The Sound of Music Bluray Review
The Sound of Music was not one of my parents’ favorite things, so consequently, I don’t have fond childhood memories like I do of the Wizard of Oz or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which were always Christmas perennials in our house. . When I was a teenager, I can remember that every time the movie came out on television, the channel changed rapidly before Julie Andrews sang the first line of the title song. It’s easy to understand why, because The Sound of Music didn’t look good on pan and scan on a 24-inch screen and it certainly didn’t sound good through small Mono speakers.
It’s safe to say that the film is often easily dismissed as being too goofy and terribly outdated even by the time it was made in 1965, after the entire on-stage show had first been a hit in 1959 and would be the one. last of Rodgers & Hammerstein together. When I finally got to see it in its entirety in my 20s, I had the advantage of watching it on DVD on a 32-inch wide-screen TV and was totally captivated by it. Director Robert Wise, who edited Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, managed to tell the Von Trapps story with all the songs, but without saccharine. He also captured the reality of The Anschluß without preaching or oversimplifying the politics of Nazi Germany and its occupation of Austria in 1938.
Now we come to the 45th anniversary Blu-ray edition and I am totally blown away by the movie again and this time I have the benefit of watching it with my 5 year old son and I am amazed that he is enthralled by the tour. from Salzburg that is Do-Re-Mi, the stunning digitally restored 70mm print that fills the 50-inch plasma screen with glorious 1080p / AVC MPEG-4 transfer that must be among the best I’ve seen. Every note resonates crystal clear in flawless 7.1 DTS-HD quality and you realize that what you saw on old TVs growing up in the 1980s could never do the 1965 Best Picture Oscar winner justice and must be partially responsible for the bad reputation the film had had for so many years.
The bundle comes with a second Blu-ray packed to the brim with extras, the best of which, for my taste, is Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies, a feature film retrospective showing the full story of their successful creative collaboration. organized by the original. internship Maria Von Trapp, Mary Martin. There is also a lengthy interview with screenwriter Ernest Lehman, who also wrote Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, in which he recounts the process of bringing his vision of The Sound of Music to movie audiences, in large part he has to thank him for removing much of it. of sentimentality. of the libretto and injecting it with authenticity and genuine wit.
I hope it has now been restored to its former glory, future audiences will be blessed to grow up with this wonderful story of a family’s struggle through song to travel through the Alps and far beyond the clutches of the Third. Adolf Hitler’s Reich with some of the best popular songs written in the 20th century; not just the title track and Do-Re-Mi, but also My Favorite Things, Lonely Goatherd and Edelweiss, packed with standout performances by the indefatigable Julie Andrews and a dryly humorous twist as the stern patriarch of the fearsome Christopher Plummer. The Sound of Music looks as crisp and bright as a new pin on Blu-ray and as a testament to its enduring appeal, my son has asked me to play Do-Re-Mi every day this month!