The Sound of Music is such a rich film thematically (some might even call it saturated) that I could probably write missives on it and still not cover it completely. What is it really? Love story? Religious fantasy? Musical farce? Propaganda? Indeterminate. I’m never quite sure how significant the love story aspect of the film is. Andrews and Plummer are nice enough together, but that essential (an aspect that’s a prerequisite in any serious romance) is so odd. On one side religion is pulling Maria from marrying and on the other good breeding prevents the captain from succumbing to her, good breeding in the form of Eleanor Parker’s Baroness Schraeder. I feel a bit bad for Parker (whose birthday anniversary was last Sunday), she’s a multiple Oscar nominee and I immediately remember not for her work in Caged or Detective Story (although, you can forgive me for forgetting the latter, she hops in and out of it) but for her thankless role in The Sound of Music. And, more than just a general memory of her performance I zero in on a specific scene – one of the most (intentionally, probably) scenes in the movie. I don’t think that there’s anything more uncomfortable in the film – including that ending – than that game of catch that the Baroness plays with the Von Trapp children. It’s both a positive and a negative that the Baroness’ only flaw in the entire film is that she’s not a singing nun. Sure, she might be just a little bit too grandiose but not to the point of being annoying, and those children can be awful.
I feel so badly for her in that scene. We all love Maria, but surely we do not hate the Baroness?
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