A young, dream-filled woman, named Maria, is enjoying her time hanging out on a hill. However, the chimes in town ring, meaning that she has to return to the abbey.

But when she gets there, the head nun, Mother Abbess, tells her that she doesn’t seem to be taking her nun-training seriously. To prove that she can be responsible, she sends Maria to be the governess of the von Trapp family–who is made up of a retired captain with 7 children.

Maria fights through her anxiety of being a successful governess. She meets the father, Georg von Trapp, who is strict when it comes to disciplining his children. For example, he requires them all to be in bed by a certain time–no exceptions.

Georg whistles to call his kids down. They are, in birth order, Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. They all stand in a line and step out one by one. Each child introduces him or herself and states his or her age.

Georg also adds how the kids have driven their previous governesses crazy, prompting them to quit. They still misbehave by pulling pranks. 

The oldest child, Liesl, sneaks out to see her boyfriend, Rolfe. After that, she enters the house through the window of the room where Maria is staying. Despite not wanting a governess, presumably due to her age (16), Liesl changes her mind and accepts Maria.

The thunderstorm intensifies and the rest of the children come into the room since they are scared. Maria helps them get past it by having them think of things they like, leading to the song, “My Favorite Things.” The kids have fun singing… until their father tells them to go to bed.

Maria feels sorry that the kids always have to work and never play. So, she uses the drapes in her room and makes play clothes for them. They wear them the next day when Maria takes them on an outing. 

What surprises her is that they have never learned to sing. So, she teaches them using the song, “Do-Re-Mi.” They continue to have fun throughout the day.

Meanwhile, Georg is spending time with this woman, Elsa, who considers marrying him since he lost his wife years ago. Then without any hints, he hears his children singing and having a good time with Maria as they ride a boat on the lake nearby.

Although he is unhappy at first, he later hears them singing for Elsa. He is then impressed. He even sings himself.

That evening, he has a party as a way to celebrate his possible engagement to Elsa. The kids don’t know that, though. They have fun until they have to go to bed.

Not long after, Elsa tells Maria something that scares her, especially after Georg has invited her to stay. Maria then runs away.

The children are then playing ball with Elsa, and they are not enjoying it. They sneak out to the abbey to see Maria. But one of the nuns says that she isn’t there.

They return home and sing, “My Favorite Things” again. And by surprise, Maria comes back for them, and they are so happy. Eventually, she marries Georg and becomes their stepmother.

However, things are getting worse while she and Georg are on their honeymoon. Austria is now in danger since it was added to Germany, which was taken over by nazis. Georg and Maria return home shortly after. They start fleeing to Switzerland–only to be stopped right after.

My Thoughts

Even though this movie is almost 3 hours long (although it does have an intermission, something not uncommon for films released in the 20th century), it kept me engaged all the way through. I even considered it to be fast paced. One of the reasons why is how most of the songs were short. Many were also very catchy.

I particularly loved the relationship between Maria and the von Trapp children. It was so sweet how she made their lives fun and how much they enjoyed spending time with her. So, it became beautiful to see her become their new mother. Liesl even stated how she enjoyed calling her Mother, after she married their father.

I also admired how Georg changed from being a strict parent who required his kids to receive a high level of discipline to being softer. 

The children also had a high amount of screentime, although some of them didn’t get a lot of lines–thus didn’t have a large amount of development. But that didn’t ruin the story. I think in this case, the story was executed in a way that only certain characters needed a good amount of development. Otherwise, the film might have been too long.

Another fact is how this movie is based on a true story of the real von Trapp family. However, not surprisingly, a lot of details were changed. In fact, the real von Trapps had no say in how they were going to be portrayed. But I’m sure there were still laws controlling how they could be depicted without getting in trouble.

One detail from real life that might surprise you is that Maria only tutored one of the von Trapp children since she was sick with scarlet fever–therefore couldn’t attend school. She was also harsher, and Georg was warmer. The filmmakers probably thought that reversing that as well, as making Maria teach all the children instead of one, was necessary for the movie to succeed.

I don’t know about the real von Trapps, but I found it unsatisfactory that Georg treated all the kids the same way, regardless of their ages. I think he should have learned to treat them more uniquely based on their ages and maturity levels. For example, his eldest three ranged from ages 13 to 16. I think they were a little too old for bedtimes.

That’s another parenting issue. How are your kids going to grow if you don’t let them take risks, challenges, or make their own choices? Hopefully, Georg realized that after the events of this movie, and treated his children more uniquely and age-appropriately.

Overall impression

The Sound of Music brings joy and fun for the whole family–that’s right. Even younger kids can watch it. Every scene is lighthearted, including the darker ones.

I give this film 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to everyone.