Question: When Captain Von Trapp says, "Another name I haven't heard before," what is the tone implied? Like, was it sarcasm or did he really never hear that name before?
Question: Why did Captain Von Trapp order Maria to go back to the Abby?
Question: Did the children originally sing "So Long Farewell" sitting on the steps in the original rather than standing in front of everyone?
Answer: If by "the original" you mean the 1959 stage musical upon which the film is based, then, no. The stage directions read, "The children line up near the stairs."
Question: Why is Peggy Wood's face in shadows the entire time sing she is singing "Climb every mountain?" One cannot see her face at all until the very end of the song. During the other songs everyone else got a full face shot. I feel like she wasn't getting full credit.
Answer: This was probably a deliberate artistic choice. Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) is singing the song directly to Maria, telling her to follow her dream and not remain cloistered in the convent (in the shadows like her). The strongest lighting is always on Maria's face, and she is framed in a pyramid shape of light on the wall, always keeping the audience's focus on her.
Answer: Peggy Wood could not sing the song, so they had to bring in a vocal double which meant she had to lip-sync, something she was unable to do perfectly.
Answer: The director explains this choice in his commentary on the DVD. He'd seen a stage version where the presence of the Mother Abbess was too dominant during 'Climb Every Mountain' and he wanted to make sure that didn't happen in his film. So he focused more on the setting and on Maria's face and reactions.
Question: Did they use blue screens for this movie? I was watching it recently, and certain scenes looked like the distant background was fake, such as the nighttime scene when Captain Von Trapp confesses his love for Maria in the gazebo, the trees in the far background look superimposed, but I can't tell if that's because of the lighting.
Answer: Although bluescreen was used at the time, it was a photochemical process and not that reliable. For the scene you're describing, it was likely shot in a studio with a painted background. For more expansive night scenes, they shot them "day-for-night." They would be shot on location during the day with the image darkened and filtered to look like night.
Answer: In that era, movies didn't have computer-generated images and instead used a rear-projected screen of a previously filmed location. The actors would be in front of the screen to make it appear as if they were in some different location. The actors were posed in a way that the audience could not tell they were in front of the screen.
Question: Why were the all the children "crying" at the dinner table in the first dinner scene?
Answer: Because they feel bad about the prank they played on Marie (putting a frog in her pocket). It's something they have done with all of their other governesses, but it seems that Marie is the first to call them out on it, in front of their father no less, and it makes them feel ashamed.
Question: Why did the captain first start loving Maria when she sat on the pinecone? I always assumed it was because she chose to sit on it rather than tell him and get his children punished for putting it there, but I'm not sure.
Answer: Probably a mixture of knowing his children put the pine cone there and Maria protected them, and probably because Maria is so ridiculous (in a good way) and he finds her likeable.
Question: What is the highest note Maria sings? I'm auditioning for this musical on Friday.
Answer: According to this website (https://singingcarrots.com/artist-range?artist=The%20Sound%20of%20Music), the song with the highest pitch is "The Lonely Goatherd", with a range between C4-A5. All those yodels, I suspect. Good luck with the audition.
Question: What would've happened if they were caught at the end?
Answer: The likely responses of the Nazis would have been either to execute them all, or hold Captain von Trapp's family hostage while he served in the Kriegsmarine.
Question: Wouldn't Max and the nuns have been tortured and executed for helping them escape?
Answer: Quite possibly yes.
Question: Quite often I notice that Brigitta is holding the hand of Greta and was wondering why.
Answer: He was displeased by everything Maria had been doing with the children while he was away, such as making play clothes for the kids using the window curtains, taking them on outings around Salzburg, having them singing, going boating, and generally having fun, all of which he, as a strict disciplinarian father, considered frivolous behavior. The captain also thought Maria was being impertinent for suggesting that he become closer to the children.
raywest ★