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The Sound of Music (40th Anniversary Widescreen Edition) | 
| Studio: Fox Video
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 37.98
Buy New: CDN$ 19.99
You Save: CDN$ 17.99 (47%)
New (8) Used (2) Collectible (1) from CDN$ 18.36
Avg. Customer Rating:  234 reviews
Sales Rank: 94
Format: Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
UPC: 024543208419
EAN: 0024543208419
ASIN: B000B5MBWO
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Essential Video
Some people may sneer at this 1965 musical, but the truth is the film has earned its status as a perennially watchable romantic-drama, largely on the strength of a fun story and chemistry between stars Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Veteran filmmaker Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still) mostly stays out of the way of the film's appealing elements, which include a based-on-fact tale of Austria's von Trapp family, who fled their Nazi-occupied country in 1938. Andrews is delightful and even fascinating as Maria, who sheds her tomboyish ways as a novice nun to accept the mantle of adulthood, becoming matron of the motherless von Trapp clan. Plummer is matinee-idol handsome and gives a smart performance to boot, and the cast of young people and kids who make up the singing von Trapp children make a strong impression. Based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical, the score includes such winners as "Maria" and the future John Coltrane hit "My Favorite Things." --Tom Keogh --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 229 more reviews...
 Needed several belts of Scotch to get through this one June 19, 2005
0 out of 26 found this review helpful
Some movie musicals have aged better than others. THE SOUND OF MUSIC is not one of these. The fault lies in the music; not so much the melodies composed by the great Richard Rodgers, but rather the unpoetic treacle served up by Oscar Hammerstein as lyrics. In fact, all the other film versions of Rodgers and Hammerstein productions (The King and I, South Pacific, Oklahoma!) have dated rather badly for the same reason. All huge blockbusters when they were released, they all seem to suffer from a surfeit of lyrical over sentimentality when viewed today.
On the other hand, more modest musical productions have retained their freshness due in large part of their superior musical qualities. Before he teamed up with Hammerstein, Rodgers had forged a partnership with the infinitely more gifted Lorenz Hart. Their score of "Showboat", or a potpourri of their compositions featured in "Pal Joey" illustrate how great music can elevate more modest productions. And let us not forget the contributions of such greats as Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, amongst others. Now those were fellows who could write witty and memorable lines as relevant today as when they were written.
But those awful Hammerstein lyrics! Without a bottle of good Scotch I don't think I would have been able to see this thing through to the bitter end.
This is not to say that THE SOUND OF MUSIC is without merit. The cinematography is breathtaking and Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer carry off their roles rather well. Robert Wise won the Oscar, but it is still quite a drop off in what he did for "West Side Story" four years earlier.
In all great musicals it is the music that makes the film. In THE SOUND OF MUSIC it is the lack of musical quality that made me cringe every time the cast looked ready to break out in song.
It is no accident that THE SOUND OF MUSIC marked the end of an era in movie making. The saccharine, artificial sentimentality of 1950ish pop music as exemplified by Hammerstein's phoney lyrics was falling rapidly out of favour, even before 1965, and for many avid movie go-ers, THE SOUND OF MUSIC winning Best Picture honours was a real embarrassment.
Incredible movie, must see, but don't buy the one disc July 8, 2004
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
First off. Think you have seen the Sound of Music? Well you haven't. I thought I had, many times. Of course it was always around Xmas with the commerical breaks. But that is a much edited version. There are small but significant cuts everywhere in that version. So this is a great thing to have. My 3 stars relates directly to the lack of extras on the one disc. The movie is 5+ stars, but the lack of extras warrants the 3 stars.So this is a must buy. Also the commentary is very good here. But given the price for this on Amazon, just buy the 2 set version. I got the one disc version at a very good price so it is not a bad buy. But for $6 more, why not enjoy the double DVD? This is a must get for any movie fan, and if you are not into the extras, by all means buy this one. This movie, like all of Rogers and Hammerstein's work is emotional without ever being fake or sentimental. It is full of sentiment and completely honest sentiment at that, but never sentimentality. It totally puts to SHAME almost every director and producer and writer working in Hollywood today. Complete and total shame and disgrace. Nothing coming out of Hollywood today can hold a candle to this. Entire director's careers with academy awards can't even begin to even compare to just this one movie. So get some version, especially if you have young ones. Sit them down, and let them experience what a real movie can be.
 This has been a great thing to share with my daughter. July 3, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I grew up with this video and watched it on TV every year. The songs have always stuck in my head. I even did the Sound of Music Tour when I was in Austria. But now I've got my daughter introduced to this beautiful music. This and the Wizard of Oz are her favorites. I bought the easy piano scores for her to play the songs on the piano, and singing lessons on CD "Voice Lessons TO GO", by Vaccarino (They're great and a lot cheaper than private voice lessons!) for her, (even though I use them when she's at school). So she is confident to sing along while she plays her Edelweis and Do a Dear. We love it.
 Not supercalifragilisticexpialidocious but serenplidity! June 13, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I watched the movie last year and i thought it was pretty good.The story is about a free-spirited young novice nun who was sent to be governess for the seven unmanageable children of a widowed captain. There, she caught the hearts of the children, and unknowingly, the heart of their father too.Loosely adapted from Rodgers and Hammerstein's all-time classic, and inspired by a true story, the sound of music really does live up to its name. Like any archetypical music drama, it features some of the immortal songs ever written like "I have Confidence" and "How to solve the problem of Maria." Entirely shot in Salzburg with an A-list cast, the movie bagged five Oscars, including Best Picture. It showcases the sweeping beauty of Austria. With Julie Andrews as lead Maria, who won Best Actress for her role as the magical nanny Mary Poppins, she returns with a wonderful performance singing and dancing and mingling with children here. Christopher Plummer, a veteran actor who looked like a forever grimacing idol, plays her beloved. Charmien Carr, as eldest daughter Liesl, shines too, with her versatile voice and graceful moves (ballet moves, if you call it). I'd think this is one brilliant film...as i've mentioned above,A-list actors,breathtaking view and wonderful as well as unforgettable songs. With singing and dancing and the strumming of the guitar, there is only one word to sum the movie: it's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
One of the greatest movies of all time! June 7, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
It's very hard to know where to begin when praising both this movie as well as the double "digi-pack" DVD of it. Julie Andrews gives a very strong performance as Maria, a misfit nun who is turned out into the world by the Reverand Mother to see if she really wants to be a nun. Her singing range of 4 octaves is beautifully displayed at the end of the song "Do-Re-Mi." Christopher Plummer is well cast as the Captain von Trapp who is not too likeable--yet is charmed into being a man again be Maria's infectious inner and outer beauty. The rest of the cast is well chosen and the viewer is treated to a rare screen performance by Marni Nixon; Marni dubbed vocals for Deborah Kerr in The King and I and she did dubbing for My Fair Lady and South Pacific as well. The second disc contains two fantastic documentaries about Salzburg, the city in Austria where many scenes were filmed, as well as the production and history of the film. The history of the real-life von Trapp family on whom the story is based is well laid out with revealing interviews from family members themselves. In addition, the cinematography is superlative. Very honestly, I cried at the end of the film and I NEVER cry--it's THAT touching! This is NOT a film to be sneered at as being sugary sweet. It's a classic tale of good triumphing over evil as the von Trapp family flees Austria to escape the Nazis.(...)
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