TCFHE Press Release: The Sound of Music 45th Anniversary (Blu-ray) (2 Viewers)

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by RobertSiegel



 

I am (sadly) assuming that the Wise commentary track with the isolated score is not in DTS Master audio?  That commentary/music track was made in the days of laserdisc and is at least 12-15 years old. I wish they would have remastered the isolated score and presented it in lossless separately from the commentary. That I think will be my only gripe about this release. Can you check for us? It's probably Dolby Digital.
 

At least it won't be any different than it was on DVD. Although if one considers that it was lossless on laserdisc, I agree they can do better.

When I first saw the film in a theater, it was as part of the AMPAS's Best Picture series in 2003. I met Robert Wise (as well as Duane Chase, Debbie Turner, and Kym Karath, plus an extra from the party who became a cameraman on Cheers and Frasier). Walking with a cane and unable to come up on stage along with the other people from the film who were there, he was not the strongest physically, but his mental capacities were undiminished. They gave out mini-posters with facts about the film on the back, and unlike the others I met he wasn't able to sign it. I am extremely grateful that he was so involved in the laserdiscs and, later, DVDs of his films, one of the few from the Golden Age of Hollywood to do so. It sounds like he'd approve of this Blu-Ray.

 

[Brian Borst]

Originally Posted by RobertSiegel




I am (sadly) assuming that the Wise commentary track with the isolated score is not in DTS Master audio? That commentary/music track was made in the days of laserdisc and is at least 12-15 years old. I wish they would have remastered the isolated score and presented it in lossless separately from the commentary. That I think will be my only gripe about this release. Can you check for us? It's probably Dolby Digital.

It is Dolby Digital, and in stereo. It could have been redone, using the lossless version, but for me it isn't a dealbreaker. I'd rather have this commentary, with a perhaps outdated mix, than it being left off the disc because it wasn't deemed good enough.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by Rob_Ray




There are only one or two very brief moments in the movie that I consider just a tad too schmaltzy, but by and large they succeeded magnificently. But that didn't stop a lot of critics from carping. I remember Judith Crist saying something to the effect that The Sound of Music was suitable entertainment for everyone from five to seven and those not up to the biting sophistication of "Mary Poppins." Even when it made its TV debut years later, after all the accolades and box-office triumphs, she was still taking pot-shots at it in her TV Guide coverage of the week's movies on television. Cynical people like her and Pauline Kael just hated that movie because its emotions were so simple and direct without any subversion.

Robert Wise and Dick Zanuck tried to get her off the "Today Show" to avoid damaging the film's reputation as it was coming out (she didn't like the year's other big Oscar contender, Doctor Zhivago, either). Obviously she had little effect on the box office take. Pauline Kael (and I have to say I've never been a fan of hers) got fired from McCall's magazine over her review. As for Ms. Crist: a Time article of the day gives context as to why she was so despised in the industry:


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898812,00.html


I have always doubted that the majority of reviews were that bad for the film, but always assumed that the minority of critics who disliked the film were just very, very strident about it. There's no way it could have won 5 Oscars without at least some regard in the industry.


Ironically, the sort of cynicism represented by the Judith Crists and Pauline Kaels of the world took over Hollywood and much of popular culture within a few years of this film's release. There were always movies that took a much darker look at human nature (including some of those made by Wise and Lehman), but the Hollywood where a feel-good M-G-M musical could effortlessly co-exist with a gritty Warner Bros. film noir was already, like Georg Von Trapp's beloved Austria, "a world that [was] disappearing". Today, even Disney makes fun of its image while still trying to maintain it at all costs, and it seems Pixar is the only place in modern mainstream American film where well-made, irony-free movies that represent the same values and mindset of The Sound of Music are still being made.


It also speaks volumes about the genius of Richard Rodgers that he could make his music fit just as comfortably to the witty and urbane lyrics of Lorenz Hart as he could to the earnest humanism of Oscar Hammerstein II. One couldn't imagine Hammerstein writing lyrics as darkly humorous as "To Keep My Love Alive" or as sharply funny as "Johnny One Note", but then again one couldn't imagine Hart writing something as simple and heartfelt as "Edelweiss."


As for sappy, I think Wise kept most of the sap in the trees. The natural sentimentality of things like the Captain opening up to his children just by hearing them sing seems natural and believable.


As for the upcoming cast reunion on Oprah, I wonder if she'll be able to get Christopher Plummer to admit how he really feels about the film. Although it's obviously an ad for the Blu-Ray—and I have no doubt everyone in the studio audience will get a copy—if he ever really disliked the film, he certainly made enough peace with it to participate in the laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-Ray extras and the promotion of their release. I imagine there will not be a lot of major revelations of things that fans didn't already know.


Also, I think it's a funny coincidence that Julie Andrews was not invited to recreate her stage role of Eliza in My Fair Lady on film, but did the film of The Sound of Music, while Theodore Bikel was not invited to return to the role of Captain Von Trapp in this film, but was cast as Zoltan Karpathy in the film of My Fair Lady!

 

[Brian Borst]

Originally Posted by warnerbro

Brian Borst,


On the Robert Wise commentary, when he stops talking when the songs come on, did the music only track kick in?

I'm sorry that I have to take back what I earlier said. I've listened to almost half of the commentary, and it's not the music-only track that kicks in, but the foley effects as well. So, during "I've Got Confidence in Me", for instance, you hear footsteps all the time, gates slamming, etc. That's during the entire movie, by the way. Even when Wise starts talking, you still only hear the foley effects. You also hear a faint echo when somebody is singing high, or loudly.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Originally Posted by Brian Borst





I'm sorry that I have to take back what I earlier said. I've listened to almost half of the commentary, and it's not the music-only track that kicks in, but the foley effects as well. So, during "I've Got Confidence in Me", for instance, you hear footsteps all the time, gates slamming, etc. That's during the entire movie, by the way. Even when Wise starts talking, you still only hear the foley effects. You also hear a faint echo when somebody is singing high, or loudly.

That is truly a shame. That means it was NOT the 1st generation original music masters like it is on the Mel Brooks films and the Planet of the Apes movies, where you can even hear Jerry Goldsmith talking to the orchestra and q'ing 3...2...1 I was really hoping they would have done the 1st generation music masters which would not have sound effects. That I think will be my one complaint about the set. I wonder why they went through all the work they did and didn't give us the original orchestra tracks.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Originally Posted by RobertSiegel




That is truly a shame. That means it was NOT the 1st generation original music masters like it is on the Mel Brooks films and the Planet of the Apes movies, where you can even hear Jerry Goldsmith talking to the orchestra and q'ing 3...2...1 I was really hoping they would have done the 1st generation music masters which would not have sound effects. That I think will be my one complaint about the set. I wonder why they went through all the work they did and didn't give us the original orchestra tracks.

It's obvious that the commentary tracks were merely ported over from the earlier releases. The people responsible for added value were clearly pouring all their budgeted resources into the new extras and felt that they didn't need to rework what had already been done earlier. Didn't the laserdisc box set release have the music tracks without the foley? I think it's time for me to transfer that track to DVD-R.

 

[warnerbro]

I would have rather had the audio masters used on the music only track than the hand-painted numbered music box and all the other paper stuff combined in the limited edition set. The movie and the music are the most important things to me. Also, the laserdisc box set had a great gold CD that was pretty comprehensive of all the songs and even some of the background music. Why didn't they use something like that? It sounds like the CD on this set is pretty bare bones. How do they make these mistakes?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This Friday, October 29th, the cast of The Sound of Music will be reunited on Oprah,

and we wanted to pass along a neat little teaser photo of the cast that we’ve just been given!

(Courtesy of Harpo Inc./All Rights Reserved/George Burns).

 

Ron, it's on tomorrow (Thursday).

 

[ThomasC]

Never mind, Eric beat me to it.

 

[Charles Smith]

Are you sure?? I've had Oct. 29th on my calendar since I first heard about it here.

 

[Charles Smith]

CHICAGO, IL — For the first time in 45 years, the entire cast of The Sound of Music will gather for a once-in-a-lifetime reunion on the Oprah Show stage on Friday, October 29, 2010...


http://www.oprah.com/pressroom/The-Sound-of-Music-Cast-Reunited

 

They changed the date. It is tomorrow....they keep showing previews for it...I have my recording all set up.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Wow. I thought it was Friday, too.


Thanks!

 

No problem...I just didn't want anyone to miss it!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

'Fess up now... Don't y'all just DVR Oprah everyday anyway?


_Man_

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Yes, I do. And Ellen.

Originally Posted by ManW_TheUncool

/forum/thread/303509/tcfhe-press-re...sic-45th-anniversary-blu-ray/120#post_3744472

 

[Mike Frezon]

I can't remember the last time I watched any part of an episode of Oprah. Honestly.

But now's not the time nor the place.

 

[Sebastian1972]

It will be on tomorrow (Thursday, October 28th), not on Friday the 29th. Confirmed.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/27/oprah.sound.music.ppl/

 

[Charles Smith]

Yep. And it's on ABC at 4 p.m. in the NYC tri-state region. Had to look it up because this will be my first time to watch the show. Nothing against Oprah, I just don't watch any such shows. Looking at the web site, and assuming I like the way tomorrow's show proceeds, I see that there are possibly other guests that could make watching now and then worthwhile. But mainly, this kind of TV just isn't my thing.