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The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed and produced by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is derived from the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the musical book written by the writing team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, and the screenplay written by Ernest Lehman. Based on the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young woman who leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the seven children of a naval officer widower. The Sound of Music contains several popular songs, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", "The Lonely Goatherd", and the title song, "The Sound of Music".

The Sound of Music was filmed on location in Salzburg, Austria; the state of Bavaria in Germany; and at the 20th Century Fox studios inCalifornia, United States. It was photographed in the 70mm Todd-AO format by Ted D. McCord. The film won five Academy Awardsincluding Best Picture and displaced Gone with the Wind as the highest-grossing film of all-time. The cast album was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

In 1938, living as a young postulant at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg, Austria, Maria is constantly getting into mischief to the consternation of the nuns and the Mother Abbess. After receiving a request from a widowed Austrian naval captain for a governess for his seven children, Mother Abbess asks Maria to accept the position, and Maria reluctantly agrees. When she arrives at the von Trapp estate, Maria discovers that Captain Georg von Trapp keeps it in strict shipshape order, uses a whistle to summon his children, issues orders, and dresses his children in sailor-suit uniforms. Although initially hostile toward her, the children eventually warm to her and she teaches them how to sing and allows them to .

The Captain takes an extended visit to a lady friend, Baroness Elsa Schraeder, a wealthy socialite from Vienna, who accompanies him on his return. While taking a boat ride on the lake, the children become excited at their father's return and cause the boat to capsize, precipitating an argument between the Captain and Maria. The Captain is displeased with the activities she has arranged for the children and furiously orders her to return to the abbey. However, the Captain later relents when he hears the children singing for the Baroness, and apologizes to Maria and asks her to stay. Max Detweiler—a mutual friend of the Captain and the Baroness—who is searching for a novel musical act to enter into the upcoming Salzburg Festival, is impressed by the children's singing, but the Captain forbids their participation.

At a banquet the Captain has organized in honor of Baroness Schraeder, eleven-year-old Kurt the guests dancing the Ländler and he asks Maria to teach him the steps. When the Captain sees Maria dancing in the moonlight, he cuts in and partners her in a graceful performance, culminating in a close embrace; Maria breaks away and blushes, confused about her feelings. At the end of the evening, the Baroness, noticing the Captain's attraction to Maria, convinces her to return to the abbey. Back at the abbey, Maria keeps herself in seclusion until Mother Abbess persuades her to return to the von Trapp family. When she discovers that the Captain is now engaged to the Baroness, she agrees to stay until they find a replacement governess. Realizing that he is in love with Maria, the Captain breaks off the engagement, and they subsequently declare their love for each other; soon after, the two are married in an elaborate ceremony.

While the Captain and Maria are on their honeymoon in Paris, Max enters the children in the Salzburg Music Festival against their father's wishes. Austria is annexed into theThird Reich in the Anschluss, and upon their return the Captain is informed by telegram that he must report as soon as possible to the German Naval Headquarters in Bremerhavento accept a commission in the German Navy. Strongly opposed to Nazism, the Captain tells his family they must leave Austria. As the von Trapp family attempts to leave during the night, they are stopped by Nazi guards outside their estate. They lie to the guards claiming they are performing in the Salzburg Festival, so Hans Zeller, the recently appointed Nazi Gauleiter, agrees to accompany them to the hall, but insists that the Captain depart for Germany immediately after the performance. The family takes part in the contest and slip away during their final number, seeking shelter from the patrolling guards at the abbey cemetery. They are discovered hiding by Rolfe (a former messenger boy enamoured of the Captain's sixteen-year-old daughter, Liesl, but now a proud Nazi) who threatens to shoot the Captain. The Captain is able to disarm the boy and tries to persuade him to escape with them, but Rolfe calls for assistance. After the family escapes in a waiting car, the Nazis try to pursue but their cars fail to start, having being sabotaged by the nuns. The von Trapp family hikes over the Alps into Switzerland and to freedom.

Cast

• Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp, a free-spirited young Austrian woman, studying to become a nun. Due to her often singing and running seeming somewhat out of place in the abbey, Mother Abbess sends her to the nearby city of Salzburg to be governess to the seven children of Captain von Trapp. She later marries Captain von Trapp, after realizing her feelings towards him. Andrews, who had won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role the previous year for Mary Poppins, was the frontrunner to win the award again in 1965, but lost to Julie Christie (for Darling); Andrews did, however, win the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical or Comedy of1965.

• Christopher Plummer as Captain Georg von Trapp, a veteran Austrian navy captain whose wife died, leaving behind their seven children. He applies his military background in raising them according to strict naval discipline, but his attitude to the children and Maria softens considerably after she reintroduces music in the family. Plummer's singing voice was dubbed by Bill Lee.

• Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa von Schraeder, the Captain's lady friend from Vienna, and later fiancée for a short period. She becomes jealous of Maria, and convinces her to leave during a grand party at the house by exploiting her inner conflict about becoming a nun and her discomfort at the Captain's obvious affection towards her. However, she later regrets her actions, and decides to return to Vienna, convincing the Captain to share his true feelings for Maria.

• Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler, a good friend of both the Baroness and the Captain, and an impresario. In searching Salzburg for talented singers, he finds what he wants in the von Trapp family, and constantly tries to convince the Captain to let him enter the children in the Salzburg Music Festival.

• Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp, the first and eldest child, sixteen "going on seventeen". She believes she doesn't need a governess at first, but soon comes to trust Maria. She is in love with a messenger named Rolfe, who delivers their telegrams, but he later betrays her and her family. Charmian Carr's sister, Darleen, sang some of her highobbligato parts.^[3]

• Nicholas Hammond as Friedrich von Trapp, the second child and eldest son, fourteen. He is very quiet and is also something of a gentleman, despite his involvement in the tricks against the previous governesses, which the children confess were merely to get the Captain's attention. After Maria arrives, he tells her that he "is impossible" according to "Fraulein Josephine: four governesses ago".

• Heather Menzies as Louisa von Trapp, the third child, thirteen. She and Brigitta are often together, and she is a bit of a daydreamer. Her two favorite tricks on governesses are to fill their beds with spiders and pretend that she is one of the other girls, such as Brigitta- she tries this ruse on Maria, but fails.

• Duane Chase as Kurt von Trapp, the fourth child and youngest boy, eleven. He often tries to act manly and is outspoken against the previous governesses and often questions Maria about things, once trying to learn an Austrian folk dance, and what incorrigible meant.

• Angela Cartwright as Brigitta von Trapp, the fifth child, ten. She is sharp-witted, honest, somewhat nonconformist, and not afraid to speak her mind about things (remarking that Maria's dress is ugly, although Kurt says Fraulein Hilda's was ugliest). Brigitta is depicted reading a book when she first appears. Maria later remarks that Brigitta notices everything.

• Debbie Turner as Marta von Trapp, the sixth child- she is six when Maria meets her, but announces that her seventh birthday is approaching. She gets along well with Maria. She is the first child to show Maria kindness. She shares Maria's love of the color pink, and hopes to get a pink parasol for her birthday.

• Kym Karath as Gretl von Trapp, the seventh and youngest child, five. She initially comes across as shy—her father has to give Maria her name—but she's soon warm towards Maria. She is the second child to show Maria kindness, saying that she likes her.

• Peggy Wood as Mother Abbess, the head of Nonnberg Abbey, who convinces Maria to leave there and explore life as a governess for a while. When she returns, she has Maria explain why she left and realizes she is in love, and convinces her to return and face her problems, to see what might come of this love. Peggy Wood was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress—Motion Picture of 1965. for her performance. Her singing voice was dubbed by Margery McKay.

• Anna Lee as Sister Margaretta, a nun who looks fondly on Maria. She, as well as Sister Berthe, helps her to escape by sabotaging the cars of the Gauleiter and his soldiers.

• Portia Nelson as Sister Berthe, a nun who does not believe Maria belongs in the abbey; she nevertheless helps her escape by sabotaging the cars of the Gauleiter and his soldiers.

• Marni Nixon as Sister Sophia. She first appears expressing her opinion of Maria to her fellow nuns. She was cast in the role by director Robert Wise.

• Daniel Truhitte as Rolfe, a messenger who is in love with Liesl. The two become estranged after his enthusiasm for the Nazi cause leads him to forsake Liesl, partly as he realises that her father does not support Adolf Hitler and thus has no regard for him.

• Ben Wright as Herr Zeller, Gauleiter, an enthusiast for the Third Reich. He takes a contrary tone with the patriotic Captain as early as the party held for the Baroness. After the Anschluss he is appointed Gauleiter of the region.

• The famous marionette puppet sequence for the song "The Lonely Goatherd" was produced and performed by the leading puppeteers of the day, Bil Baird and Cora Eisenberg-Baird. The MacNider Art Museum in Mason City, Iowa owns and displays a large collection of Baird marionettes, including those used in The Sound of Music.