The Hills Are Alive With Our ‘Sound of Music’ Quiz

Although “not a fan” is being generous — he hated the movie. Plummer, who died in 2021, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011 that he thought The Sound of Music was “awful and sentimental and gooey.” Throughout his life, Plummer referred to it as “S&M” or “The Sound of Mucus.” He explained why in a 1982 interview in People magazine: “That sentimental stuff is the most difficult for me to play, especially because I’m trained vocally and physically for Shakespeare,” Plummer said. “To do a lousy part like von Trapp, you have to use every trick you know to fill the empty carcass of the role. That damn movie follows me around like an albatross.”

While the soundtrack only topped the Billboard charts for two weeks in 1965, it stayed in the Top 10 for a whopping 109 weeks, until the spring of 1967. 

Much of the film’s stunning scenery was shot on location in Salzburg, a medieval city founded more than 1,300 years ago that straddles the Salzach River on the edge of the Alps. For example, the montage performance of “Do-Re-Mi” was shot in 16 different locations in or near the city. The historic heart of Salzburg is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the region is a popular travel destination for Sound of Music aficionados.

The Anschluss (German for “joining” or “connection”) occurred in March 1938 after Adolf Hitler sent troops into Austria. Shortly thereafter, the country was formally absorbed into Nazi Germany, a year and a half before the start of World War II. 

The film states that von Trapp was “a big naval hero” who served in the “Imperial Navy” during World War I. The real von Trapp was a highly decorated submarine commander for the Austro-Hungarian Navy who saw extensive action in the Mediterranean.