The Sound of Music

Speakers: Hannah Leach & Audrey Leach

[Music Playing]

Hannah Leach:

Welcome back to Sleepover Cinema, where we analyze the films that created the collective unconscious of those who know the hills are alive and well. I'm Hannah Leach, a writer, musician, audio producer and disciple of Audra McDonald's Performance of Climb Ev’ry Mountain.

Audrey Leach:

And I'm Audrey Leach, director, editor, producer and number one, Julie Andrews stan. And you can take that to the bank.

We are the sister duo, also known as Too Pink Productions. And we haven't stopped thinking about these movies since we first saw them.

Hannah Leach:

We're going to explore the good, the bad, and the nonsensical of the movies that first inspired our love for film. In an attempt to answer the question, are these movies actually good? And at the end of the day, do we really care if they are?

Audrey Leach:

Today we are talking about the iconic 1965’s, The Sound of Music, which is my favorite movie of all time.

Voiceover:

“Julie Andrews in the glorious role of Maria, who entered the strange new world of Captain von Trapp and captivated his seven children with a magical spell of song.”

[Music Playing]

Voiceover:

“Did I not tell you that bedtime is strictly to be observed in this house?”

“You did, sir.”

“And do you or do you not have difficulty remembering such simple instructions.”

“Only during thunderstorms, sir.”

Voiceover:

“Here is the perfect motion picture that touches every note in the whole scale of human emotions.”

[Music Playing]

Hannah Leach:

Alright girls, you're back. Season seven. We're here. As Audrey said in our last episode, we're in our Violet Chachki season, and that means something different to everyone, but just take that into your heart.

Audrey Leach:

Well, let's just briefly talk about what we've been up to.

Hannah Leach:

Oh, my God. Okay, okay. So, what? Since right before New Year’s?

Audrey Leach:

Since basically, yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Oh, my God. It has not been that long.

Audrey Leach:

I know.

Hannah Leach:

But it feels like it's been a long time. Low key, it's been new year, new me, to be honest. Not to get crazy, but-

Audrey Leach:

How?

Hannah Leach:

Well, I started doing this mood tracker thing every day where you just keep (very literal), track of your mood.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

And every day of this month, so far, I've been in a good mood or better.

Audrey Leach:

Hey.

Hannah Leach:

I know. And I think-

Audrey Leach:

What’s better than good?

Hannah Leach:

Well, there's great and there's good and then there's fine. So, there was actually one day where it was fine, but with dots of good. So, I've only cried once this whole month. And-

Audrey Leach:

Okay. Well, what if you're crying for non-personal emotions?

Hannah Leach:

So, joy? That's different. But I haven't done that either. I've maybe cried from laughing, but other than that, that's it. Shout out to Lexapro for a lot of this probably. But yeah, so-

Audrey Leach:

Cheat code.

Hannah Leach:

Big cheat code, it turns out. But also, it's like it could be a placebo. I don't know. It doesn't matter. How are you? What have you been up to?

Audrey Leach:

Another cheat code to happiness is unemployment. It’s true.

Hannah Leach:

I have noticed that.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

I feel like you've been in a really good mood, also.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah, it's great to be free of that. And then last week I took a class, I took a five-day, very intense class to learn this editing program called Avid, which is this really archaic program that kind of sucks, but all the old editors still use it. And I've been avoiding it for years, so I was like, “Okay, I'll just take a crash course in it.” But I have to take a test to actually be certified in it.

Hannah Leach:

I didn't know that.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. So, I-

Hannah Leach:

When do you have to take it?

Audrey Leach:

Whenever I want. But just, you actually have to study because the test has nothing to do with editing. The test does not-

Hannah Leach:

So, it's like a Temps Test.

Audrey Leach:

Yes. It's like that.

Hannah Leach:

Got it. Or to those who don't know what a Temps is, because it's called something different regionally. It's your learner's permit.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

For driving.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

In Ohio we call that the Temps.

Audrey Leach:

I was actually saying I wish it was like the Temps Test, because you know how they just shut your shit down the second you miss enough questions, the Avid test doesn't do that. So, you will be answering all 60 questions, but if you miss six questions or seven, I guess, you fail.

Hannah Leach:

Wow, wow.

Audrey Leach:

So, you have to get an A. It sucks.

Hannah Leach:

That is sad.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. I could go on about that, but I won't.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

Actually, I have one more thing to say. If you are watching this on YouTube, please subscribe. Okay?

I looked at our analytics the other day, and 63% of you are not subscribed, but you are watching. 63% of our watch time is from non-subscribed people.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

And so, just hit that little button because we're so close to a thousand and I need to reach my middle school dreams.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

Thank you.

Hannah Leach:

Seriously, we're so close. Thank you very much. New season, new us. Very similar to new Year, new us.

And I remember at the beginning of season six, we were like, “It's going to be different. We're different.” And then we proceeded to not be different.

But this time we actually are different. So, not only will we be covering movies this season, but drum roll please. We will also be doing some episodes on TV and some landmark albums of our time, of our youth.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

So, you can look forward to that. We're really excited about it. It will have similar energy, obviously, but we're just going to expand our source material a little bit, which is exciting.

Audrey Leach:

Unless there's a guest who really wants to cover a movie we haven't seen, we're going to try to avoid movies that we've never seen.

Hannah Leach:

Yes. Especially, I cannot sit down and watch something bad that I have no nostalgia for, again.

Audrey Leach:

It just can't, it's not good for anybody.

Hannah Leach:

I can’t. No.

Audrey Leach:

I feel like it's bad for the people who did watch that movie as a kid and love it. And it's like, “Why am I listening to these girls be so neutral-

Hannah Leach:

Harsh.

Audrey Leach:

Or harsh about-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. So neutral, so uninvested. Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

I don't want to do that to you guys. I don't want to do it to myself.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

So, now question for the culture.

[Music Playing]

Speaker 1:

“The culture's super sick right now.”

Speaker 2:

“It's actually really bad, period.”

Audrey Leach:

There's no way we've never had this conversation on this podcast before.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

We definitely have touched on it and my opinion is so obvious. But-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. We're going to agree.

Audrey Leach:

It’s like the classic movie musical debate that is, I would say more modern. Should the actors in a movie musical specifically, be allowed to be bad when they are singing non-diegetically?

That is a hard question to break down, but to me this is the La la land debate. Where, say for example, a character in a movie musical is a bad performer and that is their character. And they start singing diegetically in the scene, it makes sense for them not to be good, because their character's not a good performer.

But the second that that character starts singing non diegetically-

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

I would argue that it no longer makes sense for the singing or dancing to be mediocre to bad.

Hannah Leach:

Yes, I agree.

Audrey Leach:

It's very subjective also, because some people would consider Emma Stone's voice to be really good, for example, or passable, I guess.

Hannah Leach:

Rolling my eyes. It's definitely passable.

Audrey Leach:

It’s passable.

Hannah Leach:

I saw her in Cabaret in 2016, 2015, and she was fine.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

But this is the thing, is that there's these specific roles that are like intentionally written to be mediocre.

Audrey Leach:

Yes.

Hannah Leach:

And Sally Bowles in Cabaret is one of those people.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. And so, it's like a casting that kind of works out. It's no hate towards Emma Stone specifically, it's more of a modern-day movie musical issue that I've been noticing over and over.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

In other things.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

And it's because obviously, they need to cast A-list people because it's really hard to get people to come to a movie musical, so they need to get the names and I get that.

But Jesus, literally dub them. That's what they used to do.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

In the Sound of Music, for example. In lots of huge movie musicals, if the person felt that their voice was not strong enough, they would just dub them.

Hannah Leach:

They did it even in High School Musical.

Audrey Leach:

Yes.

Hannah Leach:

Get it together.

Audrey Leach:

They did it in 2006. I think we can continue the tradition. I don't see anything wrong with that. I don't think it's dishonest. I think it's smart. I really do.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. I agree.

Audrey Leach:

As long as proper credit is being given, it's totally fine.

Hannah Leach:

I will say, I can think of one really good example of good non-diegetic performance and bad diegetic performance, which is in Chicago with Renee Zellweger, at the end when she's like, “ And that's good. Isn’t it great?” Being really weird.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

And then in her non-diegetic scenes, she's actually giving the fantasy. That's a good example of it being done right. Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

And that movie is a great example too, because it weaves in and out of diegetic scenes and non-diegetic scenes and there is a noticeable difference between the two.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

Her imagination and her reality. How she actually performs, how she wants to perform. They're two different things.

Hannah Leach:

Yes, absolutely. Audrey and I and Julia and Josh are going to see Jinkx Monsoon in Chicago in a couple weeks.

Audrey Leach:

Yes.

Hannah Leach:

Can't wait to report back on that one.

Audrey Leach:

So excited.

Hannah Leach:

Alright Audrey, you ready to educate the masses?

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. So, I had to do the notes on this one because obvious reasons.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

And there's a lot of information here. We're going to get into the weeds. The Sound of Music was released on March 2nd, 1965. And it is rated G, General Audiences, obviously.

It was directed by Robert Wise, who is most well-known for the original West Side Story film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture from 1979, Star!, which also stars Julie Andrews and The Andromeda Strain Those are some of his main films.

But I think at the end of the day, everybody really remembers him for this movie and West Side Story. Those are the two.

Hannah Leach:

The screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, who is best known for having written North by Northwest, which I remember so clearly watching my freshman year at … in a, I think it was called film-

Audrey Leach:

Language of film?

Hannah Leach:

Maybe.

Audrey Leach:

They wouldn't have had you in that. That's like a film-

Hannah Leach:

No, it was similar though. And then Sabrina, does that mean Sabrina?

Audrey Leach:

Audrey Hepburn, Sabrina.

Hannah Leach:

Okay. I was about to say timeline does not make sense. And then West Side Story, the same movie that Robert Wise directed, the stage musical book. So, if you don't know what that is, that means like the non-singing parts of the stage musical were written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, who wrote Arsenic and Old Lace, which my high school did before our time, Anything Goes, Swing Time and The Great Victor Herbert.

And all of this was based off of a book written by the original Maria von Trapp, the historical figure herself. She was the author of the memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. She was a writer on the German version of The Sound of Music, which came out in 1956 and its sequel about the von Trapp family. But after they've come to America and struggled to find success as folk singers. Did not know that existed, but-

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Cool.

Audrey Leach:

We'll get into that history a little bit more, but-

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

I wanted to explain the context of this film adaptation of the Sound of Music, because it's actually a very similar path to Mean Girls today. It’s almost like a one-to-one comparison, minus the historical accuracy. That's the difference, but-

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

So, there were these two German films that Maria von Trapp was involved with about the von Trapp Family because they were well known in Germany. They were not known in the U.S.

Stage Director, Vincent J. Donehue saw them and thought that it would be perfect material for Broadway. And so, initially it was just going to be a play that had songs in it, but not a musical per se.

Hannah Leach:

Yes. A play with music as they say.

Audrey Leach:

Yes. Some of the songs that the von Trapp Family would sing, and it was supposed to be written by Lindsay and Crouse, which it was, and would just feature songs from the repertoire of the von Trapp Family Singers.

Then they decided to add a few original songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein. And then it quickly snowballed and became a full-fledged musical. Only after the success of the show on Broadway did the idea come about for it to be adapted back into an American movie musical.

Hannah Leach:

That's so convoluted, but probably the best-case scenario for the source materials. So, there's at least that. Can I read the synopsis?

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

So, first we have from IMDb: “A young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.” Alright, alright. We got the bass ingredients there.

Then Letterboxd: “A tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey becomes a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children, and brings a new love of life and music into the home.” Very cute. I like that one. I didn't know what the word postulant meant, until I watched the movie again, this time around. Because it sounds like such a negative thing to call someone, but it's not.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

And then lastly, Rotten Tomatoes:

“A tuneful, heartwarming story, it is based on the real-life story of the von Trapp Family Singers, one of the world's best-known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II.

Julie Andrews plays the role of Maria, the tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey, who becomes to governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children and brings a new love of life and music into the home.”

They love to call her a tomboyish postulant. It turns out.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Not wrong. And postulant means potential nun, nun in training.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. Also, I just wanted to point out that I am wearing Austrian coin earrings.

Hannah Leach:

Yes. That mom provided, right?

Audrey Leach:

Got them for Christmas.

Hannah Leach:

I'm wearing my period piece necklace.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

For this recording.

Audrey Leach:

Yep.

Hannah Leach:

I'm also noticing I have setting powder on my shoulder now. That's good.

Audrey Leach:

Okay. Taglines. There's a whole bunch of them. Because they're all from like different releases and different times.

Hannah Leach:

I love the tagline section.

Audrey Leach:

Yes. So, the first one, this is like the original one, “Radiance that floods the screen and warms the heart. The more you see it, the more it becomes one of your favorite things.”

Hannah Leach:

Wow.

Audrey Leach:

And then this one's from the Australia Christmas 1971 re-release, “A Christmas welcome back to the happiest holiday sound.” It's not a holiday movie, but okay.

Hannah Leach:

Well, I was going to say, when I was watching it, I was like, “This isn't a Christmas movie, but it has deep Christmas movie energy.”

Audrey Leach:

It’s all-purpose for me. It's not-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

So, actually I would call it a summer movie. I think it's more of a spring and summer.

Hannah Leach:

There's something to the wholesomeness of it that I think is Christmas for a lot of people.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. The 1973 reissue, “The wait is over. You can thrill again to the happiest sound in all the world.”

Hannah Leach:

Wow, okay.

Audrey Leach:

And then we've got, “With songs they have sung for a thousand years, my heart wants to sing every song it hears. The hills are alive with the sound of music. The hills fill my heart with the sound of music, the happiest sound in all of the world.”

And the 2000 video re-release was, “The timeless classic, every family should share.”

Hannah Leach:

I like should.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

They're like, “We recommend that you share this.”

Audrey Leach:

Yep. You want to do this cast?

Hannah Leach:

Oh man, you did all of the kids?

Audrey Leach:

Yep.

Hannah Leach:

Alright, okay. This cast, so we have Julia Andrews as Maria, obviously. I can't believe Audrey's letting me talk about Julie Andrews right now, and not her.

She's really, really famous for this movie and Mary Poppins. Obviously, to the core audience of this podcast, Princess Diaries. She is the queen in Princess Diaries. Also, she's really well known for Victor/Victoria, Shrek 2. And she's the narrator in Bridgerton. She was a Broadway star for a while before she got into movies. She's a true-

Audrey Leach:

Child actor.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. She's did Vaudeville and all that. She's like that type of person. Love her. You should listen to her autobiography. If you haven't yet, it's really good. Listen to, because I'm an audiobook bitch, or you can read if you're really smart and focused. That is not me.

Okay. Next, I have Christopher Plummer as Georg von Trapp. He is best known for Beginners, Remember, The Insider, All the Money in the World and Knives Out, which was probably one of his last things he was in, because he died recently.

And then we have the serving C word individual of this movie, Eleanor Parker as the Baroness, best known for Sound of Music, Caged, Interrupted Melody and Detective Story.

And then we got Peggy Wood as Mother Abbess, Mother Abbess, however we're saying it, best known for Sound of Music, The Story of Ruth and The Right to Live.

Now we're getting into these kids. So, we have Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp, the 16-year-old. Her only acting credit is this movie, which is kind of wild to me. She left the business after marrying a dentist in 1967. She became a mother and eventually a grandmother and started her own interior design company.

Fun fact, Michael Jackson gave her a job because he loved Sound of Music so much. That's actually really cute.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Also, fun fact, I saw when I was making Audrey's pop quiz, which we'll get to later, is that-

Audrey Leach:

I'm so scared.

No, I think it's fair. All of her high notes were dubbed by her sister, which is very Haylie and Hilary Duff vibes to me.

Audrey Leach:

That's cute.

Hannah Leach:

I know. Yeah. She also has a name that starts with a C. I almost said the C word name. That is not correct.

Then we have Heather Menzies Urich who plays Louisa. She's known for Sound of Music, Piranha, Logan's Run, Sssssss-

Audrey Leach:

Literally Sssssss.

Hannah Leach:

And The Love Boat.

Next, we have Nicholas Hammond, Friedrich. Best known for this movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Stealth and lots of other things.

We have Duane Chase as Kurt. He's best known for Sound of Music and two other credits, both in 1966. Good for him.

Audrey Leach:

Child actor.

Hannah Leach:

Yes. Angela Cartwright as Brigitta von Trapp. She is still working in the business, as of 2019. She was also working as a child actor before the Sound of Music, unlike a lot of the other kids.

You know what? She has the vibe.

Audrey Leach:

She has it.

Hannah Leach:

Of a working professional. She has it. She is all business, which is so funny.

Then we have Debbie Turner as Marta. She was a party guest in 1979’s North Dallas Forty, L.O.L. So, definitely best known for Sound of Music.

Audrey Leach:

That’s so funny.

Hannah Leach:

Then we have Kym Karath, Sound of Music, The Thrill of it All, Lost in Space, All My Children and a lot of things. She has continued to be booked and blessed.

Then we have Daniel Truhitte as Rolf. He was in this movie and one music video in 2017. Interesting. He was probably hard to cast after he was a demonic Nazi boyfriend in this movie.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

And then we cannot understate Norma Varden as Frau Schmidt, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Strangers on a Train, then this movie. Impressive. Where is Uncle Max though?

Audrey Leach:

Yeah, I forgot him.

Hannah Leach:

He got deleted. It's fine.

And then, of course, we have to give an extra shout out to the voice dubbers who made the people that were probably going to butcher their songs, sound great.

So, we have Bill Lee who dubbed for Captain von Trapp and Margery MacKay for Mother Abbess, as well as the unnamed children who helped fill out the kids' songs. It was like a well-known children's chorus that built out the stuff.

Audrey Leach:

Budget was 8.2 million and the worldwide gross is 286,214,195.

And now we're going into critic and audience opinions. The critic score was 83% and the consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was unapologetically sweet and maybe even a little corny, “The Sound of Music will win overall, but the most cynical filmgoers with its classic songs and irresistible warmth.” True.

Hannah Leach:

True.

Audrey Leach:

It's true.

Hannah Leach:

So true.

Audrey Leach:

A few more critic opinions, “It is composed of taste, excitement, heart and mind and more than any other individual, the one who put it there and kept it there was Robert Wise.”

Another person said, “It's totally schmaltzy and highly effective. Singing nuns and gun toting Nazis, something for everyone.”

Hannah Leach:

Great.

Audrey Leach:

And then I went back to the original Hollywood Reporter review for the movie just to see what they said. They said:

“There are many reasons why this musical from the lilting intelligence of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein is such an enthralling success. Credit producer, director, Robert Wise, first of all for his consummate skill in organizing and guiding it.

But the talent that gives it the final lift is unquestionably that of Julie Andrews. This lady is not just a great star, she is a whole whirling, dazzling constellation. She is not just an ordinary movie personality; she is a phenomenon.

Once there was Mary Pickford, then there was Garbo, now there is Julie. She is very likely going to be the object of one of the most intense and sustained love affairs between movie goers and a star in the history of motion pictures.”

Hannah Leach:

Damn. They're not wrong. But it's also interesting because she did have a weird career moment later on.

Audrey Leach:

She did?

Hannah Leach:

Which if we had a Patreon, we would do the bonus episode on the history of Julie Andrews.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

But we don't. But you should look into it. Again, read or listen to her autobiography and you will learn about that. It's very interesting.

Common Sense Media, is there a movie more ripe for Common Sense Media? I don't think so. So, according to Common Sense Media:

“The Sound of Music stands out for positive messages and positive role models. Parents need to know that The Sound of Music is rich in character, music and story as well as filled with positive messages.

In the final 10 minutes, there are a number of suspenseful scenes that may be frightening for some children, including the main character being held at gunpoint (calling the captain the main character is an interesting statement).

Kids might be curious to learn more about Nazis in World War II after watching this movie (how many kids World War II obsessions were launched from this movie?) There's some moderate alcohol consumption and one character smokes. The romantic scenes are limited to gentle embraces and brief chased kisses.

Chased. I actually kind of have to disagree. I feel like it's kind of steamy.

Audrey Leach:

I think it's steamy.

Hannah Leach:

It was a little steamy. I was surprised. Okay Audrey, what about these audience opinions?

Audrey Leach:

The audience score is 91% and the Letterboxd average star rating is four stars. Really good, really good scores.

There were some funny reviews on Letterboxd that I saw, “Reading the negative reviews for this movie on Letterboxd, just further proves to me that the site's community is a cynical, sad, broken hellscape.”

Hannah Leach:

True. Yes.

Audrey Leach:

“The hills are alive with the sound of hot young Christopher Plummer.”

Someone said, “Top quality, even today.” I agree.

“I swear to God, I experienced the full range of human emotion during the two minutes Christopher Plummer sings Edelweiss.” Yes.

“My boyfriend is a Nazi, story time, not click bait.”

And finally, “I had doubts about this, but then Maria blew that whistle at the Captain and suddenly I decided this was the greatest movie ever made. God save the Queen.”

Hannah Leach:

Yes. So true.

Audrey Leach:

So, cultural context. I'm going to do the briefest breakdown of World War II history. Do not hold me accountable for this information.

Hannah Leach:

Yes. And if you are listening to this and you're like, why the hell are we talking about Nazis and World War II? The movie is set right before the onset of World War II, when Austria is being closed in on by the Third Reich and whatnot. And there's swastikas in the movie and stuff. So, this is the context, Audrey.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Thank you for doing this.

Audrey Leach:

Yes, yes. So, first of all, basic facts. World War II lasted for six years, 1939 to 1945. It began September 1st, 1939 with the German Invasion of Poland. It ended when the German armed forces surrendered to the allies on May 7th, 1945. And that went into effect on May 8th.

As early as 1925, through the publication of Mein Kampf, Hitler, who was in his early, early career at that time, made it clear that he wanted to unite Germans across Europe and reconstitute territories such as Austria.

And that right there is where this story takes place. These are from historyhit.com, going to name my source.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

I found a good list of reasons why World War II happened because context. I feel like an APUSH teacher right now.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

So, this is going to sound like I'm reading because I am reading, “The Treaty of Versailles fueled a tension between left-wing Jewish people and Germans.”

The second reason is economic downturns in Germany, there was recession and hyperinflation at the time. We've seen it in our lives how economic downturns can affect the vulnerability of a population when they're looking for a leader.

The third reason is the Nazi ideology. Hitler used German nationalism post-World War I as leverage to create a national divide and fueled white supremacy.

The fourth reason, rise of extremism and forging of alliances, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Hitler and Mussolini bonded.

And finally, the U.S.' failure to intervene from the beginning. This country waited a long time to actually intervene and Britain and France were kind of left hanging in their attempts to stop the war before it got to where it got.

Hannah Leach:

Russia was going in on the ally side. They were super strong anti-Nazi. You think of World War II when you think of World War II propaganda and you think of America, all of it together. But it was actually Russia that had the most casualties by far. It's really, really interesting. You should also look into that.

And then really fast, the differences between the real story of the von Trapps and the musical, The Sound of Music. First of all, there were 10 von Trapp children. Maria came as a tutor for one child and not a governess for all of them.

Maria and Captain were married 11 years before leaving Austria, instead of a month. And they actually escaped by pretending they were going on vacation to Italy the day before the borders closed. Once arrived, they made plans to go to the U.S.

So unfortunately, they were not actually climbing every mountain on foot, as a conclusion.

Audrey Leach:

No. Really sad. Yeah, most of these changes are very time and convenience based.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

They're not important historical changes, so-

Hannah Leach:

Yes. Getting into when we first watched this and what we remember, Audrey needs to take the wheel because this is like an integral part of her soul, I would say.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. But I actually don't know when I first saw it because it's just my whole life. Ever since I can remember, I loved it, so-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. I kind of feel like Grandma Irene was probably the root because she was like a golden age musical person.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. We watched Funny Girl with her, we watched West Side Story with her. I'm really thankful for that in retrospect, because our parents would not have naturally thought to-

Hannah Leach:

They were not musical people.

Audrey Leach:

No.

Hannah Leach:

They're still not.

Audrey Leach:

But it had me fooled my whole childhood. I feel I like didn't understand that our parents didn't like musicals, specifically mom, dad really-

Hannah Leach:

I feel like dad fakes it. Dad was in musicals in high school.

Audrey Leach:

Dad, I think he can appreciate a musical for sure.

Hannah Leach:

Absolutely, yeah.

Audrey Leach:

But our mom was the one who was home with us all the time. So, she would not have naturally thought to put on The Sound of Music.

Hannah Leach:

No. We should ask her how it started. I bet she might know.

Audrey Leach:

Something about that movie. It just clicked with my childhood brain. And I think … I don't know, Julie Andrews as a figure or even as a lead character is kind of different because she's most known for these nurturing roles. They always are relevant to children.

But she's not sexualized. She is positive. She's independent, but she's still kind of going through shit at the same time.

I don't know, there's just something about the roles that she gets that resonates with me, and her voice obviously.

Well, I was going to also briefly tell the story of seeing her. So obviously, it had been a main stress in my life as she was getting older and I was getting older, that I would never see her in person. I was like, “How the fuck am I going to see Julie Andrews in person? She's not out in these streets.”

And then one day I got an email from the 92NY, which is a place in Manhattan that has talkbacks for books and shows and stuff like that. It was Julie Andrews doing a Q&A because she released a new autobiography.

And I was like, “Oh shit, I will go by myself 100%. This will be a spiritual experience.” And it was, it really was. I was like dead center. I wasn't in the front, but I was like in the middle, in the center, kind of.

And me and all the gays around me were just losing our shit. It was crazy. If any of you are intense Ariana Grande stans, you might know who Doug Middlebrook is. He was there. All the gays were there. It was incredible.

Hannah Leach:

Fills me with a lot of respect for the gay men community, that there would actually be a large contingent of gay men there.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. There was certainly a lot of older women there too.

Hannah Leach:

Perfect demographic.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. The girls and gays were there, but it was like the women and gays.

Hannah Leach:

The women and the gays. The things I remember from watching this movie as a kid is that mom (we're going to come back to this), had a lot of like qualms with Sixteen Going on Seventeen.

[Music Playing]

I do think there's a really interesting conversation to be had about the really weird messages about being a teenage girl in this movie, which is relevant to Sleepover. So, we'll have to come back to that.

So, Josh had never seen it. He watched it with me and I kept telling him all the different points that we would stop the movie as kids.

Audrey Leach:

Yes.

Hannah Leach:

So, sometimes we would stop it after she left the house because it faded to black and it was confusing.

Sometimes we would stop it right after the wedding because … that might have even happened because mom might have been like, “I don't want to deal with the Nazi stuff.”

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Because I feel like I've seen the last chunk of that movie so much less than I've seen the rest of it.

Also, we used to fast forward through the Maria and Captain love song and we would also fast forward through Climb Ev’ry Mountain.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Which is disrespectful looking back at it. But we had-

Audrey Leach:

And also, it's a long movie. It's already-

Hannah Leach:

It so long.

Audrey Leach:

A lot to ask, that us as kids even wanted to watch a three-hour long movie. It was already long. There's just so many lines from this movie. When I was watching it, I was doing it Rocky Horror style, because I was by myself, just to like see how much of it I could do-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah, yeah.

Audrey Leach:

I can do most of it. For example, this is like just a random one, but like, “Except for every meal.”

Hannah Leach:

No, I was thinking about you as a kid being like, “Except for every meal.” Also, I had a bunch of those like that too. Right before the party when Gretl's like, “It'll be my first party.” Also, in the Reprise of “Do, a deer, a female deer.” That song, the Reprise when she's like, “Fa” really loud.

And we can't forget, “Haven't you ever heard of a little thing called boarding school?”

And really importantly Too Pink Productions comes from the scene in Sound of Music when he's drinking the lemonade and he's like, “It's just too pink.” That's where it came from, so-

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. I wrote that down too. And just like I literally actually used the song, My Favorite Things, to calm my own anxiety as a kid.

Hannah Leach:

Yep, I remember that too.

Audrey Leach:

I fully would sing it to myself and it worked.

Hannah Leach:

You were a really anxious child too. So, that really goes to speak to the strength of the material.

Audrey Leach:

Julie Andrews’ parenting skills.

Hannah Leach:

Seriously? It's like Megan, but instead of having Megan, you have Julie Andrews.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah, it is like Megan. Yeah, let's just get to the other side.

Hannah Leach:

Alright. We'll be back. Sound of Music is extremely accessible on Disney Plus. Love that for everyone in this community. And we'll be back to talk about our thoughts about the movie and also for Audrey to take this quiz that I made for her. So, we’ll be right back.

[Music Playing]

Audrey Leach:

If there's any movie that you haven't seen, that we've covered that you should see, it's this one. So, if you haven't seen it, please do me the honor.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

[Music Playing]

Welcome back everyone. It is time for perhaps the most high stakes evaluation of Audrey's life, which is a Sound of Music pop quiz, curated by me.

Audrey Leach:

I'm scared. I'm scared you made it too hard.

Hannah Leach:

I did not make it too hard.

Audrey Leach:

Okay.

Hannah Leach:

I think it might actually be too easy because before we did this, Audrey was like, “I'm scared to do a quiz because if I flop it, it will be too demoralizing and humiliating.”

Audrey Leach:

I feel like if it was a dialogue check, a script check, I could do that, finish the line type of thing.

Hannah Leach:

Some of them are kind of like that.

Audrey Leach:

Okay, okay. I'm ready.

Hannah Leach:

There's only one that I think is actually hard. How many governesses have worked for the von Trapp family before Maria arrives? Let me know if you want the choices.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. Give me the choices.

Hannah Leach:

Was it 20? Was it 10? Was it 30? Or was it 11?

Audrey Leach:

I feel like it's 11.

Hannah Leach:

Ding, ding, ding. It’s 11. He goes, “You are the 12th in a long line of governesses.”

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Okay, great. This one I think you're going to get with no issues. Which child ends up blowing the children's cover of having been picking berries when they were actually trying to visit Maria?

Audrey Leach:

Friedrich.

Hannah Leach:

Yes. Friedrich. Good job.

Okay. This one's kind of hard. What is the name of the woman who bows a million times?

Audrey Leach:

I knew you were going to ask that.

Hannah Leach:

At the festival?

Audrey Leach:

I knew you were going to ask that. That's literally what I thought the last question was going to be.

Hannah Leach:

That's so funny.

Audrey Leach:

When you were confused. Oh, my God. I know exactly what she looks like, obviously.

Hannah Leach:

I have options, if you want.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah, give me the … I'll know it with the options.

Hannah Leach:

Alright. Is it Fraulein Mueller? Fraulein Stauccer? Fraulein Schweiger? Or Fraulein Writer?

Audrey Leach:

C.

Hannah Leach:

Schweiger?

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah, you're right.

Audrey Leach:

Okay, good.

Hannah Leach:

Good job. Okay, there's two more. What are the three favorite things Maria lists before she starts singing My Favorite Things?

Audrey Leach:

Daffodils. Rainbows?

Hannah Leach:

No.

Audrey Leach:

Daffodils is one of them.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

Isn't it?

Hannah Leach:

Daffodils is the first one. Rainbows is not far off in the terms of how it would feel when you're saying it. Do you remember the third one?

Audrey Leach:

Pillows. It's something like-

Hannah Leach:

It has an OWS at the end.

Audrey Leach:

Is it pussy willows?

Hannah Leach:

No. That's what one of the kids says later.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hannah Leach:

They say pussy twice in this movie.

Audrey Leach:

I know.

Hannah Leach:

Green Meadows.

Audrey Leach:

Green Meadows, yeah.

Hannah Leach:

And then there's one more.

Audrey Leach:

I don't know.

Hannah Leach:

Skies full of stars.

Audrey Leach:

Oh, right, right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hannah Leach:

And now number five. This one is kind of hard. What are the four gifts that the Baroness jokes about giving to the Captain?

Audrey Leach:

A fountain pen. A trip around the world. God, a car or something.

Hannah Leach:

Mm-hmm (negative). It's similar though, kind of. It's a mode of transportation.

Audrey Leach:

What's a mode of transportation that's not a car that she could buy. I feel like those are the two that I know is the fountain pen and the trip around the world.

Hannah Leach:

Okay. Do you want the other two?

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

A yacht.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah, yeah.

Hannah Leach:

And a villa in the south of France, but they're so hard to gift-

Audrey Leach:

Right, right.

Hannah Leach:

That was admittedly hard and you did a good job. I'm going to give that to you.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. I'm happy with that performance.

Hannah Leach:

Yes, me too. Okay. Now that we've done that, where do we even begin?

Audrey Leach:

Well, I just want to begin with the fact that I had to keep a crying tally in this watch.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

The grand total was eight times and it never hits when you think it will. That's what's funny. I had some wine, so that's like a lubricant for this kind of thing.

Hannah Leach:

Yes, yes.

Audrey Leach:

But it's almost like a Pavlovian response. I don't even think I would have to drink wine to cry. I think it would just happen.

Hannah Leach:

Do you remember when it happened?

Audrey Leach:

I can remember some of them. One of them, this one was weird to me. That beautiful shot. It literally was the beauty of the shot; I think that that got me. When they're all skipping, they're on the way to playing, when they're dressed in the drapes, it's like-

Hannah Leach:

Yes, I know what you're going to say.

Audrey Leach:

They're skipping and then Gretl trips, it's that shot.

Hannah Leach:

When they're up against the river or whatever. Yeah. It is really good. Also, it's that sweet piano version of the song.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

I love that whole sequence.

This watch, I don't think I ever felt the emotion of the something good scene, but this time I felt the emotion of the something good scene.

Hannah Leach:

Wow.

Audrey Leach:

And I was like, “Whoa.” I think had I not cried all the times before that, I would not have cried right there. But it was like a train that kept going. I cried Edelweiss, of course.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

But even the second time, the second time I think actually got me more because obviously the stakes are higher.

[Music Playing]

But I remember always thinking that Christopher Plummer's performance was weird in that second time because he looks like he is fully dissociating. He looks like he forgot who he was or something.

Hannah Leach:

I did see when I was preparing your quiz that he, in the DVD commentary said that he was drunk during that filming.

Voiceover:

“Yeah, I heard though, that you describe your behavior during some of that time as unconscionable.”

“Yeah.”

“Is it true you were drinking every night?”

“Oh yeah, in Austria. It's wonderful there.”

Audrey Leach:

Yeah, I know literally so much behind the scenes shit about this movie. It's incredible.

Hannah Leach:

I was going to say, I can't believe you didn't bring up the downdraft.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. I've heard Julie Andrews tell the story of filming that opening shot on the hill, a million times where she'll always be like … I wish I could do like a good impersonation, but she'll always say that when the helicopter was coming towards her, the downdraft from it would blow her down basically after the helicopter passed.

So, she kept getting smooshed to the ground and then they would do another take and blah, blah, blah.

Hannah Leach:

We should make a super cut of her saying that story.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Like the star is born.

Audrey Leach:

Star is born.

Hannah Leach:

The star is born thing.

Audrey Leach:

Yes.

Voiceover:

“What do you remember about that opening scene that is now so iconic?”

“Oh, my Lord. I remember it vividly. I walked across the field from one end and the helicopter came across from the other end down through the trees, and we met almost, and then I made my big turn and they cut.

Well, we had to do it several times, but what I didn't know was that the downdraft from that helicopter was fierce. It was a jet helicopter. So, every time we got the shot, I made my turn and then the helicopter went around me to start again.

Every time it went around me, it just leveled me into the grass. By about the 10th take, I got so angry and I thought, I don't have to fall down and down I went again. And so, I was spitting mud and hay and everything else.

Finally, I said to the helicopter pilot, could you just take a wider turn around me and or like, stop knocking me and …”

“And stop knocking me down.”

“And stop knocking me down. But of course, he didn't understand and I just got a thumbs up and let's do it again.”

Audrey Leach:

She's been telling the same stories now for 50 years.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

Her patience for it really is incredible. And she just has so much gratitude for the experience that she doesn't mind playing into people's love for it, which is so nice, you know?

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

Whereas Christopher Plummer, totally was more of a gruff personality. He actually was scared to … not scared, but he was hesitant to do The Sound of Music because of how potentially — what's that word that he always uses?

Hannah Leach:

Saccharin.

Audrey Leach:

Saccharin. Yeah. That's it.

Voiceover:

“Yeah. I hear you had some nicknames in the beginning for the Sound of Music.”

“It was pretty kind of delicate stuff because it could have run overboard and become very mockish and sentimental. So, there was a lot of nuns present all the time, which always makes you feel a little bit irreverent. It does me. So, one day I called it, well the sound of mucus is …

“Oh no.”

“But there needed to be a cynic of some kind around to stop it from going to getting to …”

“I think we all felt that if we weren't careful the film could have been dreadfully saccharin.”

“Saccharin.”

Audrey Leach:

So, his main focus working with Robert Wise was finding ways to ground it or make it more real somehow.

Hannah Leach:

Imagine being that big of a douche.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Enjoy your thing. It kind of reminds me of Robert Pattinson talking about Twilight a little bit, but worse.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. It is similar to that. Well, him and Julie did have a sweet relationship, friendship.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

But he definitely has a different outlook on.

Hannah Leach:

He has an actor complex a little bit is what it seems like to me.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Everything about I Have Confidence is top tier musical and also top tier filmmaking choices. Everything looks so good.

And one thing that really actually enhanced my appreciation of the choices made in this movie is that we just watched West Side Story, the one from the 60s. And it’s like seeing how strong his choices were for West Side Story makes you realize that his choices were actually equally strong for The Sound of Music, just in a really different way.

Audrey Leach:

No, he is a visionary in the genre, for sure.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. The utilization of the real settings, the fact that the back of the house actually looked like that, with the view of the mountain and the lake and everything, unreal. It looks so good.

Audrey Leach:

It's so immersive. It's actually a lot more immersive than West Side Story because a lot of the sets on West Side Story are clearly sound stages, but I don't mind it because it's like this kind of other worldly version of the world.

But Sound of Music is so immersive because they're really there. It kind of makes you notice that it's a musical less, like when they start singing because you've got the mix of diegetic songs and non-diegetic songs, it just feels natural all the way around.

Hannah Leach:

And just the gentle energy of this movie versus the super intense energy of West Side Story. He doesn't do the thing where he's like, “This is my directing trademark. I'm going to make everything fall into this category.” He's like, “Let me serve the material in a lovely way.

We have to talk about the Liesl situation because I always loved Sixteen Going on Seventeen, I think a little bit because I wasn't supposed to like it. That was part of it. But also, it is catchy and the whole number of it, the whole choreography of it is classic and perfect.

Audrey Leach:

It's beautiful. It's like you can't hate this, feminism aside. Also, it's historically accurate. So, there's that. And she's just like, she has a crush. To me, the crushness of it can overshadow the — I don't know, sexism. I guess. I don't know. Of course, it's sexist. It's supposed … It is. That's what it is. Like-

Hannah Leach:

I feel like it's just so on the nose that it's a little bit hard to watch, but not in the way where you're like, “This is offending me,” More that it's like secondhand embarrassing because it's so earnestly on the nose.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

You know what I mean?

Audrey Leach:

And maybe, a part of that too is just that they are both clearly in their twenties. If they really were 16, I think that could come through and be less cringey or just a little easier to accept.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

Because it's supposed to be a 16-year-old with a crush. Like they both are into each other and so yeah, I think if they weren't so old looking maybe-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah, that's definitely part of it. And then they also just kind of seem like nacks. It was just a weird vibe to them. And I know we have to have something critical or something other than just praise. I find Liesl to be a really weird character. Because she's so chipper, even when she finds out that her boyfriend is a Nazi, she's still pretty chipper.

Audrey Leach:

I'm just going to defend it. Why not? I don't care.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. Why not? You might as well.

Audrey Leach:

The kids don't understand the context of what's going on. Politically, I think they kind of don't know what's happening at all. So, it's not like she understands the gravity of the situation. I don't think she necessarily does.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

She just looks too old. She just looks like she should understand it, but she doesn't.

Hannah Leach:

Right. I think that that's part of what makes it so weird. And also, her eyes are so big and blue and she's always just like … so on. She's like 10 out of 10 on.

Audrey Leach:

“I'm 16. What’s such a baby about that?”

Hannah Leach:

”What's such a baby about that?”

Audrey Leach:

Maybe that you're 28.

Hannah Leach:

Right. You're definitely not 16. The other thing though is like the way that that whole arc end caps with like the Julie Andrews and Liesl version of it, that is actually the part that kind of makes me the most confused.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

I get the intention that she's like, you're an over eager teenager, cool your jets. That's fine. But the part that's weird to me is like that Julie is also delivering it in this way where it feels like she's reflecting on her own.

Audrey Leach:

It just hasn't been very long.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. And when she was like, “Lo and behold you're someone's wife.” Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. She looks at the camera or like looks around for so long and then says, “And you belong to him.” I'm like, “What? Okay.” So, I'm not making this argument because we are sick of this argument on the show.

Audrey Leach:

Oh, no.

Hannah Leach:

However, do you know where I'm going? Do you know where I'm going?

Audrey Leach:

That Maria is gay?

Hannah Leach:

It's not that Maria is gay per se. It's that I could see someone writing Baroness Maria Fanfic very easily.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Based off the way they interact with each other. And especially because — okay, I know I'm doing the thing that I hate, but the way that when the Baroness follows her up there and she like changes into the other dress, she's like, “He would hardly be a man if he didn't notice you. You're so enchanting and beautiful,” and blah, blah blah. Because she delivers it in this very earnest way.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

When I was a kid, I was super confused by her character. Because she's not quite a villain.

Audrey Leach:

No.

Hannah Leach:

But she's not quite a protagonist either.

Audrey Leach:

That's what I like. That's what I like about her. That she doesn't get jealous in the way that you would assume that her character would. I think she's really controlled about it and she almost manipulated the situation kind of perfectly without looking like a villain, which is ideal.

I would say, yes, I would agree with that. Except I think that the sexual tension between Julie and Christopher Plummer is really real.

Hannah Leach:

It is absolutely there. I just feel like there are moments where it feels love triangally in a kind of gay way, to me.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

I could just see it. But I also kind of wonder because in the stage show, my understanding is that the Baroness is a little bit more of a villain, in that she's really complacent politically. I kind of wonder if they played that down, maybe so an actress would take the part, especially because it was so recently post-World War II.

That's one thing I'm really curious about. And I tried to research things about it, but I couldn't really find that much. Which is like, how controversial was it to fully have swastikas on screen, only 25 years after this happened.

And I did find something interesting, which was that when they went to Austria to film it, the director met with the mayor and was like, we're going to need to do this. And the mayor was like, “It's fine. The populace has already lived through this once, they can do it again.”

But then other city officials were like, “No, no, no.” So, they ended up using news footage for a lot of the stuff with swastikas in it.

Audrey Leach:

Do you think that the Baroness should have a song?

Hannah Leach:

She did in the stage show.

Audrey Leach:

I know.

Hannah Leach:

She had two.

Audrey Leach:

But in the movie. I get why they would cut it honestly, but it would be kind of fun.

Hannah Leach:

I think it would be cool to see, but I don't think it needs it. Because I kind of-

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. It doesn't need it anything for runtime. But-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah, I like that she's kind of a little mysterious.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Also, when I was a kid I was like, “Is that Marilyn Monroe?”

Audrey Leach:

That's what they're going for.

Hannah Leach (13:24):

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

Her face, even down to her facial expression, she does a very similar thing with her face, that red dress she wears with the soft focus when they break up and she's just like, “I'll pack my little bags and return to Vienna where I belong.” I'm like, “Yeah.” When she's like, “I need someone who needs me desperately or at least my money.” I'm like, she is actually great.

Hannah Leach (13:49):

I know. After Maria decided, she was going to leave and then she comes back down and she's like, “I feel like celebrating.” That was like the one actually shady part-

Audrey Leach:

And the boarding school.

Hannah Leach:

That and talking about boarding school.

Audrey Leach:

But like that was probably how she was raised.

Hannah Leach:

Right. She's like, “It's a rite of passage.” I also, when I was a kid, like fully believed that she was doing her best and that she just kind of sucked with kids.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. So did I.

Hannah Leach:

Which is kind of true, but I also feel like she was really pretty. So, we just assumed she was nice.

Audrey Leach:

Okay. I have some like random points I could go through.

Hannah Leach:

Okay.

Audrey Leach:

It took me a really long time to understand the whole telegram stop thing.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

You're not born with the knowledge that to enter a new sentence or a new line on a telegram, you'd say stop at the end. So, whenever they're doing that thing, I was like, “What are they talking about? Like stop.”

Hannah Leach:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Audrey Leach:

And there's a joke on it. It was a lot for me to understand.

Hannah Leach:

Yes.

Audrey Leach:

When they're having their little picnic and the kids are like, “How else will we get father's attention?” But to like play pranks and stuff. And then Maria goes like, “Well, we'll have to think about that one.”

Hannah Leach:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Audrey Leach:

I like that line.

Hannah Leach:

Me too.

Audrey Leach:

When Mother Abbess is like, “You have to find your life.”

Hannah Leach:

Yeah, “Live the life you were born to lead.”

Audrey Leach:

I was like, “Okay. Gaga.”

Hannah Leach:

I know. Well, I was also like, she is such a good symbol of an actual loving and forgiving God.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. Because she's not shaming.

Hannah Leach:

No. Also though, when she was like, love between a man and a woman is holy too. I was like …

Audrey Leach:

But the fact that like Maria had to be told that is interesting. I also was thinking about her backstory. Literally all we get a Maria's backstory is that she grew up by the abbey and when she would hear them singing and would be having fun on the hill or whatever. And that is the reason that she joined. So, the combination of the music and the nature essentially is the reason that she thought that she should be a nun.

Hannah Leach:

And also, the structure of it. probably she was looking for. It also feeds into the gay thing. But we, I'm not going to say anything else other than that. Uncle Max is also gay as hell.

Audrey Leach (16:31):

He is.

Hannah Leach:

Got to say that.

Audrey Leach:

He's like-

Hannah Leach:

We also forgot to talk about, “Wealthy, unattached, little me,” from the Baroness.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. Wait, wait. Have you seen those tweets recently? That's like there's always a sinister-

Hannah Leach:

Yes, yes. Sinister gay?

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. That's them. That's the Baroness and Max.

Hannah Leach:

Absolutely. We got to get that tweet out there asap. You're so right.

So, we need to wrap up momentarily here because of timing, but don't you feel like the Captain is a little stupid?

Audrey Leach:

Yeah, I do.

Hannah Leach:

Those ladies play him like a goddamn fiddle.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

I was really noticing that.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. He's a little dumb, but we stand-

Hannah Leach:

He's hot, so who cares.

Audrey Leach:

You know what other line as a last note, I think is so funny. “I wonder what grass tastes like.”

Hannah Leach:

I laughed out loud at that. I did not remember that line being there.

Audrey Leach:

Why the fuck does he say that?

Hannah Leach:

It's because they're not going to get their dinner. So, he's like, what are we going to eat instead?

Audrey Leach:

“I wonder what grass tastes like.”

Hannah Leach:

I love him.

Audrey Leach:

Oh, my God. Gretl also makes really funny faces. If you watch her-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. I watch her a lot.

Audrey Leach:

In the shots that she's not talking, which is most shots. She's always making some weird faces.

Hannah Leach:

Or just struggling to remember choreography and not lip syncing.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. I can relate to that. It’s hard out here.

Audrey Leach:

She's so cute.

Hannah Leach:

I know we kind of talked about it in the beginning, but like why is this your favorite movie?

Audrey Leach:

This one's got everything.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

Julie Andrews, music that is pretty and fun to sing. A story that is historically important, question mark. A compelling love story, I think. I didn't always care about that though. That was not my number one thing. But watching it as an adult, I'm like, “No, this does feel legitimate to me.” Seven kids, I think I enjoy the-

Hannah Leach:

The ensemble cast.

Audrey Leach:

The ensemble cast. There's amazing cinematography, editing, costume design, production design choreography, blocking, the visuals, the combination of diegetic music and non-diegetic music is like, I love that. That's one of my favorite things. My Favorite Things. Yeah, I have no qualms.

Hannah Leach:

When I was watching it this time, I was like, “What is this movie really about?” What is it other than just like a fun time? And I feel like the fact that the point of it is to embrace good things when they come to you, like love and music and family, you do deserve good things and you can let them in.

Audrey Leach:

Without fear.

Hannah Leach:

You have to live the life you were born to live.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. You can't escape your problems. You have to face them.

Hannah Leach:

Yep.

Audrey Leach:

And find your life.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. You find your life.

Audrey Leach:

Find your life and have confidence when you do.

Hannah Leach:

And when you're 16 going on 17, Sixteen Going on Seventeen is the sequel to when you're 15 and someone tells you they love you. Spiritual successor.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. And it touches on grief in some ways to.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah, I wanted them to go more into the grief. I was like, “Why are we glazing over the grief?” But, it's fine.

Audrey Leach:

It's got emotion in all areas.

Hannah Leach:

There's seriously dark tones that they downplay a lot.

Audrey Leach:

Yeah.

Hannah Leach:

I think it does speak a little bit to finding the joy where you can find it, even in dark times.

Audrey Leach:

In dark times. Yeah. We can, obviously on a different scale, but we can all relate to that, what we've been through since 2020.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

It's a different kind of trauma, but we absolutely … it's similar in that, regardless of if it's war or it's a virus or whatever it is, I feel like our brains don't really know the difference, when people are dying on a mass scale-

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

I feel like it does manifest in a similar way. Your body doesn't know the difference.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

And yeah, we can all relate to that.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. I feel like for me personally, lockdown and COVID and everything changed a ton about me, but my ability to enjoy small things and find joy in things that are small scale has increased a lot.

Audrey Leach:

That's really valuable because you'll always have that, you'll always be able to appreciate a small thing.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah.

Audrey Leach:

Such as raindrops on roses.

Hannah Leach:

And whiskers on kittens.

Audrey Leach:

Perhaps a bright copper kettle.

Hannah Leach:

Maybe even some warm woolen mittens. Throw it in there. We could keep going for literally the entire movie. Just saying it like this back and forth.

Audrey Leach:

I wish I could have quoted more lines, but, oh well.

Hannah Leach:

The thing is that's just holding everyone hostage. We can just do that together next time we're in the same room.

Audrey Leach:

I know. I just have to prove that I really am the number one fan of this movie. I have a fucking collector set under my bed. I have all this shit.

Hannah Leach:

I plucked that collector set from my friend Emma's dad's apartment in Astoria. I saw it. I was like, “You guys want this?” And they were like, “No.” And then I brought it to Audrey.

I think this was an amazing way to start Season Seven. We have so many twists and turns coming up. And you know what? We are going to be engaged. We are about to be engaged as hell, so-

Audrey Leach:

Yeah. I'm unemployed, so this is my full-time job right now.

Hannah Leach:

Yeah. For real. So, Sound of Music is absolutely worth watching. Movie history, musical history, Hannah and Audrey Leach history. So, if you haven't seen it, you know what to do, go check it out, asap. But until next week, if you're just craving for more from us, Audrey, where could they do that?

Audrey Leach:

You can find more from us at evergreenpodcasts.com/sleepover-cinema and keep up with our latest creative projects at toopinkproductions.com. We're on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube at Sleepover Cinema. And post a full video version of each episode on YouTube every Thursday. Please subscribe. You can follow me, Audrey at Audrey Anna Leach on everything.

Hannah Leach:

You can follow me, Hannah at Hannah Rae Leach on Instagram and @lanavontrapp on Twitter. And please join our Discord server at the link in the episode description or on evergreenpodcasts.com, if you haven't yet.

Josh, set us up with some resources for this Discord for Christmas and we're going to do some experiments in the Discord this season.

As always, you can check out our merch at toopinkproductions.com/shop. We have everything you could ever want. Please give it a visit. And if you like the show, you know what you should do. Leave us a review.

Audrey Leach:

Sleepover Cinema is a production of Evergreen Podcasts, produced, edited, and engineered by us, Hannah and Audrey Leach. Sleepover Cinema is mixed by Sean Rule-Hoffman, with theme music by Josh Perelman-Hall. Executive producer is Michael DeAloia.

Hannah Leach:

We'll see you next week for an exciting new format change.

Audrey Leach:

Bye.

Hannah Leach:

Bye.

Audrey Leach:

I didn't sing at all.

Hannah Leach:

It's not too late. Give us a little something. Record it later and add it in.

Audrey Leach:

Okay.

Hannah Leach:

This is me asking for it.

Audrey Leach:

I’ll do that.

Do, a deer, a female deer. Re, a drop of golden sun. Mi, a name I call myself. Fa, a long, long way to run. So, a needle pulling thread. La, a note to follow So. Ti, a drink with jam and …

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