The Sound of Music(1965)

Other
2h 52m

Release Date: Mar 2, 1965 | Limited

A young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Mar 2, 1965

2018 Re-release (Fathom Entertainment) | Sep 9, 2018

60th Anniversary (Fathom Entertainment) | Sep 12, 2025

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Box Office Results

All Releases (3)
Total US & Canada:
$160,888,776
Total International
$520,541
Total Worldwide:
$161,424,863

Total International
$94,121
Total Worldwide:
$94,121

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Director & Top Cast

Robert Wise
Director

Julie Andrews
Maria

Christopher Plummer
Captain Georg von Trapp

Eleanor Parker
The Baroness

Richard Haydn
Max Detweiler

Peggy Wood
Mother Abbess

Charmian Carr

Liesl von Trapp

Heather Menzies-Urich

Louisa von Trapp

Nicholas Hammond

Friedrich von Trapp

Duane Chase

Kurt von Trapp

Angela Cartwright

Brigitta von Trapp

Debbie Turner

Marta von Trapp

Kym Karath

Gretl von Trapp

Anna Lee

Sister Margaretta

Portia Nelson

Sister Berthe

Ben Wright

Herr Zeller

Daniel Truhitte

Rolfe

Norma Varden

Frau Schmidt

Technical Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.20 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,German

Summaries

Plot Summary

Maria (Julie Andrews) is found in a pasture, exulting in the musical inspiration she finds there ("The Sound of Music"). Maria is a Postulant in Nonnberg Abbey, where she is constantly getting into mischief and is the nuns' despair ("Maria").Maria's life suddenly changes when a widowed Austrian Navy Captain, Georg Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) writes to the abbey asking for a governess for his seven children. Mother Abbess asks Maria to take the position on a probationary basis; previous governesses, though, have not lasted long. She is worried about what awaits her at the Von Trapp household but is determined to succeed ("I Have Confidence").Maria, upon arrival at the Von Trapp estate, finds that the Captain keeps it in strict shipshape order, blows a whistle, issues orders, and dresses his children in sailor-suit uniforms. While they are initially hostile to her, they warm to her when she comforts them during a thunderstorm ("My Favorite Things"). Liesl (Charmian Carr), the oldest, who is "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", sneaks into Maria's window after a secret meeting with a messenger boy, Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte). At first, she is adamant that she "doesn't need a governess", but Maria offers to be her friend, and she acquiesces. Maria teaches them how to sing ("Do-Re-Mi") and to play, sewing play clothes for them from discarded drapes in her room.The Captain entertains a visit from a lady friend, Baroness Elsa Schroeder (Eleanor Parker), a wealthy socialite from Vienna, along with mutual friend Max Detweiler (Richard Haydn), who is intent on finding an obscure musical act to launch at the upcoming Salzburg Music Festival. The Captain becomes aware that Maria has been taking the children on picnics and bicycle rides, climbed trees with them, and taken them in a boat on the lake adjoining his estate. When the boat capsizes, Maria and all of the children (wearing their clothes made from the former curtains) fall into the water. The Captain turns his wrath on her and Maria begs him to pay attention to the children and love them, but he orders her to return to the abbey.When he discovers the children performing a reprise of "The Sound of Music" for the Baroness, he changes his mind. Maria has brought music back into his home, and he begs her to stay. Things get better at the household. She and the children perform a puppet show ("The Lonely Goatherd") that Max gave to them. He announces that he has entered the children in the Salzburg Festival; the Captain, however, forbids their participation. Maria and the children insist that he sing a song, knowing that he used to play and sing with a guitar, and he agrees ("Edelweiss").At a soiree thrown in Baroness Schroeder's honor, eleven-year-old Kurt observes guests dancing the Laendler, and asks Maria to teach him the steps. The Captain cuts in and partners her in a graceful performance, culminating in a close clinch. At that moment, she breaks off and blushes. The children perform "So Long, Farewell" to say goodnight to the guests, receiving enthusiastic applause. The Baroness, jealous of Maria, convinces her to return to Nonnberg.Maria leaves the estate and returns to the abbey, where she keeps herself in seclusion until Mother Abbess gently confronts her, urging her to "Climb Every Mountain" in search of God's will for her. At this command, she returns to the Von Trapp family, finding that the Captain is now engaged to the Baroness. However, he breaks off the engagement, realizing that he is in love with Maria. He meets Maria in his gazebo, and they declare their love for each other ("Something Good"). The two wed in an elaborate ceremony at the Salzburg Cathedral, with many of Austria's elite, as well as the nuns from Nonnberg Abbey, in attendance.While the new couple is away on their honeymoon in Paris, Max grooms the children to perform in the Salzburg Music Festival, against the Captain's wishes. At the same time, Austria is annexed into the Third Reich in the Anschluss (actual date was March 12, 1938). When the Captain returns, he is informed that he must report as soon as possible to the Nazi Naval Headquarters in Bremerhaven, to accept a commission in the German Navy. He is opposed to Nazism, and stalls by insisting he must perform with his family that night in the Salzburg Festival, now politicized and showcased as a Nazi event under the patronage of Hans Zeller (Ben Wright), recently appointed as the Nazi Gauleiter. Zeller agrees but orders the Captain to depart immediately after the performance.The choreography of the final song, "So Long, Farewell", allows the family to leave slowly, a few at a time, and as the winners are announced, they flee. At first, they hide in the abbey, but are discovered by Rolfe (who had joined the Nazi party), who threatens to shoot the Captain despite being visibly scared of having to do so. The Captain unsuccessfully attempts to persuade Rolfe to join them; he calls for his lieutenant instead, and the Von Trapps flee again. The Nazis are unable to pursue them, as the nuns have stolen their spark plug wires and ignition coil. The final shot shows the Von Trapps climbing over the Alps into Switzerland, as "Climb Every Mountain", performed by a choir, swells to a conclusion.

Storyline

In 1930s Austria, a young woman named Maria is failing miserably in her attempts to become a nun. When Navy Captain Georg Von Trapp writes to the abbey asking for a governess that can handle his seven mischievous children, Maria is given the job. His wife is dead, he is often away, and he runs the household as strictly as he does the ships he sails on. The children are unhappy and resentful of the governesses that he keeps hiring and have managed to run each of them off one by one. When Maria arrives, she is initially met with the same hostility, but her kindness, understanding, and sense of fun soon draws the children to her and brings some much-needed joy into all their lives, including the Captain's. Eventually he and Maria find themselves falling in love, even though he is already engaged to a Baroness named Elsa and Maria is still a postulant. The romance makes them both start questioning the decisions they have made. Their personal conflicts soon become overshadowed, however, by world events. Austria is about to come under Germany's control, and the Captain may soon find himself drafted into the German Navy and forced to fight against his own country. — LOTUS73 In 1930s Salzburg, Maria is a novice at a convent, she always having thought about being a nun growing up on the hills above town and being able to see above the convent walls to the goings-on inside when she was a child. The sisters, including the Mother Abbess, however openly muse about Maria's fitness as a nun, they not questioning her faith but rather her temperament, as she always seems to be getting into one form of trouble or another. As such, the Mother Abbess feels it best, against Maria's wishes, for her to leave the convent if only temporarily to see if distance will provide some clarity for all of them, Mother able to secure her a position as governess for wealthy widowed Navy Captain Georg Von Trapp's seven children, age range from sixteen year old Liesl to five year old Gretl. It is a difficult transition for Maria working under the extremely regimented mentality of the Captain who treats his children and her like they were in the military, especially since the passing of their mother, to dealing with the disruptive children who have gone through many governesses in they not wanting a governess but rather love from a present father and a mother. As Maria is able to soften the workings of the household, first with the children and then the Captain, the latter may see what the children need, namely a mother, he having chosen wealthy Vienna-based Baroness Elsa Schraeder. What he is unaware of is that while she wants to be Mrs. Captain Von Trapp and live the life of gaiety and wealth, the Baroness has no want to be a mother to the seven children. Complicating matters are, in no particular order, the Nazi takeover of Austria, the Captain ultra-Nationalistic who has no intention of working within the Nazi regime, and Maria and the Captain falling in love with each other, neither wanting to admit so both because of the Baroness and Maria's long and singular course of being a nun. — Huggo In the middle of second World War, a young female is hired as a nanny to take care of the kids of a big working family. With all the trouble that is happening around them, they do everything that they can to survive and get through the difficult times. — RECB3 Maria had longed to be a nun since she was a young girl, yet when she became old enough, she discovered that it wasn't at all what she thought. Often in trouble and doing the wrong things, she is sent to the house of retired Naval Captain Georg von Trapp to care for his seven children. He was widowed several years before and was left to care for the children, who have run off countless governesses. Maria soon learns that all they need is a little love to change their attitudes. She teaches them to sing, and through her, music is brought back into the hearts and home of the Trapp family. Unknowingly, Maria and the Captain are falling helplessly in love, except there are two problems: he is engaged to a Baroness named Elsa and she is a postulant. — Katy Richardson 2 more All