Thirty years after Julie Andrews and her adopted brood of chirping little ones first charged down the streets of Salzburg chorusing in unison, Robert Wise's Oscar-laden classic celebrates its third decade with this timely re-release. For those unfamiliar with the story, Andrews is the free-spirited nun Maria who becomes governess to the seven uniform-sporting kids of the irascible Austrian Captain Von Trapp (Plummer). Maria soon puts paid to the children's regimented lifestyle by fashioning new clobber out of her bedroom curtains and discovering their untapped musical talents. She consequently wins the heart of her new employer, with only a last-minute Nazi intervention threatening to put the mockers on everything.
Sandwiched between the opening and closing mountainous landscapes is a cavalcade of superb set-pieces, picturesque scenery and Rodgers and Hammerstein musical numbers immediately recognisable even to that small segment of the population who have somehow managed to avoid the film.
While all-too-frequent TV appearances may have relegated this to ridicule status in some quarters, there can scarcely be a soul who doesn't complain of having something in their eye when Captain Von Trapp regains an inkling of humanity and butts in on his extended family's rendition of the title track. The phrase "they don't make them like they this any more" has rarely been so accurate. One of the greatest screen musicals ever.