Review: The Sound Of Music Story by Tom Santopietro

The Sound Of Music Story
by Tom Santopietro
Published by St. Martin's Press on February 17, 2015
Genres: Non Fiction
Pages: 324
Format: eBook 
Source: Net Galley 

Summary From Goodreads

On March 2, 1965, "The Sound of Music" was released in the United States and the love affair between moviegoers and the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical was on. Rarely has a film captured the love and imagination of the moviegoing public in the way that "The Sound of Music" did as it blended history, music, Austrian location filming, heartfelt emotion and the yodeling of Julie Andrews into a monster hit. Now, Tom Santopietro has written the ultimate "Sound of Music" fan book with all the inside dope from behind the scenes stories of the filming in Austria and Hollywood to new interviews with Johannes von Trapp and others. Santopietro looks back at the real life story of Maria von Trapp, goes on to chronicle the sensational success of the Broadway musical, and recounts the story of the near cancellation of the film when the "Cleopatra" bankrupted 20th Century Fox. We all know that Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer played Maria and Captain Von Trapp, but who else had been considered? Tom Santopietro knows and will tell all while providing a historian’s critical analysis of the careers of director Robert Wise and screenwriter Ernest Lehman, a look at the critical controversy which greeted the movie, the film’s relationship to the turbulent 1960s and the super stardom which engulfed Julie Andrews. Tom Santopietro's "The Story of 'The Sound of Music'" is book for everyone who cherishes this American classic  

My Review

I love the "Sound of Music", is one of my favorite movies: I've seen it countless times, I know it by heart. It 's so sweet and romantic. I love the songs, especially Edelweiss and Do Re Mi. I love Julie Andrews and the children are too tender and nice .... I adore the scene where Maria and the captain danced "The Laendler".

For those who have never seen the movie or have ever heard of it.... It's a musical film and is the story of Maria and the Von Trapp family. Maria is a novice of a convent, Captain Von Trapp is a naval commander dismissed, widower with seven children to raise. The captain needs a governess and the convent sends Maria. Georg Von Trapp is fixed with the discipline and order, manages his children as he would with his sailors. Maria with her exuberance, her candor, her love and her simplicity will win the love of children and bring a little less rigor and lots of music and fun at Von Trapp's home.

I did not know really existed Maria and Von Trapp family, even if their life is not just like in the movie. I admire so much the captain: rather than to join the army of the Third Reich and to avoid having to renounce his ideals, he has lost everything, his beloved land, his house,  well-being in which he lived. He and his family have started from scratch in America.

This book tells everything: the true story of Maria, the hardships of the first mass in work, the casting, the problems during recording (especially climatic), the critical and the  acclaim of box office up to the well-deserved Academy Awards.

It 's very well written, full of details and news, a valuable source of information. My favorite part is when of all the people involved in the film, actors, producers and true members of the Von Trapp family, is reported their history since the release of the movie until today.

If you love this film or cinema history this book is certainly to read