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Welcome to PooBahSpiel, the online voice and home of the creative mind of Mark Monlux, Illustrator Extraordinaire. Prepare yourself for an endless regaling of art directly from the hand of this stellar artist. And brace yourself against his mighty wind of pontification. Updates are kinda weekly and show daily sketches, current projects, and other really nifty stuff.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Comic Critic Reviews The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music was a tremendous blockbuster. For a short time, The Sound of Music displaced Gone with the Wind as the number one blockbuster of all time.* What made The Sound of Music not only the most widely seen musical ever, but also reach the pinnacle of success? It could be argued that the music is infectiously catchy, or that the movie could be seen as the perfect family film. But neither of those reasons is enough to explain its success. I know the true secret of The Sound of Music: it’s nice. It’s not merely nice, it’s nice squared. It’s nice on a supremely sublime level. There’s no crass potty humor trying to instigate a laugh. The move plays the characters straight. They’re honest, joyful and pink. Their flaws are only that they feel deeply and are trying to find their way to express that feeling. Even the Nazis are dealt with in a nice way. The Sound of Music is a success because it shows us how we want the world to be—courteous, polite, nice, and filled with music from the joy of it all.

*Domestic Gross - adjusted for inflation.

3 comments:

Bill said...

I didn't know about the German movie versions! There was also a book written by Maria Von Trapp which I suspect was the inspiration for the movies. I read it as a boy after seeing the musical. The focus of the book was more on their adventures getting established in America.

The Von Trapp story was well known in northern New England. Anyone who went skiing in Vermont knew about or may have stayed at their ski lodge in Stowe.

J P schmelzer said...

Two Sound of Music stories.

My friend's mother was somewhat goofy and when she went to the old folks home her doctor prescribed a daily viewing of the Sound of Music because it calmed her and made her happy. She must have done over five years of that regimen until she croaked.

When I was at the U of Wis., our final project in life drawing one semester was to do a remake of a movie poster using the nude. I took the easy route and did the poster of naked Julie Andrews topping the hill for the Sound of Music. The professor liked it, and I got an A.

jps

Anonymous said...

i, not sure where to post suggestions for comic movie reviews, so i'm posting here:
blade runner (1982)
the blob (1958)
creature from the black lagoon (1954)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
soylent green (1973)
zaat (1975)
luv the comic reviews, keep'em comin' :) thx,
ole skewl scifi freak