” is the WORST advice you can give to anyone.