For the second year in a row, the third time in five years, and the fourth time in seven years, the Academy bestowed its highest honor on a musical. In fact, The Sound of Music would take home a total of five Oscars, including Best Director for Robert Wise, who helmed his second Best Picture winner, having also directed West Side Story in 1961. In many ways The Sound of Music is a superior film to that one, and it also succeeds on many levels where the previous year’s winner, My Fair Lady did not.

The first area where The Sound of Music is superior to My Fair Lady, as well as West Side Story is in the character development and the development if their relationships. Both of the main characters in My Fair Lady had excellent character arcs, and the blossoming relationship in West Side Story was one of the strongest aspects of that film. The Sound of Music effectively took both of those motifs and developed the characters as well as their relationships, creating a story that was as deep as it was dramatic. When we first meet Maria (Julie Andrews), we learn that she is a nun living in a convent, but is having a very hard conforming to the strict orthodoxy of the abbey. She is well-loved by the other nuns, but her free-spirited nature is in direct conflict with the conservative way in which they live. Figuring that she needs time to find herself and her true path in life, Mother Abbess sends her to the home of the Von Trapp family in order to serve as the governess to their seven children. Mrs. Von Trapp has passed away, and Captain Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) is having a hard time retaining governesses to care for his unruly and mischievous children. Maria arrives at the Von Trapp home and meets the Captain, late of the Austrian Navy, and he is a firm disciplinarian who demands discipline in his house and expects and demands certain decorum from all of its residents.

What makes these characters superior to the lovers in West Side Story is that they experience very effective character arcs. The Maria and Tony from West Side Story end that film largely the way they started it, except of course for Tony being dead. But their personalities didn’t change. They didn’t grow as characters, and I wasn’t buying the love story between them. What makes The Sound of Music so successful at this from my point of view is that both Maria and Captain Von Trapp grow and change throughout the first half of the story. Maria gains the responsibility of motherhood, and she matures without losing her fun-loving nature. She becomes a woman who knows her place in the world. Meanwhile, Captain Von Trapp goes from an emotionally closed off disciplinarian to a loving father who now clearly loves the children whom be previously seemed to barely know. What’s more is that this character growth happens for both of them slowly and deliberately as the story progresses.

What makes the relationship that these characters experience superior to what we saw in My Fair Lady is that we can actually see them falling in love with each other. Wise did a wonderful job of developing the relationship between Maria and Captain Von Trapp so that we see how they interact with each other. Then we see how they start looking at each other. Then we see that they can’t live without each other. It is a wonderful progression that we never see happen in My Fair Lady. Love just suddenly hits Eliza. Later, love just suddenly hits Professor Higgins. We don’t care about their relationship, because to that point no relationship had developed. We got to see Eliza’s character grow and change as Higgins taught her how to speak properly and how to comport herself like a lady, but I never got the sense that either one of them was falling in love with the other. However, in The Sound of Music it is totally clear what is happening and we’re able to root for Maria and Captain von Trapp to end up together.

One more thing that succeeded in The Sound of Music that did not in My Fair Lady is the level of conflict. There is barely any conflict in My Fair Lady, and many of the chances for conflict were stifled before they had a chance to get going. There is a wealth of conflict in The Sound of Music. What’s more, that conflict is created by characters that are in positions of power that can prevent our heroes from getting what they want. Be it the Baroness who is competing with Maria for von Trapp’s affections or the Nazis who are threatening to take Captain Von Trapp away and force him to serve in the German Navy. What’s also great about the conflict is that the stakes get raised throughout the film. We go from a love triangle to the seriousness of war, but each issue threatens to keep the lovers apart. The Baroness is in a position of power because she comes from wealth and is of the same social standing as Captain Von Trapp. She is also already seeing him when the story begins, but we realize as soon as we meet her that she’s not the right woman for him, nor is she right for the children. We’ve seen over the past few minutes of the film that Maria is perfect for the children, and we learn right after meeting the Baroness that it’s actually Maria who is perfect for the Captain. But just like any good antagonist, the Baroness isn’t going down without a fight, and actually convinces Maria at one point to leave the family and go back to the Abbey. It’s only after Maria gets advice from her archetypal mentor in Mother Abbess that she goes back to Captain Von Trapp, and finally gains his love.

Dealing with the Nazis is a whole other issue. Von Trapp is an Austrian nationalist and despises the Nazis and everything they stand for. But once they make it clear that he’s going to have to serve or else threaten his own life as well as the lives of Maria and the children, it’s imperative that they leave Austria all together. Wise did an outstanding job of building the tension when their initial escape is thwarted, and then they have to hide in the Abbey as members of the SS search for them in the dark, including Rolf, the love interest of Liesl, Captain Von Trapp’s 16-year old daughter. The tension is palpable and the scene is paid off brilliantly and in a way that is completely unexpected, and yet totally plausible.

There is something else that, to me, makes this movie so successful. I’ve written over 1100 words already, and haven’t yet written one word about the music. That’s because, unlike so many other musicals, the songs in The Sound of Music are used entirely to advance the story and/or develop characters. The story is what is driving this film. That’s not to say that the songs are not an important component. There is no shortage of songs in The Sound of Music, and some of the most memorable songs in the history of cinema come from this film. However, the story isn’t reserved as merely the space between songs. As I’ve mentioned many times in other posts, the stories in musicals are too often just the space to get us to the next song. That is not the case in The Sound of Music. We listen to the songs, and we love them, but only because we are so engaged with the story. There is real emotion in this story and we care about all of the characters and what happens to them, regardless of the songs they’re singing.

I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t talk about the songs, many of which have transcended the film and become a part of our popular culture. From the opening with Maria belting out that, “The hills are alive with the sound of music!” the nuns wondering, “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” From Liesl and Rolf singing Sixteen Going on Seventeen to Maria charming the children with My Favorite Things and Do-Re-Mi, this film is filled with beloved songs that many people would probably recognize, even if they’ve never seen the film. In fact, most every song in this film is at least recognizable. You know you’ve heard Climb Ev’ry Mountain before. You know you’ve heard Edelweiss before. These are amazing songs that, while they do a remarkable job of progressing the story and developing character, stand individually on their own as wonderful songs.

Finally, I would like to say a few words about the acting. Can we please acknowledge that Julie Andrews is one of the great actresses of the 20^th Century? A year after winning Best Actress for Mary Poppins, she would be nominated for The Sound of Music. One of the things that makes Maria’s character arc so effective is the amazing performance of Julie Andrews. She knows just the right time to push just the right emotion just the right amount. Her subtle facial expressions as she’s falling in love with Von Trapp are beautiful and artistic. Her singing voice is second to none, and she’s also a very good dancer. Christopher Plummer holds his own as well, and the same thing could be said about his performance making his character arc so effective. He is just as believable as the vacant disciplinarian as he is as the loving, nurturing father. The secondary performances are also very good, especially those of the children and the nuns. These characters are believable, and that further helps us become engaged in their world.

Did the Academy get it right?

I have to admit that the only other film that I’ve seen that was nominated in 1965 was Doctor Zhivago, which is an outstanding film, but not on the same level as The Sound of Music. I have never seen Darling, Ship of Fools or A Thousand Clowns, but in a vacuum, The Sound of Music is among the most deserving films ever to win the award. It has everything that you’d want in a Best Picture winner. It is a musical that tells an engaging story. It uses the wide-screen format to accentuate the story, and not to just be eye candy. It has top-notch performances from its actors and it was meticulously crafted by its director. Personally, I feel that The Sound of Music was the clear and deserving winner of Best Picture for 1965.