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The Sound of Music

1965 film by Robert Wise

The Sound of Music is a 1965 film about a woman who leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to a Naval officer widower and his seven children. The film won many Oscars.

Some quotes on this page need to be translated into simple English.Some quotes on this page need to be translated into simple English.
Some quotes on this page need to be translated into simple English.
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

  • [singing] The hills are alive with the sound of music
    With songs they have sung for a thousand years
    The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
    My heart wants to sing every song it hears[1]
  • You know how Sister Berta always makes me kiss the floor after we've had a disagreement? Well, lately I've taken to kissing the floor whenever I see her coming, just to save time.
  • Knowing how nervous I must have been - a stranger in a new household, knowing how important it was for me to feel accepted, it was so kind and thoughtful of you to make my first moments here so warm... and happy and... pleasant.
  • ...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...
  • [singing] When you know the notes to sing, you can sing most any thing.
  • Reverend Mother always says when the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.    
Simple: Reverend Mother often will say that when something bad happens to you, an opportunity in another place will come up.
  • The poor didn't want this one...
  • 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
  • There were times when we would look at each other, oh Mother I could hardly breathe.
  • 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.
  • Yes, well the children were scared of the thunderstorm and... You did, sir.

Captain von Trapp

  • In the future, you'll kindly remember there are certain rooms in this house which are not to be disturbed.
  • Every morning, you will drill the children in their studies. I will not permit them to dream away their summer holidays. Each afternoon, they will march about the grounds breathing deeply. Bedtime is to be strictly observed - no exceptions...You will see to it that they conduct themselves at all time with the utmost orderliness and decorum. I am placing you in command.
  • The first rule in this house is discipline.
  • Fräulein, is it to be at every meal, or merely at dinnertime, that you intend on leading us all through this rare and wonderful new world of... indigestion?
  • Activity suggests a life filled with purpose.
  • [singing] Edelweiss, Edelweiss, every morning you greet me.
    Small and white, clean and bright, you look happy to meet me.
    Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever.
    Edelweiss, Edelweiss, bless my homeland forever...
  • [to Maria] There isn't going to be any Baroness...well, we've, uhm, called off our engagement, you see...You can't marry someone when you're in love with someone else, can you?
  • [after receiving a telegram from the Nazis] I've been requested to accept immediately and report to their naval base at Bremerhaven tomorrow...To refuse them would be fatal for all of us. And joining them would be unthinkable.
  • [preparing to sing Edelweiss at the Salzburg Festival] I know you share this love. I pray that you will never let it die.
  • [to Rolfe] You're only a boy. You don't really belong to them...Come away with us before it's too late...You'll never be one of them.
  • It's the dress. You'll have to put on another one before you meet the children.
Simple: The dress is bad. You have to wear something else when you meet the children.

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?
  • It seems to be the will of God that you leave us...only for a while, Maria...Perhaps if you go out into the world for a time, knowing what we expect of you, you will have a chance to find out if you can expect it of yourself.
  • You will be assuming the position of governess until September...to take care of seven children of Captain von Trapp, a retired officer of the Imperial Navy, a fine man and a brave one. His wife died several years ago, leaving him alone with the children. Now I understand he's had a most difficult time managing to keep a governess there.
  • [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...
  • [to the von Trapps as they try to escape] I lift up mine eyes into the hills, from whence cometh my help...God be with you.

Others

  • Frau Schmidt: The von Trapp children don't play. They march. He runs this house as if he were on one of his ships again - whistles, orders, no more music, no more laughing. Nothing that reminds him of her, even the children.
  • Liesl: I'm Liesl. I'm sixteen years old and I don't need a governess.
  • Kurt: Only grown-up men are scared of women.
  • Kurt: I haven't had so much fun since the day we put glue on Fräulein Josephine's toothbrush.
  • Elsa: [after seeing the Captain dance with Maria] Oh, that was beautifully done. What a lovely couple you make.
  • Sister Margaretta: [to the Reverend Mother, about Maria] She doesn't say a word, Reverend Mother, except in prayer...It's strange. She seems happy to be back here, and yet she's unhappy too.
  • Zeller: [about the Captain] When he does return, he will be expected to fill his proper position in the new order.
  • Rolfe: [rebuffing Liesl] We make it our business to know everything about everyone. I'm now occupied with more important matters. And your father better be too if he knows what's good for him.
  • Max: I like rich people. I like the way they live. I like the way I live when I'm with them.
  • Max: The festival competition has come to its conclusion, except of course we don't know yet what that conclusion will be. And while the judges are arriving at their decision, I have been given permission to offer you an encore. This will be the last opportunity the von Trapps will have of singing together for a long, long time. Even now, officials are waiting in this auditorium to escort Captain von Trapp to his new command in the naval forces of the Third Reich. [The crowd murmurs in reaction.] And so, ladies and gentlemen, the Family von Trapp again to bid you farewell.
  • Gretl: I've got a sore finger.
Simple: My finger is sore.
  • Liesl: [after Rolfe kisses her] Wheeeeeee!

Dialogue

Maria: I just couldn't help myself. The gates were open and the hills were beckoning...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: It's the dress. You'll have to put on another one before you meet the children.
Maria: But I don't have another one. When we entered the abbey our worldly clothes were given to the poor.
Captain: What about this one?
Maria: The poor didn't want this one.
Captain: You, Fräulein, will listen carefully. Learn their signals so that you can call them when you want them. 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 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.
Maria: What's wrong with the children, Sir?
Captain: Oh, there's nothing wrong with the children. Only the governesses.
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...
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...
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.
Captain: Fräulein Maria, did I not say that bedtime is to be strictly observed in this household?
Maria: Yes, well the children were scared of the thunderstorm and... You did, sir.
Captain: And do you or do you not have trouble following these simple instructions?
Maria: Only during thunderstorms.
Liesl: How else are we supposed to get Father's attention?
Brigitta: Yes.
Maria: Well, we'll have to think about that one.
Max: Have you made up Georg's mind yet? Do I hear wedding bells?
Elsa: Pealing madly.
Max: Marvelous.
Elsa: But not necessarily for me.
Max: What kind of talk's that?
Elsa: That is none of your business talk, Max. I am terribly fond of Georg and I will not have you toying with us.
Max: But I am a child. I like toys, so tell me everything. Oh come on, tell Max every teensy, weensy, intimate disgusting detail.
Elsa: Well, let's just say I have a feeling I may be here on approval.
Max: Well, I approve of that. How can you miss?
Elsa: Far too easily.
Max: If I know you, darling, and I do, you will find a way.
Elsa: Oh, he's no ordinary man.
Max: No, he's rich!
Elsa: When his wife died, she left him with a terrible heartache.
Max: And when your husband died, he left you with a terrible fortune.
Elsa: Oh, Max, you really are a beast.
Max: You and Georg are like family to me. That's why I want to see you two get married. We must keep all that lovely money in the family.
Marta: Why don't we ever get to see the baroness?
Kurt: Why would she want to see you?
Marta: Can we really keep the puppet show Uncle Max?
Max: Of course. Why else do you think I sent the bill to your father?
Captain: Ah Max, you are funny. Expensive, but very funny.
[After Rolfe delivers a telegram and gives the Nazi salute]
Elsa: Oh Georg, he's just a boy.
Captain: Yes, and I'm just an Austrian.
Max: What's gonna happen's gonna happen. Just make sure it doesn't happen to you.
Captain: [incensed] Max, don't you ever say that again!
Max: You know I have no political convictions. Can I help it if other people do?
Captain: Oh yes you can help it. You must help it.
Maria: Gretl, what happened to your finger?
Gretl: It got caught.
Maria: Caught in what?
Gretl: Friedrich's teeth.
Captain: Is it possible, or could I have just imagined? Have my children by any chance been climbing trees today?
Maria: Yes, Captain.
Captain: I see. And where, may I ask, did they get these, uhm, these...
Maria: Playclothes.
Captain: Oh, is that what you call them?
Maria: I made them, from the drapes that used to hang in my bedroom...They still had plenty of wear left. The children have been everywhere in them.
Captain: Do you mean to tell me that my children have been roaming about Salzburg dressed up in nothing but some old drapes?!
Maria: Umm, hmm, and having a marvelous time.
Captain: They have uniforms.
Maria: Straitjackets, if you'll forgive me.
Captain: I will not forgive you for that.
Maria: Children cannot do all the things they're supposed to do if they have to worry about spoiling their precious clothes they wear....Well, they wouldn't dare. They love you too much. They fear you too much.
Captain: I don't wish you to discuss my children in this manner.
Maria: Well, you've got to hear it from someone. You're never home long enough to know them.
Captain: I said I don't want to hear any more from you about my children.
Maria: I know you don't, but you've got to! Oh please, Captain, love them, love them all.
Captain: Enough!.
Maria: But I'm not finished!
Captain:[yelling] Oh yes you are, Captain! (corrects himself) Fräulein.
Captain: [after listening to his children sing, and joining in] You've brought music back into the house? Fräulein, I want you to stay. I ask you to stay.
Elsa: My dear, is there anything you can't do?
Maria: Well, I'm not sure I'll make a very good nun.
Elsa: Oh, if you have any problems, I'd be happy to help you.
Max: The Von Trapp Family Singers. Here your names: Leisl, Friedrich, Louisa, Brigitta, Kurt, Marta and Gretl.
Gretl: Why am I always last?
Max: Because you are the most important.
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.
Elsa: Now, where is that lovely little thing you were wearing the other evening, when the Captain couldn't keep his eyes off you.
Maria: Couldn't keep his eyes off me?
Elsa: Come, my dear, we are women. Let's not pretend we don't know when a man notices us...
Maria: The Captain notices everybody and everything.
Elsa: Well, there's no need to feel so defensive, Maria. You are quite attractive, you know. The Captain would hardly be a man if he didn't notice you.
Maria: Baroness, I hope you're joking.
Elsa: Not at all.
Maria: But I've never done a thing to...
Elsa: But you don't have to, Maria. There's nothing more irresistible to a man than a woman who's in love with him.
Maria: 'In love with him'?
Elsa: Of course. What makes it so nice is he thinks he's in love with you.
Maria: But that's not true.
Elsa: Oh surely you've noticed the way he looks into your eyes. And you know, uh, you blushed in his arms when you were dancing just now. Don't take it to heart. He'll get over it soon enough, I should think. Men do, you know.
Maria: Then I should go. I mustn't stay here.
Elsa: I'm sure you'll make a very fine nun.
Louisa: I don't believe it, father...about Fräulein Maria.
Captain: She missed her life at the Abbey too much. She had to leave us - and that's all there is to it.
Gretl: Who is our new governess going to be?
Captain: Well, you're not going to have a governess anymore...You're going to have a new mother...We talked about it last night. It's all settled. And we're all going to be very happy.
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.
Captain: You left without saying goodbye, even to the children.
Maria: It was wrong of me, forgive me.
Captain: Why did you?
Maria: Please don't ask me. Anyway, the reason no longer exists.
Elsa: [entering the room] Fräulein Maria, you've returned. Isn't it wonderful, Georg?
Maria: May I wish you every happiness, Baroness? And you too, Captain. The children tell me you're to be married.
Elsa: Thank you, my dear.
Captain: You are back to, uh, stay?
Maria: Only until arrangements can be made for another governess.
Captain: It's no use, you and I. I'm being dishonest to both of us and utterly unfair to you. When two people talk of marriage...
Elsa: No, don't, don't say another word, Georg, please? You see, uh, there are other things I've been thinking of. Fond as I am of you, I really don't think you're the right man for me. You're much too independent and I need someone who needs me desperately, or at least needs my money desperately. I've enjoyed every moment we've had together. I do thank you for that. Now, if you'll forgive me, I'll go inside, pack my little bags, and return to Vienna where I belong. And somewhere out there is a young lady who I think will never be a nun. Auf Wiedersehen, darling.
Maria: [singing] Perhaps I had a wicked childhood, perhaps I had a miserable youth.
But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past, there must have been a moment of truth.
For here you are standing there loving me, whether or not you should.
So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.
Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could.
So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.
Captain: [singing] For here you are standing there loving me, whether or not you should.
Maria: [singing] So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.
Captain & Maria: '[singing] Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could
Maria: [singing] So somewhere in my youth...
Captain: [singing] or childhood,
Maria: [singing] I must have done something,
Captain & Maria: [singing] something good.
Max: [regarding the Nazis] He's got to at least pretend to work with these people. You must convince him.
Maria: I can't ask him to be less than he is.
Max: I hope you appreciate the sacrifice I'm making.
Captain: You have no choice.
Max: I know... That's why I'm making it.
Liesl: What happens when a person stops loving you?
Maria: You cry a little and then you wait for the sun to come out. It always does.
Zeller: I've not asked you where you and your family are going. Nor have you asked me why I am here.
Captain: Well, apparently, we're both suffering from a deplorable lack of curiosity.
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]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "Lyrics of "The Sound of Music"". ST Lyrics. Retrieved on 2009-08-08

Other websites

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