Why Germans & Austrians have NEVER HEARD of "The Sound of Music" | Feli from Germany

[@FelifromGermany]

How popular is The Sound of Music in YOUR country? 🤔 🎄Use code FELI24 at europeandeli.com/ to get 10% off your entire order and enjoy German Christmas vibes with the best German treats and decorations!

[@encarn]

I think it has died off a bit in the U.S.

[@DWLeggette]

I'm from Canada. My grandmother had it on VHS and used to rewatch it every now and then. I've seen bits and pieces of it, but I don't think I've ever sat and watched the whole thing.

[@ulrichhartmann4585]

I think it also played a role that the era of 'Heimatfilm' was more or less over in 1965.

[@VladislavBabbitt]

It is still quite popular in Canada. They show it on TV every Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve they often show "It's a wonderful life" or the original "Miracle on 34th Street".

[@Mr.Pritchard]

UK - Everyone has heard of it but hardly anyone has watched it. Really weird.

[@wolkewolke7704]

I am from Salzburg, 64 years ... when I saw that movie it was like a time travel back to the time when I was a kid ... the same streets, the same cars ... we drove the same streets on sundays. Pure nostalgia 😁🥰

[@johnlabus7359]

That's an interesting perspective on the film. It was literally filmed in your town when you were a small child. That's actually a really nice gift to have those places in time memorialized for you!

[@Hebrews123]

I’m first generation German American my mom is from is from Germany I spent every summer in Germany. I’m 60 born in 1965. Of course we absolutely loved sound of music saw it in America and Berlin

[@johnbattle7518]

I'm getting up there, and nostalgia is like a drug after a while. I'm glad to read that it had that effect on you.

[@JBG1968]

I’ll be in Salzburg on Tuesday . See you soon . lol

[@quincekreb6798]

Salzburg is a very wonderful city with beautiful surroundings!!

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

No drones back then, Imagine being Julie Andrews standing & spinning in a meadow, then this huge copter & camera comes flying over your head. She said it was actually terrifying.

[@dragonpullman23]

She says the wind caused by the helicopter during the filming of that scene frequently caused her to lose balance and fall down.

[@DrVVVinK]

@@dragonpullman23 I would love to see the bloopers.

[@patrickgomes2213]

And that scene was filmed on the German side of the border.

[@PB4Y2]

The producers and director had scouted out a hilltop to shoot that scene and found one nearby with good views and tall willowy grass. They arranged with the owner to rent the field and were set to return sometime later to shoot the scene. But on the scheduled day, with all the crew ready to go, they arrived to find a very proud farmer/owner who had mowed the field to help them out, not realizing that the tall grass was what they wanted. They had to scramble to find another site to shoot that scene.

[@joeelliott2157]

Julie Andrews, the original 'Flying Nun.'

[@yankong8290]

I am Chinese born in the 70's. The Sound of Music was one the few original movies in English available to middle schools and highschools. It was used in English classes and many songs and dances from the movie were reinacted by students. I loved it eversince. I actually read Maria's book in Chinese, borrowed from my school library, so I knew the real story was different. I moved to the US in the 90's, I have bought CD, DVD and Bluray discs of all kinds of special editions. I always watch when it plays on TV. I can sing along every song. I made a short trip to Vienna in 2001, really wanted to visit Salzburg, but did not have time. I think I was more obssessed with Sissi at the time. Still love Sound of Music with all criticism taken into account.

[@marythompson558]

The fact that Chinese people in the 70s or 80s saw Sound of Music just freaks me out. Shows how little we knew about what really went on in your country! But then, nobody likes Nazis, so that might be part of it.

[@yankong8290]

@marythompson558 I saw it in the 80's in China. I watched Disney cartoons and a movie from 20th Centry Fox on the Chinese Central Television Station every Sunday evening. There were great desire to learn about the outside world.

[@yesyesyesyes1600]

You, sir, are a true fan ❤️🇦🇹❤️

[@TheGeoDaddy]

Weeell, there’s actually not a lot of love lost between Austrians and Germans 😏 just try and say “tschuss” to an Austrian (my parents were from Austria and Hungary) I’ll say this much, my mother - who escaped from Hungary to Austria in ‘56 - would weep watching the movie from the moment the Family realized they had to leave their Homeland to live… not as a matter of choice but survival.

[@loislewis5229]

Love The Sound of Music and Sisi 😊

[@bethzeman7749]

German-American here. When my young sons watched the movie they reenacted the “heil Hitler” in my home and didn’t understand my being upset with them. It became a teaching moment and a very poignant one for our family. We love the movie and didn’t realize it wasn’t as widely known among Germans. Will be a good discussion with the cousins next time we get together. Much love 🖤❤️💛

[@dellamotta]

There was a previousGerman movie based on the same memoir from Maria von Trapp called Die Trapp-Familie (1956) that was a huge success in Germany. That explains why, while being a huge success worldwide, was a flop in Germany. It got nothing to do with portraying Nazism. It probably was because they saw The Sound of Music as the "Hollywood remake of Die Trapp-Familie."

[@jensraab2902]

Wait until they've watched Mel Brooks' _The Producers_ ! 😁

[@KeinWilleTriumphiert]

What exactly do you mean by „German-American“?

[@sadee1287]

Boy, the younger generations don't benefit from made for television miniseries like we had. In 1978 the miniseries "The Holocaust" was aired on network television. Talk about an education.... They weren't afraid to scare the heck out of you back then. You learned.

[@thomasdonahue9363]

Against all this, my husband (German) and I (American) decided to show The Sound of Music (in English with German subtitles) to our annual open-air movie event in Bad Kreuznach Germany. We had to do a lot of work ahead of the show promoting the film and explaining why this film is loved from Toronto to Tehran (it's big in Iran!) but not in Germany. It got people damn curious and on that night we had nothing but positive reactions. They absolutely loved it and were so happy we finally brought this classic back to a German audience. So we turned a flop back into a hit. At least for the small town of Bad Kreuznach. :-)

[@johnshort5003]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

[@LinOaLin]

Können sie den Film auf YT hochladen ?

[@christopherbedford9897]

@@LinOaLin Let me Google that for you kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWGolKSsaNaDi9k&pp=ygUSdGhlIHNvdW5kIG9mIG11c2lj

[@sadee1287]

@@LinOaLin Kann man es wie alle anderen auf DVD kaufen?🙄

[@AnnaEsen]

@@sadee1287 DVD - almost nobody has a dvd player now - too old technology and to expensive to distribute. If at all some people may have a blue-ray player and to find this old movie remastered into blue-ray is less probable than to find it digitalized 😊

[@Kalysta]

For people in America, the Von Trapp family still owns an inn in the mountains of Vermont that is beautiful. I believe one of Maria's youngest children is still there, and some of the grandkids still run it. It's a great place to stay if you're even in Vermont!

[@dj3352]

Yes , in Stowe. Supposedly Maria said the mountains reminded her of Austria. I believe the Trapp family escaped Austria by boarding a train, no mountain trek.

[@JohnMunsonjr]

Yes, it is in Stowe, VT and Maria's youngest child Johannes, who is now 85, who is the only one of the 3 children Maria had with George who is still alive, runs the Trapp Family Lodge with his children and grandchildren. It is a great ski lodge as well in the winter and great for hiking in the summer!

[@annwood6812]

@@dj3352 Yes, the train tracks are quite close to their house. I walked past the Von Trapp home frequently on my semester abroad in nearby Elsbethen. The house is yellow (or was). I loved seeing all the SOM locations.

[@LadyIarConnacht]

My husband and I went there with all our employees to lay the carpet in the (then) new condos. The lodge and their home were nearby, and we saw Maria out in the garden being pushed in a wheelchair by her nurse.

[@marythompson558]

A few years back, maybe a decade, I saw three young girls singing, who were the latest iteration of the Von Trapp family singers.

[@gem3132]

They crossed BY OVERNIGHT TRAIN into Italy. The next morning the Italian border was closed: by total chance they boarded the LAST train.

[@appytight8468]

But the film has them singing merrily as they march out of Salzburg and over the mountains - which would have brought them directly into Germany 😂

[@jandm4ever716]

@@appytight8468lol yeah. But it makes for a much more dramatic and prettier ending for a musical

[@nosuchthing8]

A little later they would have had to sneak out

[@ssleroychannel]

One of my grad school buddies fled from behind the Iron Curtain, Czechoslovakia to Austria, over the Alps in the 1970’s. Close enough.

[@crystalpusey3104]

The closer you are to danger, the farther you are from harm.

[@jtlobster1234]

My mom, who immigrated to the US from Germany just after the war, at the age of 17, used to cry listening to the song "Edelweiss". As a child I thought it was because it was a song she knew but now, after listening to your video, I guess it was just because it made her homesick and missing her family. She even had a piece of dried edelweiss in a picture frame of my great Oma.

[@keegster7167]

The lyrics do kind of remind me of some German songs even if the melody isn't reminescent of Austrian songs, but I'm not Austrian or German so I don't know. Maybe she felt one of the characteres in the story, as someone who had left Germany at that time

[@clarkbarrett6274]

My mother is a touch younger than yours, but she also survived the war. She married my father, a US Army officer, in 1957. She loves the movie precisely because it reminds her of home. And Edelweiss always got the same tearful reaction. Indeed, I chose it as the mother-son dance at my wedding because I knew she would be both appreciative and emotional.

[@cocacolaa1000]

Feli, you missed a great opportunity, at the start of your explanation, to sing "let's start from the very beginning!"

[@ajknaup3530]

That would have been truely cute & delightful! Perhaps Feli ought to add you as a script consultant to her production team.

[@edifice2773]

That would be a very good place to start...

[@peteraschaffenburg1]

I disliked hearing her talk. Had to stop watching after 6 minutes because her voice is nauseating. God forbid she would sing!

[@donaldfoley7581]

I expect she chose that phrase deliberately.

[@MarceldeJong]

A very good place to start

[@ulrikemesserschmidt5018]

I'm Austrian, 68 years old and very much into (classical) music. In 1985 we had some young guests from the US, one of them playing the violin. As a "thank you" to our familiy the young lady played "Edelweiss", all the young Americans sung and they wanted us to join their song. But we never had heard it before... Feli, your summary on the topic was excellent. Uli, Graz (Austria)

[@johnbattle7518]

It's crazy how countries interpret other countries' cultures. There's a video on KZbin about what Europeans call American food you find at grocery stores, and we either never heard of that food, don't eat it, or would not combine the foods put together. In Japan, there's a misconception that we eat KFC during Christmas.

[@timmmahhhh]

​@@johnbattle7518thanks for your comment. Yes after a couple of videos I was convinced that most everyone in Japan eats KFC on Christmas Day. Thanks for setting the record straight.

[@GregorVonKallahan]

Very interesting, Feli. You've obviously done your homework.

[@MarcLeonbacher-lb2oe]

​@@johnbattle7518What are you talking about?

[@DrVVVinK]

@@johnbattle7518 I grew up Jewish in the north east. I ate Chinese food during Christmas. Still do,. and watch Home Alone.

[@lalystar4230]

I'm Dutch, not German or Austrian, but I grew up watching the sound of music. It's so interesting to me to learn that you guys never really heard of it!

[@greetagneessens7517]

Belgian, same. This is so strange. It's just such a classic.

[@maleineperle1770]

Same as a german, it's not famous per se but it isn't unknown

[@MarleneMeier]

Maybe it's just her...she's a bit young..

[@theblackhand6485]

Stupid millennials! It was just im Kino and Fernsehen. But you were not there at the time and you asked the wrong people... millennials too. Groupers!

[@flofluorescent4904]

I am a 30 year old German and I definitely know it and watched it as a child. The german Wikipedia article only says it had moderate success in "german-speaking" countries and is COMPARATIVELY unknown, but it had it's German / synchronised premiere in 1965, which is also the release year of the original.

[@diamondDave8845]

I am a boomer and was just gifted for Xmas a goat puppet that sang "Lonely Goatherd", taking me back and reminding me it is probably my favorite movie of all time. We Americans have known it was fictionalized but still love songs like "Edelweiss". So beautiful!

[@tobiaslofi]

I'm German and when I was about 10 we had a family from Scotland temporary staying next door, so they introduced me to Narnia (in English) and Sound of Music (in English). Even my mum who never watched TV loved it. So later we bought the two German movies that you mentioned, and copied The Sound of Music (in English) onto VHS and then found the rare German dubbed Sound of Music called "Meine Lieder - meine Träume" ("My songs - my dreams" lol) - so yes I was one of the very few Germans who grew up with The Sound of Music! And still kind of like it!

[@pacificprospector]

Not to spoil things for you, I believe the film-writers, who purchased the "rights" to the story, cleaned up the original story for "mass consumption". As such they took a lot of liberties and used a lot of "poetic license" (dichtiche Freiheit?) to the original story. In fact the original Maria had actually attended the release and/or plays of Sound of Music. However, the Julie Andrews' Maria was very different I'm afraid to say, than the original Maria von Trapp. It makes for a good story, in jedem Fall, and I loved it as a kid.

[@commentfreely5443]

do a deer a female deer, everyone knows

[@takumi2023]

did she miss anything else as to why people didn't like the sound of music based on your experience. my parents introduced the movie to us growing up my sister was the one that enjoyed it more and i got stuck watching it. it's fine, the song were catchy but i wouldn't say i fell in love with the film.

[@dinkster1729]

@@commentfreely5443"Doe a deer. A female deer." You spell the name of the female deer as "doe". The note is spelled "do", I think, but is a homonym with "doe". "Do", of course, is a verb and, also, used in auxiliary tenses in all verbs, but is pronounced differently, I do believe. LOLOL!

[@tugboat2]

That’s great that you appreciated it! 👍🏼

[@debpabetz9730]

My oma and opa immigrated to the US in 1923 from Vienna. When the Sound of Music came out in the 1960s, we all went to see it together, and afterwards they told us about worrying about their siblings left behind during the War.

[@VladislavBabbitt]

Yes, I would imagine.

[@LostInThe0zone]

Yes, I can imagine that. I hope the family stories turned out well.

[@tiffanygrever8092]

Some of my distance family came from the baden area I was googling the town that my three great grandmother came from and in one of the pics it had the town covered in Nazi flags. I know that I can't judge but it was a little sad.

[@CopyKatnj]

My Grandfather left Graz in 1917, when this movie came out he brought all of us in the family to the movie theater to watch this movie. He use to tell me stories of his brothers and how his Austrian family lost everything during WWII including their lives.

[@yesyesyesyes1600]

​​@@tiffanygrever8092 there you can see how fascism works. Did all people like it? Not at all, but like in Eastern Germany after ww2 under the Soviets they had no choice. The damn "mustche man hail" followers would put everybody in concentration camps who openly disagreed. My grandfather who owned a jewelry store in Linz lived next door to the mother of Eichmann. He hated the Nazis. My young grandmother, his third wife, feared every day that they would come and abduct him. He probably just survived his stubbornness because Eichmann liked my uncle so much and wanted him in the SS. "You won't get my son!" After the war he even threw a high ranking US officer out of his store, because he came in with chewing gum in his mouth demanding to repair his wrist watch which he threw him on the counter. My grandfather died in 49 of old age. During the war - though my grandmother didn't have much - she tried to help others by buying their valuables for a fair price. I will never forget when my father told me how much she cried when the trucks came and many of her neighbours were taken away never to be seen again. She always wanted to give them their jewels back for the same price she paid. She never got the chance. My family lost everything in ww2.

[@lefty-bw1zp]

My son was fascinated with the film. So fascinated, in fact, that he studied German in Jr. high school, high school, and majored in German at the University. This is despite the fact that we lived in southern Arizona.

[@karenbertke3149]

That's okay... My dad used to say, our family is strictly of Germanic descent, but I have three Irish daughters. We loved Irish music and culture through our teens and twenties...

[@raymondmartin6737]

Very good, I grew up with a Mother from Switzerland, and my Father from Germany, so here in the US I grew up learning German, and later 3 years, 20 credits in college Being elderly, have been an Amateur Radio operator for over 60 years, so I sometimes, speak German with them over there, and met many German tourists on cruises, and going back to Europe and Germany. 😊

[@animehuntress9018]

Grew up in SoCal and took French and German. I know enough Spanish to get by (Retail spanish anyways, lol) and have no plans to travel to a Spanish speaking country (Maybe a couple of Spain's islands but honestly the Greek Islands trump that so probably not) but want to visit a few countries that speak German and French as their main languages so... no point in learning Spanish. Sounds like your son wants to go to Germany, makes sense to me, lol!

[@mark96813]

A lot of gay sons loved that movie. I sure did at 10 years old

[@catw6998]

Lucky. When I was going thru high school, I wanted to take German too. Since my Mom’s side was German. My Grandfather taught me (I was real young) to count in German. I think I can get to 15 still. Know some words - both naughty & nice, [shhh, don’t tell Santa ;) lol]. Anyways, Guidance Counselors, sheesh. Who do they think they are! Got talked into taking Spanish. Maybe there was some quota they had to make?

[@HenryWickens-b1r]

I am a Brit who grew up with The Sound of Music songs (I was 9 in 1965). I now live in Luxembourg where, as in Germany and Austria, they have never heard of it, and in November this year I was involved in a production of TSOM by an English speaking theatre group. The reception was great by locals and expats alike (though there was some shock at the Nazi emblems in the later scenes). Its acceptance was helped by an excellent young German soprano playing Maria who attracted a bigger German speaking audience than might otherwise have turned up.

[@HHuynh-DP]

I am originally from Vietnam. Back in 1973-1974, when I was in high school, The Sound of Music was played in one of the theaters in Saigon. My friend and I went to an afternoon show and didn't know the movie lasted almost 3 hours. At that time movies were usually 1:30 hours. Any longer movie would be cut down to one and half hour so they could have more showings. But they did not alter this movie. We even had a short intermission after the wedding scene. I didn't understand English so I read the subtitles but I really enjoyed the story and songs. It influenced my taste in musicals. After settling in USA, I have looked for old musicals and loved some of them.

[@robertmog4336]

BTW, Feli makes an outstanding point about the mood in Germany in the mid 60s. It wasn't until then, 20 years after WWII, that Germans began to acknowledge German Resistance members, like the Valkyrie conspirators and the White Rose movement (led by Hans and Sophie Scholl), as heroes instead of traitors. Family members of these hero Resistance martyrs were quite ill treated by Germans for a couple of decades after the war, probably because the heroes had acted righteously while the multitudes remained silent and passive.

[@dinkster1729]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/forMY4iEqceGjrM A recent book about another resistance group called by the Gestapo "The Red Orchestra". There's also a documentary from Wisconsin PBS on You Tube about this group of resistors. Did the German multitudes remain silent and passive or did they like sheep just obey orders? My father and mother were both in the Canadian army during the 2nd World War. My father was conscripted and my mother vounteered. That generation truly was the silent generation. Nobody resisted the draft? They all reported for duty? They got certain benefits after the war, but at the time they were paid $1.80 a day and a uniform and board and room.

[@robertmog4336]

@@dinkster1729 Thank you so much for this information!

[@dellamotta]

There was a previousGerman movie based on the same memoir from Maria von Trapp called Die Trapp-Familie (1956) that was a huge success in Germany. That explains why, while being a huge success worldwide, was a flop in Germany. It got nothing to do with portraying Nazism. It probably was because they saw The Sound of Music as the "Hollywood remake of Die Trapp-Familie."

[@dalebuck7168]

My wife of 57 years and I saw the Sound of Music on our first date, in 1965. It had just opened and, as you can imagine, it has been one of our most cherished memories. We also lived in Buedingen, (West Germany) for 12 years and I can remember talking with German friends and saying our first date was to see the movie, and them not knowing what movie we were talking about. Great commentary as always...

[@peteraschaffenburg1]

They probably knew the movie under it´s German name; “Meine Lieder - meine Träume”. ;-) An awfully German dubbed version.

[@ttintagel]

My parents saw The Sound of Music on their first date.

[@bradrichert3966]

You couldn't have done much better with a first-date film. Bet the deal was halfway sealed on your marriage that very night. Wise, wise choice.😊👍

[@wilhelmvongloeden]

Loved your video!!! Just subscribed! As a 65yo, I belong to the generation of children worldwide who first watched “The Sound of Music.” Your video not only reveals some little-known facts about the movie but also discusses very interesting historical issues. Thanks for sharing!!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@MK-qh8nq]

Both of my grandparents are Austrians from Salzkammergut that immigrated to the US in 1960. I am not sure if they saw the original German Von Trapp movies, but when they saw the Sound of Music in theaters in 1965, they were suprised and proud that their Heimat was shown on a big Hollywood production. In fact, in one of the opening shots a helicopter flies over Wolfgangsee where my parents had their wedding reception. For my Oma and Opa, the war was extremely painful. My great-grandfather (who was disabled), was drafted as a last resort to the Eastern Front only to be captured and die in a camp. My Opa had to flee to Austria from Gottschee in Slovenia where all their villages were destroyed.

[@christoffellner84]

A relative of mine also immigrated to the States from the Salzkammergut. I will have to ask him if he ever heard about the film. I never saw besides a Cameo in "Postman" with Kevin Kostner. But i watched a Manga from Japan about the Trapps and since i was a Child being on the brink of a young teenager my mum used the opportunity to tell me my Families history during the Nazi time (of a her mothers youth during the Nazi Regime) and i watched a remake in 2013.

[@nicholashutfluss3271]

My Opa was born in Salzburg and lived near the von Trapp family estate. He and my Oma (she was from Klagenfurt) came to Canada from Austria in 1954. I did grow up as a young boy watching this movie whenever I would go over to their house. The only reason why he watched it was for random scenes shot in the city of Salzburg. After that he would walk away lol. I used to ask him if ever met any of the von Trapp family members. He said he did not, he was younger than some of the kids (he was born in 1922). He only knew that the father was a war hero from WWI. I just like watching the movie now as a part of the memories I had with my grandparents.

[@marshawargo7238]

😢!❤

[@patrickhanft]

I (as a German) find it quite funny that of all people, it was Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of one of the most “American” musicals par excellence, who got me (not personally of course) to watch “The Sound of Music”. And it was because he told in an interview about how on a family trip to Austria, his father had even hired a film crew to record the family re-enacting the most iconic moments of the movie. The scenes shown were really funny. So I thought, if it's such a huge thing for an American of Puerto Rican descent whose musical about American history fascinates me so much, maybe I need to see this “European” story that he likes so much after all.

[@shahx1010]

What!?! That's so funny! Would love to see clips!

[@ocularpatdown]

@@shahx1010same

[@friederikewright8228]

Took me all of 15 secs of YT search to find this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4jTlYycl96KY80si=uzs3tZnbWmX9LAUl

[@BigD481]

That’s what Americans do when they do the Sound of Music tour. They re enact scenes from the movie where it was actually filmed. It’s like walking the Abbey Road Crosswalk.

[@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072]

@@BigD481 is that a Beatles reference?

[@fernandofarias5950]

I'm Brazilian, 57 years old. "The Sound of Music" was the first movie I've ever seen in a movie theater when I was a small kid in Rio. It's very well known here, and it has been shown hundreds of times on TV since then. Julie Andrews and "Edelweiss" are pretty standard.

[@austinmcevoy7548]

I am from Ireland and had a similar experience when I first started working in Germany. Around Christmas everyone assumed I had heard of a movie called 'Dinner for one'. Could not belive that it was not popular Ireland. For those who don't know it is a German holiday favourite movie, which is in English and is showed on German TV every new years.

[@rainbowlable]

It's a New Year's Eve stable! 😁🥂

[@majagara]

Dinner for one is HUGE in Norway too. I'm Hungarian and I've lived in Ireland for 9 years before moving to Norway. I've had no clue this movie existed before my Norwegian husband introduced me to it. 😅

[@finncullen]

My Danish friend introduced me to it. I'd never heard of it either, but since then most of my Euro friends have told me they know it well. "Same procedure as every year"

[@belgianbikeability7295]

It is for you the same with lac of connemerah. Probably no young Irish have heard of the french world hit. I probably prenounce it wrong. Sorry. It is strange. That most neyghbouring country's did heart of the movie. I know it because whe saw it on Belgian tv.

[@TerryJLaRue]

A good friend who is German introduced us to Dinner For One some years ago. It is now standard New Year's Eve viewing for us. It's only 18 minutes long.

[@SebMoellerM]

As a person who has worked most of my adult life in Danish nursing homes, I can confidently say this: The Sound Of Music was a big hit in Denmark! It and the Danish film Sommer I Tyrol are the main reason my grandparents’ generation was obsessed with Austria as a travel destination

[@piercebunge4297]

I suppose Denmark didn't really ever see combat. Surrendered in 6 hours, smart decision.

[@SebMoellerM]

@ not true. The military action was over quickly, sure, but the ripples of the occupation were still felt in the 90’s, when I was a child. Keep in mind that for the occupied countries, the atrocities of WW2 didn’t stop when the government surrendered. The 9th of April is still marked on our calendars as “Occupation Day”

[@jmer9126]

Some Danish troops were killed. The occupation was brutal as almost all crops and livestock were taken by the German army.

[@nirfz]

Well these kind of movies do show the mountain scenarie in best weather and light conditions. And while some people prefer the sea, others enjoy the mountain scenarie more. And as Denmark isn't really known for mountains, i can see that some of the pictures might have hit a spot with many people in Denmark. (Just as many people from the alps want to see the actual sea at least once in their life. And some go there every year)

[@lakrids-pibe]

Yep! "Sound Of Music" and "Im weißen Rößl am Wolfgangsee" (Sommer i Tyrol) was a pretty big deal for my parents' generation. Im weißen Rößl has nothing to do with Tyrol, but from a Danish perspective it was apparently close enough, haha

[@nutdiablo]

I am Thai, born and raised in Thailand and The Sound of Music is huge here in the period of its lunch, but now it fades away. For me it was the only type of entertainment when I was a child. It was a VHS tape, and I watched it till it broke, and I have to fix it otherwise I will have nothing to see. And now I am an engineer because of it, and I enjoy musicals very much.

[@msb2926]

The real question is, do people in Thailand know about "The King and I"?

[@ctalcantara1700]

@@msb2926 OHHHH! Good question!! I would like to know the answer to that!!! That's another loved movie and musical.

[@nutdiablo]

@@msb2926 Are you talk about the Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr movie? If so, Yes!. Most of people that are into musical know it and most of them saw it too. Even I also saw it couple of time. By law it is illegal to sell/rent "King and I" but the prirate one is easy to find (Before steaming kill the physical media).

[@PeteQuad]

That's a great story. Times sure have changed with the amount of readily available entertainment for young people.

[@nutdiablo]

@@ctalcantara1700 You can see my answer to that question below. But as a Thai, I think story is quite boring, but I can't denied that musics are quite catchy.

[@thistroy]

I'm from Singapore (born in the '70s) and have watched it multiple times as a kid and as an adult. I introduced it to my children, and we finally visited Salzburg in 9 years ago where they were happy to re-enact the scenes at Mirabellgarten, the horse baths and Schloss Hellbrun

[@kathleenk2381]

I’m an American who has seen the movie countless times. My mother was from München (Unterföhring). We lived in Germany when I was a child. We frequently visited the Alps in Germany as well as Austria. I watch the movie mainly for the scenery now. It brings back such wonderful memories. The last time I was in Austria I took the Sound of Music bus tour. As you said, the scenery is spectacular and well worth the price of admission.

[@es9932]

Whenever I see a movie where the location is one of the characters, I think of this movie and what a great idea it was to depict a place that many persons have never been to. Sometimes the director will do this even at the expense of of the story. A gift to the audience.

[@lindaeklund4582]

I'm from Sweden and grew up watching Sound of music every christmas break from school. It is still aired around christmas and new years every year.

[@markrossow6303]

C00L.

[@TheGeoDaddy]

Weeell, there’s actually not a lot of love lost between Austrians and Germans 😏 just try and say “tschuss” to an Austrian (my parents were from Austria and Hungary) I’ll say this much, my mother - who escaped from Hungary to Austria in ‘56 - would weep watching the movie from the moment the Family realized they had to leave their Homeland to live… not as a matter of choice but survival.

[@ToyFell78]

My father was Austrian and loved The Sound of Music. in 1995 we did a bit of a European tour including a stop off in Salsburg and we went on the tour. Honestly, I thought it was fun and the locations were really nice.

[@TheRedDivaTv]

I was born in Argentina and saw it in the movies there, and once I moved to the US when I was 9, I watched it in English and have the DVD and also watch it every December. I know the film like the back of my hand and have also performed many songs on stage. I met Julie Andrew's in 2006 during a book signing event with her daughter for a children's book that they co-wrote. I love that movie and it's on my top movies to watch list! ❤

[@SwordOfHeimdall]

I'm Dutch and The Sound of Music is a staple in the Netherlands. But while growing up I haven't noticed anyone seeing this as anything else than a Hollywood film. Great video!

[@DerekLangdon-w9e]

The Dutch and Germans have lots in common don’t they…Anne Frank, was betrayed by the Dutch, along with many other Jews!

[@upittman1]

That's it. It's nothing more than a Hollywood film and should be appreciated as such. I grew up with it and I love it! I watch it every year at this time.

[@dutchgamer842]

Keep in mind in the Netherlands we mostly consume Hollywood movies and less other content. Also over 90% of Hollywood movies and also TV shows keep the original titles and the majority of the Dutch are against dubbed movies. So in the end the majority of the Dutch don't notice it's just one of the movies

[@peperoni_pepino]

It was one of the rare things that was actually translated to Dutch, so you can imagine the success from that alone. Even large franchises like Pokémon don't translate their games to Dutch nowadays, and translations were even rarer back then. EDIT: To clarify, the musical was translated and became hugely successful. That is the one I'm familiar with; I don't know the film at all.

[@spinozatheobvious626]

Yeah I wanted to say, this movie was HUGE in the Netherlands. I grew up in the eighties and saw it on TV many times. My family told the story that my aunt saw it in the cinema twice when it came out. I remember in the early 00s there were singalongs in Lowlands, basically the Netherlands' biggest pop/rock festival.

[@LuvSubbin]

The von Trapp family settled in Stowe, Vermont. They currently run a beautiful Austrian-styled lodge and their brewery is one of the best in the U.S. - the tag line being "A little of Austria. A lot of Vermont". It was started by Johannes von Trapp - the youngest son born in 1939.

[@fredericnicholson80]

Great Summary! When I (German) visited Salzburg with my wife (American), the "sound of music" tour was the only tour NOT offered in German.

[@alicelindores22]

true. also gives the poor old brain a bit of rest of having to translate for you non german speaking partner. lol

[@FelifromGermany]

Haha I hadn't even thought about that! 😅

[@TimeTraveler-2099]

Being Anglo-Irish with Germanic roots, I fell in love with the song "Edelweiss"the first time I heard it. Broke my heart years later to read that it wasn't a Austrian folk song. But, it's still a beautiful little song.❤

[@eddieo1067]

I was on a trip through austria playing music. We had a concert one day at lake matsee, and we were talking to locals after the show. We let them know that we were headed over to salzburg next and they talked about the sound of music. They said something like, "a lot of americans think that edelweiss is our national anthem, and it isn't, but it should be!" and when I explained I hadn't seen the film, they were shocked. Needless to say, I had some homework to do on the tour bus! I loved the film and it made my visit to salzburg, especially the gardens, so much more special!

[@SomeGuyFromUtah]

This is so true. I lived in Germany 15 years and went to Austria, including Salzburg, and only Americans ever talked about Sound of Music.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

Who knew if they'd gone over die Alpen, they'd have been in the Konigsee in Berchtesgaaden? 🤣🤣🤣 Poor Planning? Tough hike mit kinder.

[@crtune]

I am one American who would spend ample time, if in Salzburg, talking about Mozart, and seeking concerts of that wonderful music. I'd also be looking at taking in some good concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in Vienna. "Sound of Music" is like most Broadway musicals - altered, and shoehorned into an altered reality. Hollywood also tends to mess around with already okay stories but this, probably like Broadway, has to do with generating ticket sales. I am glad that those people who have watched "Sound of Music" at least have tiny exposure to Solfeggio (i.e. ear training) in "Do-Re-Mi" song.

[@crtune]

@@GregBrownsWorldORacing The actual Von Trapp travel would be relatively boring - train trip to the ocean liner, time on board a large ocean liner, ending in berth, probably in New York harbor. Not so exciting. The family simply set up concerts in USA, and then stayed in America.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

@@crtune When I was a kid, We had an old upright piano that had this roll down template that had for each key, the position on the staff, the letter of the note and Do-Rey-Mi..etc. (for key of C) I'd never heard of Solfeggio, but I realized there must be something to this Do-Rey-Mi business.

[@thomasmurphy6595]

​@@crtune The Sound of Music makes the Austrians look better than they deserve - they were willing collaborators and welcomed the Anschluss with Nazi Germany. They also want the world to forget that you know who was Austrian.

[@Ferox2121]

Greetings from Germany. I actually never heard of The Sound of Music, or the story of the Trapp family in general until now. So i learned something today. Thanks, Feli.

[@SW-gf6zl]

Same for me. Never heard of any of these movies in my life. 🇩🇪

[@MarcLeonbacher-lb2oe]

It might be our youth.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

@@SW-gf6zl US here, I'd never have known about 'Dinner for One' if it wasn't for Feli.

[@xaverlustig3581]

The Trapp Family movies have been on German television now and then.

[@KaiHenningsen]

@@GregBrownsWorldORacing Of course, that one was British, not American.

[@timn11.04]

I am from Germany and a few years ago I fell in love with muscials and so I came across The Sound of Music. Because of Julie Andrews my initial thought was that it was some sort of sequel to Mary Poppins😅🙈

[@ftumschk]

"A spoonful of sugar helps the Sauerkraut go down..."

[@Yelis3]

I'm from Colombia, a spanish speaking country, and the movie is called "La novicia rebelde" which translates to "The rebel novice". I'm 26 and it's quite a popular movie in my parent's generation. I saw it for the first time two months ago and I liked the love story a lot. the songs are also super catchy!

[@jennywells416]

I'm from Mainz and only knew of the sound of music because my Dad is american. Him and his sisters were always singing the songs when we'd visit in the summer. So i grew up singing the songs but never seen the movie until 2013. We were visiting our family in the US and they wanted to do a movie night with the sound of music. I didn't think i would like it but to my surprise i loved it. It probably helped that i grew up with the music.

[@noellewest4347]

Hallo, Mainz ...! (from Mainz, Bretzenheim). I grew up watching that movie, and singing the songs or playing them on the piano, but I am originally from the US.

[@udornyc]

Hallo an Euch Meenzer! Bin in Mainz aufgewachsen. Gutenberg Gymnasium! Mein Vater war mit dem ZDF, damit hatten wir dann auf dem Lerchenberg gelebt! ❤

[@jennywells416]

@@udornyc ah wie cool. Ich hab zwei Minuten zu fuss vom Gutenberg Gymnasium gewohnt. Bin nebenan auf die Ludwig Schwamb Schule gegangen. 😁 kleine welt

[@udornyc]

@@jennywells416 Ja, sehr nette Überraschung! 🙂👍🏻 Die guten alten Zeiten! 😁

[@roquemocan]

I was a month and a half in Mainz as an exchange student in 1975 (Went to the FKK - Frai Kanonikus Kir school, lived in Münchberg). Went once with my host student to the cinema, which was a dinky small room with maybe 40 seats... so, I think that they wouldn't know about the "Sound of Music" or any other movie, for that matter, jajaja

[@MehrdadPoursadegh]

I'm from Iran, and the dubbed version of it that premiered here was immensely popular, yet I believe our version also cut short with the wedding. I genuinely don't remember any Nazi references but honestly can't really be sure about it! One more fun thing is the fact that real poets of the time rewrite the songs in Persian. Currently, some of them are actually are still in use to teach kids about solfeggio.

[@markrossow6303]

Nice.

[@SuzySylvania]

I have shown this movie to my children and grandchildren over the years. They love the first half but lose interest after that. I’m guessing that many kids didn’t watch after the wedding.

[@kimberly_erin]

In the US many of the ppl born in 1980’s have only seen the version without the Nazis. Some think they dreamed that part, and others are very confused when they see it on tv and half of the movie is gone.

[@Skittl1321]

I'm in the US, as a kid, I never saw the Nazi's because the movie was too long, it wasn't until I was a teenager that I saw that part. Now, showing my kids, the same thing has happened. Theyve been singing the songs since they were toddlers, but always fall asleep before the Nazis come in, so they don't know there are bad guys.

[@reader4111]

​What are you talking about?! We have NEVER seen a "cut" version aired on TV in the USA! It's ALWAYS shown in its entirety. Seriously, what channel or network do you believe an enormously edited/truncated version has been aired on? Repeatedly, since the 1980s? 🤔🙄😳 Not true.

[@michaelkoch3498]

My 3 year old grand daughter watches and sings the songs when we go for a walk to the park. People all stop and look at this little girl singing with all her heart and with great clarity!

[@conniec1557]

Saw it at the theater opening night when I was a child. It was a magical experience. We all got dressed up to go to the city. Stood outside in line in the cold weather. It was worth it. Have all the songs memorized, from listening to the recording many times!

[@reader4111]

Me, too!!!! Me, too!!! 1965ish? Manhattan?

[@lxndrlbr]

45 y.o. from France, I used to watch this on VHS nearly every weekend with my mother while she was ironing... very strong emotional response to this movie. ❤

[@JanJensen-br1je]

Forty years ago, I played piano in the restaurant for background music at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT. The "baby" of the family, Johannis von Trapp would permit me to play "Edelweiss" only twice if requested during my 4 hour nightly gig. He had a tremendous antipathy to the songs of the "Sound of Music. I got to know Werner von Trapp, one of the original singers (named Hans or Fritz or something like that in the movie) well when living there. I played with music with his daughter, Elizabeth in a concert or two in Stowe as well. 😀

[@timmmahhhh]

Fascinating thanks. I will guess that they changed Werner Von Trapp's name in the movie because it sounded too much like the Nazi scientist Werner Von Braun who the Americans snagged for their own post war purposes. I initially knew of him thanks to the cynical 1965 song by Tom Lehrer.

[@joshuarosen465]

Imagine having to listen to the same song over and over again no matter how good it is. When I was in college in the 70s there was a bar that we went to on occasion that had the Drinking Song from The Student Prince on the jukebox which everyone would play. The bartender threatened to shoot the next person who played it.

[@hctim96]

When I got married, we honeymooned at the Trapp lodge in Vermont. It was very nice..I was sad to hear it burned down..

[@anitapeludat256]

Amazing experience for you . Life was not so easy for them And romanticized by the musical, but I always loved it and jumped at a chance to visit Austria for the summer in my teens . Julie Andrews made the movie charming and running under the rose trellis and the scenery all over Salzburg was beautiful. I've been back several times to Austria, Vienna, for example and I've had nothing but great experiences with Austrians every time. If nothing else, that movie was good for tourism. Salzburg especially, just as gorgeous in real life.

[@paulw.woodring7304]

@@joshuarosen465 Like you're not allowed to pick up a guitar in a music store and start playing "Stairway to Heaven", eh?

[@AllenTheobald]

Hi Feli! I had the amazing opportunity to meet you in Germany October 2023, and it was truly the highlight of my trip. You're so genuine, kind, and incredibly smart-it was such a joy to see that you're exactly as wonderful in person as you are in your videos. Thank you for making the experience so memorable!

[@FelifromGermany]

It was so great to have you guys on the trip! :)

[@WilliamJerow]

I cannot express how thankful I am that you have covered the actual events that were the real story of the movie.

[@MartijnVos]

Maybe Germans don't know the movie, but just outside the German-speaking region, in Netherland, it was incredibly popular. As a kid, I grew up with the Dutch versions of these songs (despite the Dutch aversion to dubbing).

[@smellcaster]

I didn't know this was a Movie, i heard a Song of that Name by Falco.

[@Theige369]

It was very popular all over Europe and all over the world, just not in Austria or Germany

[@Geblawi]

It was very popular in Switzerland, including the German-speaking region of the country-especially that region of the country.

[@TheEddyrose1]

My wife was Austrian and we saw this movie in Florida where I come from, she never heard of this movie but loved it, since she passed away a few years ago I decided to live here in her beloved country, here in Tyrol, most of her family did not know about this movie either, this is a beautiful country, Salzburg is far from Switzerland, you have to cross one country before even getting there (Liechtenstein), I love all our videos, keep up with the good work.

[@kprefleuril8881]

You can cross from Vorarlberg to Switzerland so it‘s possible… but it probably takes about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks by foot from Salzbourg to get there

[@georgb710]

Sorry for your loss. Florida to Austria must be quite hard to adapt to. The weather alone is worlds apart.

[@_Huperniketes_]

As someone else who grew up in the Sunshine State, I must offer my condolences on the loss of your beloved, and also, wow! What a move! If ever I'm in your neck of the woods, I'll try to drop by, bringing some Florida cheer.

[@crimsonmoth]

As an American, I grew up watching this movie and have always loved it! I'm 52 so I was watching it in the late 70s and 80s. My mom is German, born in Wiesbaden in1944, and she moved to America when she was 22 years old. She's the one who introduced this movie to us (kids). She would tell me stories about hiking through the Alps, and when I watched this movie I imagined it was something like Julie Andrews spinning around and singing on top of a mountain lol. I always wanted to do that. Maybe someday... ☺ Thanks so much for the video! Very interesting and I can understand the German perspective. (I still love this movie though!)

[@f.lemken9594]

Is it possible, you are confusing the Alps and the Schwarzwald? Wiesbaden is quite far away from the Alps.

[@crimsonmoth]

@@f.lemken9594 Hi there. It was definitely the Alps. She traveled there to visit a relative, I believe. But she did indeed say the Alps. I would love to visit the Schwarzwald, however! That is the Black Forest, correct? Which inspired Grimm's fairy tales?

[@f.lemken9594]

@crimsonmoth Yes, the Schwarzwald is the Black Forest. Both are beautiful places though. The Schwarzwald is just way closer to Wiesbaden, so it felt odd for someone to bypass it, but given another additional reason to do so, it makes sense.

[@crimsonmoth]

@@f.lemken9594 So after our brief conversation, out of curiosity I had to go back to some written information I have about my mom. It appears that she visited not a relative, but a friend of the family. Her name was Frau Steffen, and she belonged to an Alpine club that had a house at the foot of a mountain called the Sauliing. Farther up the Sauling, there was the Schweiger Hutte that was part of the Alpine club. Apparently she and her sister “hiked up the Sauling and over to Austria.” Just thought you might find it interesting! (And maybe you know of it.) 😊

[@f.lemken9594]

@@crimsonmoth I've been to the Allgäu (many places) west of the Säuling and Garmisch-Partenkirchen east of it, but never there. Though, it is part of the most famous German area for winter sports. Interesting indeed, and I have to say, either you or your mother have quite the talent for writing travel reports, it appears.

[@Mansardian]

Ich bin immer wieder begeistert, wie gut Feli das recherchiert und präsentiert.

[@JanJensen-br1je]

Ich stimme zu!

[@patrickw123]

Attending an international elementary school in Islamabad, Pakistan, the school put on a production of The Sound of Music. Even if you weren't in the play, all the students learned the songs in music class and the lyrics and melodies are ingrained in my mind (happily) for decades now. I can literally start singing any of the songs at the top of my head! All of us kids from around the world had fun singing the same songs at school so, yeah, good memories!

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

I'm a bit older than you, Feli, and I remember at least one of the Trapp family movies (I don't however remember which) been broadcasted sometime in the Sunday afternoon TV program during my childhood (at a time as they did sometimes still broadcast replays of old black & white movies). For those who wonder how Georg Ludwig Trapp could be a citizen of landlocked Austria and a navy officer: Before 1918 he was Ritter Georg Ludwig von Trapp (Ritter = knight), born 1880 in Zadar (Dalmatia / Croatia), joined the Austrian Navy in the Mediterranean in 1898 (after 4 years in naval academy), became 1910 a submarine commander and married in 1911 a daughter of British torpedo manufacturer Robert Whitehead. During WW I he commanded the Austrian torpedo boat 52, then again a submarine (sinking a French armored cruiser and an Italian submarine). After the war he owned for some time two shipping companies.

[@markrossow6303]

t.y.

[@davidlium9338]

Thank you for explaining this.

[@JonBrownSherman]

Woah, so Maria was 25 years younger than him? That's very interesting. Apparently he sank 11 merchant vessels during WWI and 2 military ships. I guess he was just doing his duty for his country but that guy probably killed some non-military citizens during his time...

[@jonadabtheunsightly]

Yeah, prior to WWI, Austria had a moderately sized empire, controlling more of Europe than any other single polity, unless you count Russia as part of Europe. And yes, said empire included basically all of Dalmatia, i.e., most of the land on the east side of the Adriatic (apart from Albania).

[@adam_mawz_maas]

He married Whitehead's granddaughter Agathe, not his daughter. Agathe Whitehead was the daughter of John Whitehead, Robert's son.

[@fmtk77]

I, as a 47 year old German, have found out about this movie because of Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge, where the title song is used and the movie itself is quoted as a play in the beginning. As I am interested in music, and have never heard that song before, i started to research.

[@yadniwasok8083]

Same here. I'm even almost the same age and also from Germany.

[@mrparts]

That’s how many people in the early 2000s discovered this movie thanks to Moulin Rouge 😂

[@sm0k1nggnu_]

I didn't even make that connection

[@socal5039]

I'm American and I grew up with this movie. I'm 48 and still love it!❤

[@eriksen77]

My grandmother was originally from Heidelberg. She moved to the US in 1951. I remember her loving The Sound of Music and I can still hear her voice singing Edelweis every time I hear the song played.

[@tsm7964]

I’m from Los Angeles and I love music. Millions of children learn the song “Do re mi… “ as part of studying singing.

[@ZER0ZER0SE7EN]

I never gone, but the Hollywood Bowl yearly screens "Sound of Music" and encourages the audience to sing along.

[@mysterymac38]

I grew up with Julie Andrews movies. I hear she is in very poor health now. Very sad.

[@frankperry2874]

Grew up in Stowe VT not far from the Trapp family lodge. I used to sit next to Maria Von Trapp every Sunday at church !

[@Savssmiles]

❤

[@cerita_andra]

Wow ❤️👍

[@JohnnyB-j1j]

It's a musical. It's not a documentary. Guess what, Rodgers and Hammerstein who did Sound of Music also did Oklahoma and that's not a very realistic depiction of the American West. But Rodgers and Hammerstein knew how to make amazing music that becomes ear-worms. I'm not Austrian but I plan on having Edelweiss played at my funeral because it's a beautiful song and it's used once to show a father and daughter connecting and later to celebrate one's love for one's homeland. Maybe Germans don't like the movie because it reminds them of their great shame but the rest of the world loved (and still loves) this movie. Even jaded young Americans will go to the theater when they do sing-alongs of this movie.

[@DRL1320]

Thank you for saying the truth. The KZbinr never gives credit to the two American geniuses who created this iconic work of great entertainment that tens of millions have connected with. I was especially offended by the uncritical quoting of a Salzburger saying this brilliant Broadway musical is "Disney". No darling. It is a New York Broadway show meant to connect with ordinary working class people who had recently been dragged, against their wishes and better judgment , into a European war to defeat Nazism and an Asian war to defeat Japan.

[@danielalldred8261]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty common knowledge that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the songs in their musicals. Maybe not?

[@reader4111]

Perfectly said! Completely agree! Saw its premiere in NYC as a very young girl; watched it dozens of times; can recite the dialog and sing the songs, along with my late mother, sisters and girlfriends. Family owned the LPs of the movie AND Broadway show! Love it! BTW, did lots of research on WWII because of that movie AND reading Diary of Anne Frank. Never thought the movie was a documentary...

[@reader4111]

​@@DRL1320amen

[@Erik69118]

I can attest to what she is saying as an American living in Germany since 2006 I have yet to meet a German who has heard of The Sound of Music. They do seem intrigued though when I say that nearly every American want's to see the sights where it was filmed because we all pretty much fell in love with the images and atmosphere when we saw the film for the first time.

[@randolphchristensen6428]

Feli, you really "hit the nail on the head" here. As an American growing up watching The Sound of Music every year on TV, it helped shape my view of the world and of my family and of music itself. I'd say it's even more than "nostalgia" or "a classic" for many Americans. I love it!

[@PopHorizonScanner]

It's a charming film, but I think of it more in terms of an adaptation of a Broadway musical and don't look to it as something I expect to be an accurate portrayal of Austria in 1938. Similarly, I don't look to 'Oklahoma!' necessarily as an accurate historical portrayal of Oklahoma or 'The King and I' as an accurate portrayal of Thailand (Siam). It's merely a story turned into a musical with Rodgers and Hammerstein working together to create memorable songs to carry along the story. In the film, through the use of on-location cinematography, the director sought to replace a Broadway stage with the actual beauty of Austria as the stage setting. Great topic for a video, Feli!

[@ChildofGod-318]

I'm American, but have strong German roots on both sides of my family. The Sound of Music was a classic in my family. When family gatherings ended, we would often break out into the so long, farewell song! The kids used to joke that the movie options at Grandma's house were The 10 Commandments and The Sound of Music (both in two part VHS of course). I love the movie and the connection to gives me to my family's roots.

[@reader4111]

5 kids in my family - US Baby Boomers - we and our friends all do versions of the so long song at various get-togethers! We grew up, literally, with the music playing all the time! We love the movie & the songs! Know them ALL by heart!

[@robindemeyer8960]

I'm a Belgian, the sound of music is actually one of the many old movies that I have never seen because everytime they're on tv, my parents or friends will say oh no not that movie again and switch channels.

[@leza4453]

😂

[@marcellaacone7085]

Oh, so sad! But, someway, you're lucky: if there was someone who loved that movie, he or she would've talked over it all time, repeating and spoiling everything. It's a bit long and there are lots of songs, but if you can find your version of this movie, in spite of all the flaws it has got, you will like it. 🙂

[@yesyesyesyes1600]

😂😂 totally relatable. I would like your family. edit: I am a kid of the 80s and I had just seen "Das Boot" when my dad showed me a movie about his birthplace. I was really disappointed when there was not one single submarine scene in "Sound of music" 😂

[@Timmhermans]

Well, there will be another chance this year, one channel will play it like they play home alone every year 😂

[@thomasrobinson182]

It's a Hollywood movie based on a musical stage play based on a memoir of a von Trapp family member. The music is mostly enjoyable, the cast is talented and if you accept it for what it is, it can be fun. 'Edelweiss' was written for the film, and is not an Austrian folk song.

[@WaltANelsonPHD]

Spot on.

[@jtidema]

Wow, I have never thought of that movie as 'fun' - I thought it was terrifying. It was the first movie I saw as a child that addressed Nazis and the sad situation for people who didn't want to join the National Socialist Party and had to give up their lives and their countries and make a run for it. They usually couldn't keep in touch with family at all after they left. When the Von Trapps came to the US they had absolutely nothing. If you read other comments on here you'll see others had the same response to it. Yes, the music is pretty but it was meant to make you think.

[@corriemayo2715]

@@jtidemamaybe make u think a little bit but there are many many other films and tv about and around Nazi Germany that are meant to make u think about war, atrocities, difficult choices and survival. In SoM, it’s mostly a reminder of the war and strife to come and not the point of the film. The film is mostly fun with the vistas, song and dance, etc

[@thomasrobinson182]

@@jtidema It has a lighthearted edge for all it's serious subjects. It's meant to be uplifting.

[@RJGrady]

@@corriemayo2715 The theme is really written into "My Favorite Things"; enjoying simple pleasures and beauty in the midst of storms and darkness.

[@alanjmcc]

My German grandmother emigrated to the U.S. as a teenager but returned a couple years later and moved back and forth six times, living in the U.S. homesick for Germany and in Germany homesick for America. The way she handled her German Heimweh was through Heimat kitsch, including the Student Prince and the Sound of Music. The historical inaccuracies were trivial and insignificant to her; she was proud to be associated with the Alps, with Edelweiss, and she knew how to hear "noodles" and think "Spätzle." I inherited my German identity from her, kitsch and all, and I appreciate the effort you put into making this video. I knew Maria von Trabb was no saint but I had not cottoned to the fact that Switzerland was not just over the hill from Salzburg. Wonderfully entertaining and informative video. Vielen vielen Dank.

[@peteraschaffenburg1]

“I knew Maria von Trapp was no saint” You might be right about that! ;-) “I had not cottoned to the fact that Switzerland was not just over the hill” Funny tidbit about that epic last scene; The path (the location it was filmed) the family takes to flee Austria would have led them directly into Germany. Close to the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze, Hitlers residence. ;-)

[@pdfads]

In real life, the Trapps "fled" by train to Italy. Georg had Italian citizenship because he was born in Zadar, which was Italian territory at the time they left Austria (It's in Croatia now.)

[@judithstrachan9399]

As soon as I saw Salzburg on the map, I thought, “How would they get to SWITZERLAND going over THOSE mountains?!?”

[@macfin_inc2709]

Such a well done educational video. This has always been a topic I’ve been curious about. Especially the part about how accurate The Sound of Music actually is

[@avengingmime]

My (American) family followed the Sound of Music at Christmas tradition; I couldn't understand my father's love for the sappy romance but I stayed in the living room for the glorious views of Salzburg and the Alps

[@cleidemorimura411]

I grew up with this movie, born and raised in Brazil for the first 27 years of my life…and it was on my bucket list to go visit Austria and take the tour of the movie. I finally did it this year. I visited Munich first, and took a train to Salzburg just to take the tour. The weather wasn’t very pleasant since it was raining most of the time, but I got to see the church where Maria wed, where the do, re, mi song was filmed…it was a trip that I’ll remember for a long time.❤😊

[@JuTseT11]

Born and raised in the US in the late 60s, SoM quickly became my favorite movie as they would play it on TV every year and had catchy sing-a-long songs and a wonderful story. I was shocked later as an adult when working with German expats that they had never heard of this movie. I sang a few verses of different songs and they just looked at me with a blank face. Another interesting tid bit. My parents emigrated from Cuba in the late 50s and my dad told me the Von Trapp family sang in their Villa in a small town in Cuba when he was a young boy. Of course I thought he was joking until he showed me a black and white picture of the Von Trapps at his home. It seems that when the Von Trapps started touring they didn't limit themselves to only the US.

[@CFFiedler]

Very interesting, thank you.

[@nish221100]

Guten Tag, Feli. I'm a Japanese-American. I grew up mostly in the US, so Sound of Music definitely evokes nostalgia to me. I took German in High School and was shocked to learn that Edelweiss wasn't an Austrian folk song. I have toured Austria and Switzerland with a Sound of Music Tour (It was strange that I ended up translating on occasion between an American and a Austrian store keeper). The scenery is definitely spectacular. Thanks for all the videos!

[@MsTimelady71]

Vacationed in Salzburg and our tour guide told us that at the time many people who knew Maria disliked that the movie portrayed her so differently. Also, that many older Austrians are still uncomfortable speaking about the war(some still say that Austria was "invaded". But like anything, it brings money to Salzburg so it is tolerated. It was fun visiting the town and after returning home, watching the movie and seeing how little some streets have changed. Especially, the Mirabell Gardens.

[@V100-e5q]

- some still say that Austria was "invaded" - People conveniently forget that Hitler was an Austrian and that he simply returned home to his fatherland. Austrians are very good at forgetting unconvenient facts.

[@MsTimelady71]

@ Lol. We had an Austrian tour guide at Dachau who talked about how Austrians “forget” this. But Austria is indeed a beautiful country and I haas the most delicious cakes in Salzburg at an old tiny bakery.

[@mihajlozaric6957]

Im from the deepest Salzburg Alps ,people who say Austria was invaded dont want to look the truth in the eye , but there was Austrians (and Germans ) who was Anti-nazi.

[@WilliamThompson-b1j]

I am 59. My mother sang the Sound of Music songs to me when I was five and six years old (1970-1971) The songs are in my blood

[@scoutingforhistory4584]

I think the "schnitzel with noodles" was just an effort to find a line to rhyme with "warm apple strudel". We visited Salzburg years ago, and I was surprised to see that there were Sound of Music tours offered. I had always heard that most Austrians had never heard of the movie.

[@Gerben42]

Italians eat schnitzel with noodles (piccata milanese), although in S-W Germany one can have Schnitzel with Spätzle.

[@MarcLeonbacher-lb2oe]

​@@Gerben42Aren't they to be eaten with onion steak (Zwiebelrostbraten)?

[@scoutingforhistory4584]

At home I always have egg noodles with my pork schnitzel and knödel. With a pfeffersosse (KZbin wouldn't let me put the German double s in my reply).

[@stephjovi]

Yeah we hear about it on American media. Those tours are for American and Japanese tourists not for us.

[@philw6056]

@@MarcLeonbacher-lb2oe Spätzle work with almost everything.

[@raymondmuench3266]

Your videos are always informative and entertaining. My grandfather was from the area around Speyer. I don’t know that he ever saw the movie, but it was much discussed as family “back home” served in the Wehrmacht while two of his sons were in the U.S. Navy. Suffice it to say, this was not a period that, in his estimation, should be the subject of a light-hearted musical. Unt so weiter.

[@LymanPhillips]

Julie Andrews is luminous in this movie. But people rarely mention Christopher Plummer's amazing outfits. Military themed jackets, those great velvet lapels and that terrific formal outfit with the gloves. Dude was crushing it. Right down to the rakish angle of his traveling hat.

[@Highice007]

His best roal was as Author Wealsly, the Duke of Wellington in the Napoleanic war movie "Waterloo"

[@spudeleven5124]

Costumes make such a difference.

[@PeteQuad]

Yes I'm surprised she didn't mention the impact dubbing over her excellent performance must have made.

[@PeteQuad]

Yes I'm surprised she didn't mention the impact dubbing over her excellent performance must have made.

[@TallyDrake]

Christopher Plummer was so dashing in this movie! His facial expressions were at times hilarious. My favorite part is when the Captain and Maria are dancing...and falling in love. I will watch any movie with Christopher Plummer in it!

[@aarondelafuente8507]

I'm from San Antonio, Texas and not only have I seen the movie, "The Sound of Music," but my wife and I went to Salzberg and took the "Sound of Music" tour. We also visited the church where "Silent Night" was first written and sung. We didn't have time to do the Monastery tour up on the hill in the center of Salzberg but we did see it as we came into Salzberg and we did get to walk the streets and see some of the sights. It was a memorable time.

[@chevalierdupapillon]

I am glad you enjoyed your time in Salzburg, and since you took an interest, allow me to point out a small thing which is useful to know when dealing with German place names. While "Burg" and "Berg" are both pronounced the same by native speakers of English (i.e. in a way that would be spelled "Börg" in German), in their original langauge where vowels are more precisely defined than in English, they are two totally different woords and pronounced completely differently. "Salzberg" would mean "Salt Mountain", whereas the actual name "Salzburg" means "Salt Castle".

[@judithstrachan9399]

@@chevalierdupapillon, I read a book once where the difference in “berg” vs “burg” was a matter of life & death. Desmond Bagley, I think.

[@chevalierdupapillon]

@@judithstrachan9399 That sounds not just like a good way of making people aware of the distinction, but also perfectly realistic, given just how many German place names (and as a consequence, surnames) end in one of the -two.

[@SabineThinkerbellum]

I’m German and I didn’t know that this movie existed until this very moment. I know the 2 German movies though.

[@mmdb76]

I'm from the Netherlands and I grew up with "The Sound of Music". After my first watch, it was around the Christmas days in early 80's, my parents told us (my brother and sister) that they had been at the cinemas' premiere in 1965 at one of their first dates. And they bought the Vinyl with all the songs on it. It still is my number one movie. I can watch the movie over and over again and for me, it never gets old and bored

[@maxstone9148]

The magic of Julie Andrews - an International Treasure!

[@TheDrReif]

I am from Germany, but grew up in the US. Loved this movie as a kid, and have taken the Sound of Music tour twice in Austria, and have been to Stowe, Vermont where the real family moved to.

[@Fadamor]

16:22 I'm reminded of "Neun und Neunzig Luft Balloon" by Nena. The song was first released in the U.S. as an English translation called "99 Red Balloons" and, the flow of the words just seemed off. Somebody got the idea to play the original German version of the song and the flow was much more catchy despite the majority of us not understanding was was being sung. As I recall, the original German version charted higher in the U.S. than the English dub did.

[@ulqulqu]

I'm Turkish, I grew up in the Netherlands, very close to Germany, and only heard about and watched the movie once I moved to Turkey. We grew up watching Sİssi :) The Sound of Music is a known movie here in Turkey

[@richardrourke9278]

We ordered the Christmas cookie box. We're excited about opening it and enjoying the treats inside. Danke

[@angrytedtalks]

I have German ancestry, from Regensburg. Born in 1964, my childhood was entertained by a vinyl LP of the music from the musical and regular opportunities to see the film at Christmas on TV. I visited Salzburg in 2010 with my wife and three kids and did the Sound of Music tour - thoroughly enjoyable and a showcase of the beautiful city and surrounding landscape. The story is a romance, a drama and a family musical embodying family values and ethical principles. Hammerstein was from Austria - Edelweiss is about homeland, not just Austria.

[@dinkster1729]

I was wondering if Oscar Hammerstein had Austrian roots.

[@richardrubert1359]

I was in Salzburg over a decade ago and was offered a tour of the filming sites. And I watched the movie in Japan, where they love it. And I know the family toured extensively. Their lodge in Vermont is still active. It's a Hollywood classic, not specifically designed for Germany or Austria.

[@bradw3800]

Hi Feli. First of all, we LOVE your vlog. I am South African and married to a German. The Sound of Music movie was a HUGE success in South Africa, and there have been countless musicals (both local and foreign) that have taken place here over the years. The movie is considered a major classic and introduced Julie Andrews to us, which made Mary Poppins such a success. I grew up with the Sound of Music album (vinyl), and eventually CD, VHS cassette, then DVD, then Blu Ray. We even did a school production of The Sound of Music in Middle School. My German husband had never heard of the movie and I introduced him to it a few years ago. We both live in South Africa but visit my in-laws in Berlin frequently. While spending time in Bavaria recently, we headed into Austria as well, and it was my second visit to Salzburg, and my husband's first. With The Sound of Music being one of my favourite movies of all-time, I was so excited to enjoy both the Salzburg and Sound of Music Bus Tours, and to share the excitement with my husband who is now a huge fan of the movie. I am also a massive Mozart fan, so that also made the visit to Salzburg even more exciting. Besides the fact that it is such a beautifully quaint city. We are heading there again in April/May.

[@heartbt]

You are truly gifted in your passion for research. How much time did you spend gathering all this information?! Then, perfecting your presentation! You're such an inspiration.

[@evanhooper1]

The 'two Felis in one scene' bit is getting very good. Great editing on those!

[@davidcwitkin6729]

Thank you for this. I love the Sound of Music. I'm born and raised in Long Island, New York. I was Uncle Max in my Highschool Theater production of the show. The movie was released in 1966, the year I was born. The choir of voices singing in the background on "Edelweiss" and "Climb Every Mountain" was the Senior Class of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, in Ohio, USA, which just happened to touring Austria and performing concerts in and around Salzburg during filming in 1965. About 20 years later, in 1984, I started my freshman year at Oberlin College, graduating in 1988. I have always felt a deep connection to The Sound of Music for these and many other reasons. To think that a young and lovely Julie Andrews powered the movie with her amazing voice and is still going strong as the voice that powers the narrative on the TV show "Bridgerton" fills me with joy. She and the movie truly are iconic. Thank you for making this video.

[@tobi6891]

As a half-German and half-Japanese who grew up in Austria, I can confidently say, I only know that film because of my Japanese family, not the German one and definitely not because of me having grown up in Austria. 😂

[@mordororc6970]

petition for you to marry an italian

[@TheRetroMess]

My new favorite channel! You, Lost in the Pond, Jolly, and Mrs. Eats are my favorite cultural insider vlogs currently!

[@RafaelVarela]

I'm 45, I'm from Argentina and my grandmother made me watch the movie when I was 5 years old, and she made me watch it every year, so not only do I know it by heart but it also brings back beautiful family memories. The song Edelweiss always seemed very beautiful to me, but after researching it (as I grew older) I realized that no one who spoke German knew it. Here in Argentina it is a fairly well-known film.

[@heatherroach7817]

UK here. My mum went to see the movie 15 times! I once went to a Sing Along A Sound of Music event where the audience dressed up in costumes and items from the movie and we all sang along to the captioned songs. Some were dressed as goatherds, bees, parcels tied up with string etc. We were equipped with pieces of curtain material and a flower to represent an eidelweiss. We all sang enthusiastically and were encouraged to stand up when our costume was mentioned and wave our piece of curtain or flower as the lyrics required. We had the best fun! 🎵🎶

[@dinkster1729]

I read about these events in NYC in a magazine article: maybe, The New Yorker. When was this event in the UK held?

[@heatherroach7817]

I must have been 20 years ago, never to be forgotten. The funniest thing was the one group of people who hadn't dressed up! They kept apologising! I went as the Austrian singer at the concert who is given a bouquet and bows several times.

[@The_Dudester]

16:57 Thanks Feli. As a lifelong fan I've done a deep dive on the history of the movie (a long time ago), but in 1964, Salzburg city officials were going to withhold a permit for the marching scene, but Director Robert Wise threatened to use newsreel footage to show how much the people of Salzburg welcomed the Anschluss. City officials relented and issued the permit.

[@FelifromGermany]

Interesting tid bit! From a modern day Austrian/German point of view, that's super weird 😅

[@dragonpullman23]

I kind of like how the director was like "We have ways of making you cooperate and face your past".

[@JohnMunsonjr]

​@@FelifromGermany Feli, he is exactly correct! I tell this same bit of trivia on my all day Sound of Music E bike tours here in Salzburg! I think i know more about the Trapp family story and movie trivia of any tour guide here in Salzburg. The mayor had joked to the film producers when he first was asked if it was ok to dress a lot of actors in Nazi uniforms and to hang Nazi flags in the Residenz Platz für the scene representing the Anschluss, and the mayor joked, "well if we survived one Nazi invasion, we can survive another one"! But the city officials wouldn't give the permit until the film producers threatened to use the real footage of the thousands of Austrians giving the Nazi salute to welcome them in to Salzburg! Then the city officials changed their minds really fast but said that there can't be any people in the background giving any Nazi salutes or cheering them on! That is why there is almost nobody around in the scene besides the Nazi troops! Please come with your beau Feli to Salzburg and I will give you both by tour for free! It would be great to meet you finally after seeing so many of your videos! Just contact me through my website please when possible. Www.TrappFamilyBikeTours.com

[@carolelohr1581]

@@JohnMunsonjr So, as someone from America who has gone on that tour in Salzburg, I noticed that when taken to the lake site (where Julie and the kids fall into the water), you get to see those "horse statues" by the area where they get out of the water. BUT... I also noticed a little area to the left of that spot (when looking across the lake at Leopoldskron) that looked like it might be the ACTUAL spot where the movie scene was filmed??? As, I believe that the movie crew wasn't given permission to film at Leopoldskron, so they just filmed next door. Have you noticed this spot on your tours?

[@arlettedumais5776]

Wow, this is fascinating!

[@lisashaw309]

Great comparative analysis of how Germany and Austria received the movie at its initial release versus how it might be received now, Feli. You made a lot of salient points very clear. ❤

[@tj2375]

In Portugal and Spain the sound of music is always on tv around Christmas.

[@duanewhitacre5995]

Also in America at Christmas

[@HeinzSpack-w6n]

Almost 50 years old from Germany, and all I ever heard of "The Sound of Music" is the following line from the song "Christmas in Heaven" by Monthy Python: It's Cristmas in Heaven There's great films on TV The Sound of Music twice an hour And Jaws One, Two and Three

[@davidgoodnow269]

Did you ever see the Monty Python sketch, "The Bicyclist"? It's my favorite.

[@Rauschgenerator]

Thank you! Monty Python - yes, THAT'S where I know the title from. Living in southern Germany, never seen this crap (or heard of it other than from "The Meaning of Life".

[@deaddocreallydeaddoc5244]

In Britain, everyone went to the theatre and sang along to the film. It was a national craze for many years. I'm surprised stuff like that doesn't get noticed when it's happening in a country nearby.

[@HeinzSpack-w6n]

​@@davidgoodnow269 I may have, not sure, however. I'll go and check it out, though, thanks for the recommendation!

[@arthurwilliamson-usa]

I'm born and raised in South Africa. This movie is absolutely standard fare for any kid growing up, even to this day. It is universally known and loved. I remember staying with a Bavarian family in the mid-1970s and being astonished that they'd never heard of it. My American grandkids have seen it several times, and know every song.