Rogers and Hammerstein wrote the songs for the 1959 Broadway musical "The Sound of Music" that starred Mary Martin, and several of them are still well-known, including "Edelweiss," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," and "Do-Re-Mi." Jazz fans are familiar with John Coltrane's rendition of "My Favorite Things."
In 1965, a screen version of the musical was released with Julie Andrews playing the lead. The film is beloved by many, but there's a sizable group of people who enjoy referring to it, as did critic Pauline Kael, as "The Sound of Mucus."
However, "The Sound of Music" was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director (Robert Wise). The film ranks 55th on AFI's list of the 100 greatest American movies.
The movie is set in Salzburg, Austria, on the eve of World War II. The story is based loosely on the real-life Von Trapp family.
"The Sound of Music" has been available on DVD for some time, notably in the two-disc Five Star Collection edition released in 2000. On November 15, 2005, the movie becomes available in the two-disc 40th Anniversary Edition, which contains several bonus materials not previously on DVD. Also, the 2005 DVD set carries over some, but not nearly all, of the extras that were on the Five Star Collection version. The 40th Anniversary Edition is a very attractive offering, but I suppose hard-core "Sound of Music" fans will want to own both editions.
The new edition carries over the audio commentary by director Robert Wise, and adds a second audio commentary, this one by leading lady Julie Andrews, leading man Christopher Plummer, Charmian Carr (plays the daughter who performs "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" in the gazebo), choreographer Dee Dee Wood, and Johannes von Trapp (member of the real-life Von Trapp family).
Disc Two of the 40th Anniversary Edition contains the one-hour-three-minute "My Favorite Things: Julie Andrews Remembers," which, the title notwithstanding, is basically a retrospective making-of documentary. The content here is mostly similar to the Five Star Collection's "The Sound of Music: From Fact to Phenomenon," and the earlier documentary was 24 minutes longer.
Also, the 40th Anniversary Edition has the 22-minute "On Location With 'The Sound of Music,'" which essentially serves as a replacement for "Salzburg Sight and Sound" that was on the Five Star Collection.
Brand new material on the 40th Anniversary Edition includes (1) a 19-minute featurette where Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer sit together and reminisce about working on the film 40 years earlier; (2) a 13-minute featurette about a "Sound of Music" sing-along event at the Hollywood Bowl; and (3) a 40-year reunion by the actors who played the seven Von Trapp children in the movie.
Another documentary on the 40th Anniversary Edition is the 46-minute A&E television program on the real-life Von Trapp family, which aired as part of the "Biography" series.
Below I've listed all the details for the "Sound of Music" 40th Anniversary Edition DVD set.
DVD Details:
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Number of Discs: 2
Anamorphic Widescreen (2.20:1), Color
Feature Film Run Time: 2 Hours 54 Minutes
MPAA Rating: G
English 5.0 Dolby Surround
English Stereo
Spanish Mono
French 2.0 Dolby Surround
English Captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Spanish Subtitles
Intro to Movie by Julie Andrews (2 min. 12 sec.)
Audio Commentary by Director Robert Wise
Audio Commentary by Julie Andrews and 4 Others
Singalong (English, French or Spanish)
Songs Only Chapter List (24 Songs)
Intro to Bonus Materials by Julie Andrews (1 min. 49 sec.)
My Favorite Things: Julie Andrews Remembers (1 hr. 3 min.)
Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer: A Reminiscence (19 min.)
On Location With "The Sound of Music" (22 min.)
From Liesl to Gretl: A 40th Anniversary Reunion (33 min.)
Hollywood Bowl Singalong (13 min.)
The Von Trapp Family: Harmony and Discord (46 min.)
Mia Farrow Screen Test (35 sec.)
Restoration Comparison
Trailers & TV Spots
Photo Galleries
