Directed by Robert Wise. Written by Ernest Lehman, based on the novel by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse (which was based on an autobiography by Maria von Trapp, entitled The von Trapp Family Singers.

Maria

• ...the first three notes just happen to be, Do-Re-Mi. Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol[pronounced So]-La-Ti, oh let's see if I can make it easier.
  [singing] Doe, a deer, a female deer, Ray, a drop of golden sun
  Me, a name I call myself, Far, a long, long way to run
  Sew, a needle pulling thread, La, a note to follow Sol
  Tea, a drink with jam and bread, that will bring us back to Do...

• Captain, You're home!

• I have confidence in confidence alone...

• The hills are alive with the sound of music...

Captain von Trapp

• You are the twelfth in a long line of governesses who have come here to look after my children since their mother died. I trust you will be an improvement on the last one. She stayed only two hours. Oh, there's nothing wrong with the children. Only the governesses.

• Fräulein, is it to be at every meal, or merely at dinnertime, that you intend leading us all through this rare and wonderful new world of... indigestion?

Reverend Mother

• [singing] How do you solve a problem like Maria?
  How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
  Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her, many a thing she ought to understand
  ...How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

• [singing] Climb ev'ry mountain, search high and low.
  Follow ev'ry byway, every path you know.
  Climb ev'ry mountain, ford every stream.
  Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream.
  A dream that will need all the love you can give
  Every day of your life for as long as you live...

Dialogue

Maria: I just couldn't help myself. The gates were open and the hills were beckoning and everything was so green and fresh, and the Untersberg kept leading me higher and higher, as if it wanted me to go right through the clouds with it

Reverend Mother: Child, suppose darkness had come and you were lost?

Maria: Oh, mother, I could never get lost up there, that’s my mountain, I was brought up on it,...It was the mountain that led me to you. Sometimes, I would come down the mountain, and climb a tree, and look over your wall into your garden and hear the Sisters singing on their way to Vespers; which brings me to another transgression, Reverend Mother, I was singing out there today, without permission...I can't seem to stop singing wherever I am. And what's worse, I can't seem to stop saying things - anything and everything I think and feel.

Reverend Mother: Some people would call that honesty.

Maria: Oh, but it's terrible, Reverend Mother.

Captain: You, Fräulein, will listen carefully. Learn their signals so that you can call them when you want them. [blows whistle]

Liesl: Liesl!

Friedrik: Friedrik!

Louisa: Louisa!

Kirt: Kirt!

Brigitta: Brigitta!

Marta: Marta!

Gretel: [steps forward and back]

Captain: Gretel. Now, let's see how well you listened.

Captain: Now, when I want you, this is what you will hear. [Blows whistle]

Maria: Oh, no, sir, I'm sorry, sir. I could never answer to a whistle. Whistles are for dogs and cats and other animals, but not for children, and definitely not for me. It would be too... humiliating.

Captain: Fräulein, were you this much trouble at the Abbey?

Maria: Oh, much more, sir!

Captain: Hmm.

[Starts to leave the room when Maria blows the whistle. He looks back at her]

Maria: Excuse me, sir, I don't know your signal.

Captain: You may call me "Captain".

Rolfe: [singing] You are sixteen, going on seventeen, baby it's time to think.
Better beware, be canny and careful, baby you're on the brink.
You are sixteen, going on seventeen, fellows will fall in line...
Eager young lads and roués and cads Will offer you food and wine.
Totally unprepared are you, to face a world of men.
Timid and shy and scared are you, of things beyond your ken.
You need someone older and wiser, telling you what to do.
I am seventeen, going on eighteen. I'll take care of you...

Liesl: [singing] I am sixteen, going on seventeen. I know that I'm naive.
Fellows I meet may tell me I'm sweet, and willingly I believe.
I am sixteen, going on seventeen, innocent as a rose...
Bachelor dandies, drinkers of brandies, what do I know of those?
Totally unprepared am I, to face a world of men.
Timid and shy and scared am I, of things beyond my ken.
I need someone older and wiser telling me what to do.
You are seventeen, going on eighteen. I'll depend on you.

Baron: Is there a more beautiful expression of what is good in this country of ours than the innocent voices of our children?

Zeller: Oh, come now, Baron, would you have us believe that Austria alone holds a monopoly on virtue?

Captain: Herr Zeller, some of us prefer Austrian voices raised in song to ugly, German threats.

Zeller: The ostrich buries his head in the sand, and sometimes in the flag. [He turns toward the Austrian flag, prominently displayed] Perhaps those who would warn you that the Anschluss is coming - and it is coming, Captain - perhaps they would get further with you by setting their words to music.

Captain: If the Nazis take over Austria, I have no doubt, Herr Zeller, that you will be the entire trumpet section.

Zeller: You flatter me, Captain.

Captain: Oh, how clumsy of me. I meant to accuse you.

Maria: I left...I was frightened...I was confused, I felt, I've never felt that way before. I couldn't stay. I knew that here I'd be away from it. I'd be safe...I can't face him again...Oh, there were times when we would look at each other. Oh Mother, I could hardly breathe...That's what's been torturing me. I was there on God's errand. To have asked for his love would have been wrong. I couldn't stay, I just couldn't. I'm ready at this moment to take my vows. Please help me.

Reverend Mother: Maria, the love of a man and a woman is holy too. You have a great capacity to love. What you must find out is how God wants you to spend your love.

Maria: But I pledged my life to God. I pledged my life to his service.

Reverend Mother: My daughter, if you love this man, it doesn't mean you love God less. No, you must find out and you must go back.

Maria: Oh, Mother, you can't ask me to do that. Please let me stay, I beg of you.

Reverend Mother: Maria, these walls were not built to shut out problems. You have to face them. You have to live the life you were born to live.

Sister Margaretta: Reverend Mother, I have sinned.

Sister Berthe: I, too, Reverend Mother.

Reverend Mother: What is this sin, my children?

[the nuns look at each other, then reveal from under their robes the distributor and coil they have removed from the Germans' cars]

Taglines

• Radiance that floods the screen...and warms the heart!

• The more you see it, the more it becomes one of your favorite things!

• The Happiest Sound In All The World!

Cast

• Julie Andrews - Maria
• Christopher Plummer - Captain Georg von Trapp
• Charmian Carr - Liesl von Trapp
• Nicholas Hammond - Friedrich von Trapp
• Heather Menzies - Louisa von Trapp
• Duane Chase - Kurt von Trapp
• Angela Cartwright - Brigitta von Trapp
• Debbie Turner - Marta von Trapp
• Kym Karath - Gretl von Trapp
• Richard Haydn - Max Detweiler
• Eleanor Parker - The Baroness Elsa
• Peggy Wood - Reverend Mother
• Anna Lee - Sister Margaretta
• Portia Nelson - Sister Berthe
• Ben Wright - Herr Zeller
• Daniel Truhitte - Rolfe
• Norma Varden - Frau Schmidt
• Marni Nixon - Sister Sophia
• Gilchrist Stuart - Franz
• Evadne Baker - Sister Bernice