Pamela’s Picks: The Sound Of Music

Sound Of Music

This year marks fifty years since the debut of one of my favorite movies The Sound Of Music in 1965. Based on the book The Story of The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Von Trapp this is an adaptation of her life story of a postulant nun who is sent to be the governess to the seven children of Captain Von Trapp in 1930s Austria. She brings music into their lives and eventually she and the Captain fall in love and get married. After the  Anschluss, because they do not agree with Nazi beliefs, and after winning first prize in a music festival, they flee across the mountains to Switzerland. It is interesting to compare the differences between the events in the book and the movie. For instance the real family was already musical long before Maria joined it and the Captain was not a martinet as he was portrayed in the movie. Maria married the Captain around a decade before they had to leave Austria and they later had two daughters and one son together who do not appear in the film. The family left Austria for Italy not Switzerland, by train not by foot. But learning these things does not take away anything from enjoying the movie. Sadly, the last surviving original von Trapp child, Maria (Louisa in the movie) died just last year. But the family’s legacy lives on in the books and movies that feature them.

About Pamela

Pamela is an Information Assistant at Vaughan Public Libraries. She loves reading all kinds of books including fantasy, historical fiction, mysteries and non-fiction.  |  Meet the team