document_title: Academy Awards

question_text: what is the academy award statue made of

question_tokens: what is the academy award statue made of

text: Academy Awards

text: History[edit]

text: The first Academy Awards presentation was held on 16 May 1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel.[8] The cost of guest tickets for that night's ceremony was $5 ($71 in 2017 dollars). Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the film-making industry of the time, for their works during the 1927–28 period. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes.

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text: Winners were announced to media three months earlier. That was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11:00 pm on the night of the awards.[8] This method was used until an occasion when the Los Angeles Times announced the winners before the ceremony began; as a result, the Academy has, since 1941, used a sealed envelope to reveal the name of the winners.[8]

text: Institutions[edit]

text: The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. He had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier; this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. At that time, the winners were recognized for all of their work done in a certain category during the qualifying period; for example, Jannings received the award for two movies in which he starred during that period, and Janet Gaynor later won a single Oscar for performances in three films. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, and professionals were honored for a specific performance in a single film. For the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years.[8]

text: At the 29th ceremony, held on 27 March 1957, the Best Foreign Language Film category was introduced. Until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award.

text: The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.[9]

text: Since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies have ended with the Academy Award for Best Picture.

text: Traditionally, the previous year's winner for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor present the awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, while the previous year's winner for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress present the awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

text: Oscar statuette[edit]

text: Other awards presented by the Academy[edit]

text: In addition to the Academy Award of Merit (Oscar award), there are nine honorary (non-competitive) awards presented by the Academy from time to time (except for the Academy Honorary Award, the Technical Achievement Award, and the Student Academy Awards, which are presented annually):

text:
Governors Awards:

The Academy Honorary Award (annual) (which may or may not be in the form of an Oscar statuette);
The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (since 1938) (in the form of a bust of Thalberg);
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (since 1957) (in the form of an Oscar statuette);

The Academy Scientific and Technical Awards:

Academy Award of Merit (non-competitive) (in the form of an Oscar statuette);
Scientific and Engineering Award (in the form of a bronze tablet);
Technical Achievement Award (annual) (in the form of a certificate);
The John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation (since 1978) (in the form of a medal);
The Gordon E. Sawyer Award (since 1982); and

The Academy Student Academy Awards (annual).

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text: The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.

text: Academy Award of Merit (Oscar statuette)[edit]

text: The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette.[10] Made of gold-plated bronze on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34.3 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb (3.856 kg), and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes. The five spokes represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians.[11]

text: The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio "El Indio" Fernández.[12] Sculptor George Stanley (who also did the Muse Fountain at the Hollywood Bowl) sculpted Cedric Gibbons' design. The statuettes presented at the initial ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze. Within a few years the bronze was abandoned in favor of Britannia metal, a pewter-like alloy which is then plated in copper, nickel silver, and finally, 24-karat gold.[13] Due to a metal shortage during World War II, Oscars were made of painted plaster for three years. Following the war, the Academy invited recipients to redeem the plaster figures for gold-plated metal ones.[14] The only addition to the Oscar since it was created is a minor streamlining of the base. The original Oscar mold was cast in 1928 at the C.W. Shumway & Sons Foundry in Batavia, Illinois, which also contributed to casting the molds for the Vince Lombardi Trophy and Emmy Award's statuettes. From 1983 to 2015,[15] approximately 50 Oscars in a tin alloy with gold plating were made each year in Chicago by Illinois manufacturer R.S. Owens & Company.[16] It takes between three and four weeks to manufacture 50 statuettes.[12] In 2016, the Academy returned to bronze as the core metal of the statuettes, handing manufacturing duties to Rock Tavern, New York-based Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry.[17] While based on a digital scan of an original 1929 Oscar, the statuettes retain their modern-era dimensions and black pedestal. Cast in liquid bronze from 3D-printed ceramic molds and polished, they are then electroplated in 24-karat gold by Brooklyn, New York–based Epner Technology. The time required to produce 50 such statuettes is roughly three months.[18] R.S. Owens is expected to continue producing other awards for the Academy and service existing Oscars that need replating.[19]

text: Naming[edit]

text: The origin of the name Oscar is disputed. One biography of Bette Davis, who was a president of the Academy, claims she named the Oscar after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson.[20] Another claimed origin is the Academy's Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette's reminding her of her "Uncle Oscar" (a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce).[21] Columnist Sidney Skolsky was present during Herrick's naming and seized the name in his byline, "Employees have affectionately dubbed their famous statuette 'Oscar'." [22]

text: One of the earliest mentions of the term Oscar dates to a Time magazine article about the 1934 6th Academy Awards.[23] Walt Disney also thanked the Academy for his Oscar as early as 1932.[24] The trophy officially received the name "Oscar" in 1939 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

text: Engraving[edit]

text: To prevent information identifying the Oscar winners from leaking ahead of the ceremony, Oscar statuettes presented at the ceremony have blank baseplates. Until 2010, winners returned their statuettes to the Academy, and had to wait several weeks to have their names inscribed on their respective Oscars. Since 2010, winners have had the option of having engraved nameplates applied to their statuettes at an inscription-processing station at the Governor's Ball, a party held immediately after the Oscar ceremony. The R.S. Owens company has engraved nameplates made before the ceremony, bearing the name of every potential winner. The nameplates for the non-winning nominees are later recycled.[25][26]

text: Ownership of Oscar statuettes[edit]

text: Since 1950, the statuettes have been legally encumbered by the requirement that neither winners nor their heirs may sell the statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for US$1. If a winner refuses to agree to this stipulation, then the Academy keeps the statuette. Academy Awards not protected by this agreement have been sold in public auctions and private deals for six-figure sums.[27] In December 2011, Orson Welles' 1941 Oscar for Citizen Kane (Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay) was put up for auction, after his heirs won a 2004 court decision contending that Welles did not sign any agreement to return the statue to the Academy.[28] On 20 December 2011, it sold in an online auction for US$861,542.[29]

text: In 1992, Harold Russell needed money for his wife's medical expenses. In a controversial decision, he consigned his 1946 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Best Years of Our Lives to Herman Darvick Autograph Auctions, and on 6 August 1992, in New York City, the Oscar sold to a private collector for $60,500. Since he won the award before 1950, he was not required to offer it to the Academy first. Russell defended his decision, saying, "I don't know why anybody would be critical. My wife's health is much more important than sentimental reasons. The movie will be here, even if Oscar isn't." Harold Russell is the only Academy Award-winning actor to ever sell an Oscar.[30]

text: While the Oscar is owned by the recipient, it is essentially not on the open market.[31] Michael Todd's grandson tried to sell Todd's Oscar statuette to a movie prop collector in 1989, but the Academy won the legal battle by getting a permanent injunction. Although some Oscar sales transactions have been successful, some buyers have subsequently returned the statuettes to the Academy, which keeps them in its treasury.[32]

text: Nomination[edit]

text: Since 2004, Academy Award nomination results have been announced to the public in late January. Prior to that, the results were announced in early February.

text: Voters[edit]

text: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a professional honorary organization, maintains a voting membership of over 8,000 as of 2018[update].[33]

text: Academy membership is divided into different branches, with each representing a different discipline in film production. Actors constitute the largest voting bloc, numbering 1,311 members (22 percent) of the Academy's composition. Votes have been certified by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (and its predecessor Price Waterhouse) for the past 83 annual awards ceremonies.[34][35]

text: All AMPAS members must be invited to join by the Board of Governors, on behalf of Academy Branch Executive Committees. Membership eligibility may be achieved by a competitive nomination or a member may submit a name based on other significant contributions to the field of motion pictures.

text: New membership proposals are considered annually. The Academy does not publicly disclose its membership, although as recently as 2007 press releases have announced the names of those who have been invited to join. The 2007 release also stated that it has just under 6,000 voting members. While the membership had been growing, stricter policies have kept its size steady since then.[36]

text: In 2012, the results of a study conducted by the Los Angeles Times were published describing the demographic breakdown of approximately 88% of AMPAS' voting membership. Of the 5,100+ active voters confirmed, 94% were Caucasian, 77% were male, and 54% were found to be over the age of 60. 33% of voting members are former nominees (14%) and winners (19%).[37]

text: In May 2011, the Academy sent a letter advising its 6,000 or so voting members that an online system for Oscar voting would be implemented in 2013.[38]

text: Rules[edit]

text: According to Rules 2 and 3 of the official Academy Awards Rules, a film must open in the previous calendar year, from midnight at the start of 1 January to midnight at the end of 31 December, in Los Angeles County, California, and play for seven consecutive days, to qualify (except for the Best Foreign Language Film, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Documentary Short Subject).[39][40]

text: The Best Foreign Language Film award does not require a U.S. release. The Best Documentary Feature award requires week-long releases in both Los Angeles County and New York City during the previous calendar year.[41]

text: The Best Documentary Short Subject award has noticeably different eligibility rules from most other competitive awards. First, the qualifying period for release does not coincide with a calendar year, instead covering a one-year period starting on 1 September and ending on 31 August of the calendar year before the ceremony. Second, there are multiple methods of qualification. The main method is a week-long theatrical release in either Los Angeles County or New York City during the eligibility period. Films also can qualify by winning specified awards at one of a number of competitive film festivals designated by the Academy. Finally, a film that is selected as a gold, silver, or bronze medal winner in the Documentary category of the immediately previous Student Academy Awards is also eligible.[42]

text: For example, the 2009 Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker, was actually first released in 2008, but did not qualify for the 2008 awards as it did not play its Oscar-qualifying run in Los Angeles until mid-2009, thus qualifying for the 2009 awards. Foreign films must include English subtitles, and each country can submit only one film per year.[43]

text: Rule 2 states that a film must be feature-length, defined as a minimum of 40 minutes, except for short-subject awards, and it must exist either on a 35 mm or 70 mm film print or in 24 frame/s or 48 frame/s progressive scan digital cinema format with a minimum projector resolution of 2048 by 1080 pixels.[44] Effective with the 90th Academy Awards, presented in 2018, multi-part and limited series will be ineligible for the Best Documentary Feature award. This followed the win of O.J.: Made in America, an eight-hour presentation that was screened in a limited release before being broadcast in five parts on ABC and ESPN, in that category in 2017. The Academy's announcement of the new rule made no direct mention of that film.[45]

text: Producers must submit an Official Screen Credits online form before the deadline; in case it is not submitted by the defined deadline, the film will be ineligible for Academy Awards in any year. The form includes the production credits for all related categories. Then, each form is checked and put in a Reminder List of Eligible Releases.

text: In late December ballots and copies of the Reminder List of Eligible Releases are mailed to around 6,000 active members. For most categories, members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees only in their respective categories (i.e. only directors vote for directors, writers for writers, actors for actors, etc.). In the special case of Best Picture, all voting members are eligible to select the nominees. In all major categories, a variant of the single transferable vote is used, with each member casting a ballot with up to five nominees (ten for Best Picture) ranked preferentially.[46][47][48] In certain categories, including Foreign Film, Documentary and Animated Feature Film, nominees are selected by special screening committees made up of members from all branches.

text: In most categories the winner is selected from among the nominees by plurality voting of all members.[46][48] Since 2009, the Best Picture winner has been chosen by instant runoff voting.[48][49] Since 2013, re-weighted range voting has been used to select the nominees for the Best Visual Effects.[50][51]

text: Film companies will spend as much as several million dollars on marketing to awards voters for a movie in the running for Best Picture, in attempts to improve chances of receiving Oscars and other movie awards conferred in Oscar season. The Academy enforces rules to limit overt campaigning by its members so as to try to eliminate excesses and prevent the process from becoming undignified. It has an awards czar on staff who advises members on allowed practices and levies penalties on offenders.[52] For example, a producer of the 2009 Best Picture nominee The Hurt Locker was disqualified as a producer in the category when he contacted associates urging them to vote for his film and not another that was seen as the front-runner (The Hurt Locker eventually won).

text: Awards ceremonies[edit]

text: Telecast[edit]

text: The major awards are presented at a live televised ceremony, commonly in late February or early March following the relevant calendar year, and six weeks after the announcement of the nominees. It is the culmination of the film awards season, which usually begins during November or December of the previous year. This is an elaborate extravaganza, with the invited guests walking up the red carpet in the creations of the most prominent fashion designers of the day. Black tie dress is the most common outfit for men, although fashion may dictate not wearing a bow-tie, and musical performers sometimes do not adhere to this. (The artists who recorded the nominees for Best Original Song quite often perform those songs live at the awards ceremony, and the fact that they are performing is often used to promote the television broadcast.)

text: The Academy Awards is the only awards show televised live in all United States time zones (excluding Hawaii; they aired live in Alaska since 2011 for the first time since 1996), Canada, the United Kingdom, and gathers millions of viewers elsewhere throughout the world. The Oscars were first televised in 1953 by NBC, which continued to broadcast the event until 1960, when ABC took over, televising the festivities (including the first color broadcast of the event in 1966) through 1970. NBC regained the rights for five years (1971–75), then ABC resumed broadcast duties in 1976 and its current contract with the Academy runs through 2028.[53] The Academy has also produced condensed versions of the ceremony for broadcast in international markets (especially those outside of the Americas) in more desirable local timeslots. The ceremony was broadcast live internationally for the first time via satellite since 1970, but only two South American countries, Chile and Brazil, purchased the rights to air the broadcast. By that time, the television rights to the Academy Awards had been sold in 50 countries. A decade later, the rights were already being sold to 60 countries, and by 1984, the TV rights to the Awards were licensed in 76 countries.

text: The ceremonies were moved up from late March/early April to late February since 2004 to help disrupt and shorten the intense lobbying and ad campaigns associated with Oscar season in the film industry. Another reason was because of the growing TV ratings success coinciding with the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which would cut into the Academy Awards audience. (In 1976 and 1977, ABC's regained Oscars were moved from Tuesday to Monday and went directly opposite NBC's NCAA title game.) The earlier date is also to the advantage of ABC, as it now usually occurs during the highly profitable and important February sweeps period. Some years, the ceremony is moved into first Sunday of March in order to avoid clash with the Winter Olympic Games. Another reason for the move to late February and early March is also to avoid the awards ceremony occurring so close to the religious holidays of Passover and Easter, which for decades had been a grievance from members and the general public. Advertising is somewhat restricted, however, as traditionally no movie studios or competitors of official Academy Award sponsors may advertise during the telecast. The production of the Academy Awards telecast currently holds the distinction of winning the most Emmys in history, with 47 wins and 195 nominations overall since that award's own launch in 1949.[54]

text: After many years of being held on Mondays at 9:00 pm Eastern/6:00 p.m Pacific, since the 1999 ceremonies, it was moved to Sundays at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT.[55] The reasons given for the move were that more viewers would tune in on Sundays, that Los Angeles rush-hour traffic jams could be avoided, and an earlier start time would allow viewers on the East Coast to go to bed earlier.[56] For many years the film industry opposed a Sunday broadcast because it would cut into the weekend box office.[57] In 2010, the Academy contemplated moving the ceremony even further back into January, citing TV viewers' fatigue with the film industry's long awards season. However, such an accelerated schedule would dramatically decrease the voting period for its members, to the point where some voters would only have time to view the contending films streamed on their computers (as opposed to traditionally receiving the films and ballots in the mail). Furthermore, a January ceremony on Sunday would clash with National Football League playoff games.[58]

text: Originally scheduled for 8 April 1968, the 40th Academy Awards ceremony was postponed for two days, because of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. On 30 March 1981, the 53rd Academy Awards was postponed for one day, after the shooting of President Ronald Reagan and others in Washington, D.C.

text: In 1993, an In Memoriam segment was introduced,[59] honoring those who had made a significant contribution to cinema who had died in the preceding 12 months, a selection compiled by a small committee of Academy members.[60] This segment has drawn criticism over the years for the omission of some names. Criticism was also levied for many years regarding another aspect, with the segment having a "popularity contest" feel as the audience varied their applause to those who had died by the subject's cultural impact; the applause has since been muted during the telecast, and the audience is discouraged from clapping during the segment and giving silent reflection instead.

text: In terms of broadcast length, the ceremony generally averages three and a half hours. The first Oscars, in 1929, lasted 15 minutes. At the other end of the spectrum, the 2002 ceremony lasted four hours and twenty-three minutes.[61][62] In 2010, the organizers of the Academy Awards announced winners' acceptance speeches must not run past 45 seconds. This, according to organizer Bill Mechanic, was to ensure the elimination of what he termed "the single most hated thing on the show" – overly long and embarrassing displays of emotion.[63] In 2016, in a further effort to streamline speeches, winners' dedications were displayed on an on-screen ticker.[64] During the 2018 ceremony, host Jimmy Kimmel acknowledged how long the ceremony had become, by announcing that he would give a brand-new jet ski to whoever gave the shortest speech of the night (a reward won by Mark Bridges when accepting his Best Costume Design award for Phantom Thread).[65]

text: Although still dominant in ratings, the viewership of the Academy Awards have steadily dropped; the 88th Academy Awards were the lowest-rated in the past eight years (although with increases in male and 18-49 viewership), while the show itself also faced mixed reception. Following the show, Variety reported that ABC was, in negotiating an extension to its contract to broadcast the Oscars, seeking to have more creative control over the broadcast itself. Currently and nominally, AMPAS is responsible for most aspects of the telecast, including the choice of production staff and hosting, although ABC is allowed to have some input on their decisions.[66] In August 2016, AMPAS extended its contract with ABC through 2028: the contract neither contains any notable changes, nor gives ABC any further creative control over the telecast.[67]

text: TV ratings[edit]

text: Historically, the "Oscarcast" has pulled in a bigger haul when box-office hits are favored to win the Best Picture trophy. More than 57.25 million viewers tuned to the telecast for the 70th Academy Awards in 1998, the year of Titanic, which generated close to US$600 million at the North American box office pre-Oscars.[68] The 76th Academy Awards ceremony in which The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (pre-telecast box office earnings of US$368 million) received 11 Awards including Best Picture drew 43.56 million viewers.[69] The most watched ceremony based on Nielsen ratings to date, however, was the 42nd Academy Awards (Best Picture Midnight Cowboy) which drew a 43.4% household rating on 7 April 1970.[70]

text: By contrast, ceremonies honoring films that have not performed well at the box office tend to show weaker ratings. The 78th Academy Awards which awarded low-budgeted, independent film Crash (with a pre-Oscar gross of US$53.4 million) generated an audience of 38.64 million with a household rating of 22.91%.[71] In 2008, the 80th Academy Awards telecast was watched by 31.76 million viewers on average with an 18.66% household rating, the lowest rated and least watched ceremony at the time, in spite of celebrating 80 years of the Academy Awards.[72] The Best Picture winner of that particular ceremony was another independently financed film (No Country for Old Men).

text: Venues[edit]

text: In 1929, the first Academy Awards were presented at a banquet dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. From 1930 to 1943, the ceremony alternated between two venues: the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard and the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

text: Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood then hosted the awards from 1944 to 1946, followed by the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles from 1947 to 1948. The 21st Academy Awards in 1949 were held at the Academy Award Theatre at what was the Academy's headquarters on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.[73]

text: From 1950 to 1960, the awards were presented at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. With the advent of television, the awards from 1953 to 1957 took place simultaneously in Hollywood and New York, first at the NBC International Theatre (1953) and then at the NBC Century Theatre, after which the ceremony took place solely in Los Angeles. The Oscars moved to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California in 1961. By 1969, the Academy decided to move the ceremonies back to Los Angeles, this time to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Music Center.

text: In 2002, the Dolby Theatre (previously known as the Kodak Theatre) became the presentation's current venue.[74]

text: Awards of Merit categories[edit]

text: Current categories[edit]

text:
Best Picture: since 1927/28
Best Director: since 1927/28
Best Actor in a Leading Role: since 1927/28
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: since 1936
Best Actress in a Leading Role: since 1927/28
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: since 1936
Best Animated Feature: since 2001
Best Animated Short Film: since 1930/31
Best Cinematography: since 1927/28
Best Costume Design: since 1948
Best Documentary Feature: since 1943
Best Documentary Short Subject: since 1941
Best Film Editing: since 1934
Best Foreign Language Film: since 1947
Best Live Action Short Film: since 1931/32
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: since 1981
Best Original Score: since 1934
Best Original Song: since 1934
Best Production Design: since 1927/28
Best Sound Editing: since 1963
Best Sound Mixing: since 1929/30
Best Visual Effects: since 1939
Best Adapted Screenplay: since 1927/28
Best Original Screenplay: since 1940

text: In the first year of the awards, the Best Directing award was split into two categories (Drama and Comedy). At times, the Best Original Score award has also been split into separate categories (Drama and Comedy/Musical). From the 1930s through the 1960s, the Art Direction (now Production Design), Cinematography, and Costume Design awards were likewise split into two categories (black-and-white films and color films). Prior to 2012, the Production Design award was called Art Direction, while the Makeup and Hairstyling award was called Makeup.

text: Discontinued categories[edit]

text:
Best Assistant Director: 1932/33 to 1937
Best Director, Comedy Picture: 1927/28
Best Director, Dramatic Picture: 1927/28
Best Dance Direction: 1935 to 1937
Best Engineering Effects: 1927/28
Best Original Musical or Comedy Score: 1995 to 1998
Best Original Musical: 1984
Best Original Story: 1927/28 to 1956
Best Short Subject – 1 Reel: 1936 to 1956
Best Short Subject – 2 Reel: 1936 to 1956
Best Short Subject – Color: 1936 to 1937
Best Short Subject – Comedy: 1931/32 to 1935
Best Short Subject – Novelty: 1931/32 to 1935
Best Title Writing: 1927/28
Best Unique and Artistic Picture: 1927/28

text: Proposed categories[edit]

text: The Board of Governors meets each year and considers new award categories. To date, the following proposed categories have been rejected:

text:
Best Casting: rejected in 1999[75]
Best Stunt Coordination: rejected every year from 1991 to 2012[76][77][78][79]
Best Title Design: rejected in 1999[75]

text: Special categories[edit]

text: The Special Academy Awards are voted on by special committees, rather than by the Academy membership as a whole. They are not always presented on a consistent annual basis.

text: Current special categories[edit]

text:
Academy Honorary Award: since 1929
Academy Scientific and Technical Award (three different awards): since 1931
Gordon E. Sawyer Award: since 1981
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: since 1957
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award: since 1938
Academy Special Achievement Award: from 1972 to 1995, and again for 2017

text: Discontinued special categories[edit]

text: Academy Juvenile Award: 1934 to 1960

text: Criticism[edit]

text: This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (April 2016)

text: Accusations of commercialism[edit]

text: Due to the positive exposure and prestige of the Academy Awards, studios spend millions of dollars and hire publicists specifically to promote their films during what is typically called the "Oscar season". This has generated accusations of the Academy Awards being influenced more by marketing than quality. William Friedkin, an Academy Award-winning film director and former producer of the ceremony, expressed this sentiment at a conference in New York in 2009, describing it as "the greatest promotion scheme that any industry ever devised for itself".[80]

text: Tim Dirks, editor of AMC's filmsite.org, has written of the Academy Awards,

text: Unfortunately, the critical worth, artistic vision, cultural influence and innovative qualities of many films are not given the same voting weight. Especially since the 1980s, moneymaking "formula-made" blockbusters with glossy production values have often been crowd-pleasing titans (and Best Picture winners), but they haven't necessarily been great films with depth or critical acclaim by any measure.[81]

text: Accusations of bias[edit]

text: Typical criticism of the Academy Awards for Best Picture is that among the winners and nominees there is an over-representation of romantic historical epics, biographical dramas, romantic dramedies, and family melodramas, most of which are released in the U.S. the last three months of the calendar year. The Oscars have been infamously known for selecting specific genres of movies to be awarded. This has led to the coining of the term 'Oscar bait', describing such movies. This has led at times to more specific criticisms that the Academy is disconnected from the audience, e.g., by favoring 'Oscar bait' over audience favorites, or favoring historical melodramas over critically acclaimed movies that depict current life issues.[82]

text: Allegations of a lack of diversity[edit]

text: The Academy Awards have long received criticism over its lack of diversity among the nominees.[83][84][85] This criticism is based on the statistics from every Academy Awards since 1929 which shows us that only 6.4% of academy award nominees have been non-white and since 1991, 11.2% of nominees have been non-white, with the rate of winners being even more polarizing [86]. The 88th awards ceremony became the target of a boycott, popularized on social media by the #OscarsSoWhite, based on critics' perception that its all-white acting nominee list reflected bias. In response, the Academy initiated "historic" changes in membership by the year 2020.[87][88]

text: Symbolism or sentimentalization[edit]

text: Acting prizes in certain years have been criticized for not recognizing superior performances so much as being awarded for personal popularity[89] or presented as a "career honor" to recognize a distinguished nominee's entire body of work.[90]

text: Refusing the award[edit]

text: Some winners critical of the Academy Awards have boycotted the ceremonies and refused to accept their Oscars. The first to do so was screenwriter Dudley Nichols (Best Writing in 1935 for The Informer). Nichols boycotted the 8th Academy Awards ceremony because of conflicts between the Academy and the Writers' Guild.[91] Nichols eventually accepted the 1935 award three years later, at the 1938 ceremony. Nichols was nominated for three further Academy Awards during his career.

text: George C. Scott became the second person to refuse his award (Best Actor in 1970 for Patton) at the 43rd Academy Awards ceremony. Scott described it as a 'meat parade', saying 'I don't want any part of it."[92][93][94]

text: The third person to refuse the award was Marlon Brando, who refused his award (Best Actor for 1972's The Godfather), citing the film industry's discrimination and mistreatment of Native Americans. At the 45th Academy Awards ceremony, Brando sent actress and Civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather to read a 15-page speech detailing his criticisms.[91]

text: Associated events[edit]

text: The following events are closely associated with the annual Academy Awards:

text:
César Award
Nominees luncheon
Governors Awards
The 25th Independent Spirit Awards (in 2010), usually held in Santa Monica the Saturday before the Oscars, marked the first time it was moved to a Friday and a change of venue to L.A. Live
The annual "Night Before", traditionally held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, begun in 2002 and generally known as the party of the season, benefits the Motion Picture and Television Fund, which operates a retirement home for SAG actors in the San Fernando Valley
Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party airs the awards live at the nearby Pacific Design Center
The Governors' Ball is the Academy's official after-party, including dinner (until 2011), and is adjacent to the awards-presentation venue
The Vanity Fair after-party, historically at the former Morton's restaurant, since 2009 has been at the Sunset Tower

text: Presenter and performer gifts[edit]

text: It has become a tradition to give out gift bags to the presenters and performers at the Oscars. In recent years, these gifts have also been extended to award nominees and winners.[95] The value of each of these gift bags can reach into the tens of thousands of dollars. In 2014, the value was reported to be as high as US$80,000.[96] The value has risen to the point where the U.S. Internal Revenue Service issued a statement regarding the gifts and their taxable status.[97] Oscar gift bags have included vacation packages to Hawaii and Mexico and Japan, a private dinner party for the recipient and friends at a restaurant, videophones, a four-night stay at a hotel, watches, bracelets, vacation packages, spa treatments, bottles of vodka, maple salad dressing, and weight-loss gummie candy.[95][98][99] Some of the gifts have even had a "risque" element to them; in 2014, the adult products retailer Adam & Eve had a "Secret Room Gifting Suite". Celebrities visiting the gifting suite included Judith Hoag, Carolyn Hennesy, Kate Linder, Chris Mulkey, Jim O'Heir, and NBA player John Salley.[100]

text: Television ratings and advertisement prices[edit]

text: From 2006 onwards, results are Live+SD, all previous years are Live viewing[101]

text:
Year
Viewers,
millions[101]
Ad price,[101][102]
USD, millions
Adjusted Price,
USD, millions

2017
32.9
Not available
Not available

2016
34.3
Not available
Not available

2015
37.260[103]
1.95[104]
2.01

2014
43.740[105]
1.8 – 1.9[106]
1.86 - 1.96

2013
40.376[107]
1.65 – 1.8[106]
1.73 - 1.89

2012
39.460[108]
1.610
1.72

2011
37.919
1.3684
1.49

2010
41.699
1.1267
1.26

2009
36.310
1.3[106]
1.48

2008
32.006
1.82[106]
2.07

2007
40.172
1.6658
1.97

2006
38.939
1.6468
2.00

2005
42.139
1.503
1.88

2004
43.531
1.5031
1.95

2003
33.043
1.3458
1.79

2002
41.782
1.29
1.76

2001
42.944
1.45
2.00

2000
46.333
1.305
1.85

1999
45.615
1
1.47

1998
55.249
0.95
1.43

1997
40.075
0.85
1.30

1996
44.867
0.795
1.24

1995
48.279
0.7
1.12

1994
45.083
0.6435
1.06

1993
45.735
0.6078
1.03

1992
44.406
Not available
Not available

1991
42.727
Not available
Not available

1990
40.375
0.45
0.84

1989
42.619
0.375
0.74

1988
42.227
0.36
0.74

1987
37.190
0.335
0.72

1986
37.757
0.32
0.71

1985
38.855
0.315
0.72

1984
42.051
0.275
0.65

1983
53.235
0.245
0.60

1982
46.245
Not available
Not available

1981
39.919
Not available
Not available

1980
48.978
Not available
Not available

1979
46.301
Not available
Not available

1978
48.501
Not available
Not available

1977
39.719
Not available
Not available

1976
46.751
Not available
Not available

1975
48.127
Not available
Not available

1974
44.712
Not available
Not available

text: Trademark[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2016)

text: The term "Oscar" is a registered trademark of the AMPAS; however, in the Italian language, it is used generically to refer to any award or award ceremony, regardless of which field.[109][110]


document_title: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film)

question_text: who plays the little girl in the hand that rocks the cradle

root

text: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Claire Bartel is happily married and pregnant with her second child. At a routine check-up, she is sexually molested by her new obstetrician, Dr. Victor Mott. Traumatized, she tells her husband Michael, who encourages her to report him to the state medical board. Her initial accusation prompts four more women to come forward with similar accusations, and multiple charges are prepared against Dr. Mott by the district attorney's office. Guilty, Dr. Mott commits suicide. Later, Dr. Mott's pregnant widow is told by her lawyers that her husband's assets have been frozen because of the lawsuits and that she will lose her luxurious home. Mrs. Mott goes into early labor after fainting from the stressful news her lawyer gives her, causing her to lose her baby and, after hemorrhaging, is given an emergency hysterectomy. While recovering in the hospital, she sees a news story featuring Claire as the woman who went to the state medical board, leading Mrs. Mott to swear vengeance.

text: Claire eventually gives birth to a boy named Joey, and, looking for a nanny, hires Mrs. Mott under the alias "Peyton Flanders". Mrs. Mott begins waging a campaign to undermine Claire. She begins frequently breastfeeding Joey in secret, effectively brainwashing him to believe that Mott is his mother (which causes him to reject Claire, as he no longer take Claire's milk) and encourages her daughter Emma to keep secrets from her mother and tries to turn her against Claire. She also secretly destroys Michael's office proposal. Knowing that Claire's close friend Marlene had been Michael's ex-girlfriend before he married Claire, Mrs. Mott also suggests to Michael that he arrange a surprise party for Claire, leading Marlene and Michael to meet in secret. Claire accuses Michael of having an affair with Marlene, only to find the party-goers waiting in the next room.

text: Solomon, an intellectually disabled handyman who has been assisting the Bartels, discovers Mrs. Mott breastfeeding Joey. Mrs. Mott then plants a pair of Emma's panties in Solomon's toolbox, leading Claire to fire him. Emma tells Claire that Solomon never did anything to her, but Claire refuses to believe Emma, causing her to turn against her mother as Mrs. Mott had planned. Unknown to the family, except for Emma, Solomon begins to keep a watchful eye over them.

text: Claire begins to doubt "Peyton" and tells Michael so. Mrs. Mott overhears, then sets a trap for Claire in the greenhouse. Meanwhile, Marlene finds out Mrs. Mott's identity; Marlene plans to warn Claire, but Mrs. Mott tricks her into going into the greenhouse, where she is killed by the falling glass. Mrs. Mott, who knows that Claire suffers from asthma, empties all of her inhalers. When Claire finds Marlene's body, she has an asthma attack and is briefly hospitalized. As Michael is distraught over Marlene's death and his wife's condition, Mrs. Mott, wearing a sheer white nightgown, attempts to seduce him; he rejects her advances.

text: Claire eventually uncovers the truth about Mrs. Mott, confronts her, and reveals the truth about "Peyton" to Michael as Mrs. Mott claims that she and Michael are having an affair. Michael kicks Mrs. Mott out, and Claire then tells him to call the police as she realizes that Mrs. Mott rigged the greenhouse to kill her and not Marlene. Michael tells Claire to get Emma and Joey so that they can head to a hotel to be safe.

text: Later, Mrs. Mott breaks into the house and lures Michael down to the basement where she knocks him down the stairs and breaks his legs with a shovel. Mrs. Mott then attempts to take Emma and Joey, but after seeing Mrs. Mott assault her mother, Emma locks Mrs. Mott in the nursery. Mrs. Mott escapes, and hears Joey in the attic. She enters and sees Solomon aiding the children's escape. Claire enters and Mrs. Mott attempts to kill her, but stops after Claire appears to be having another asthma attack, allowing Mrs. Mott to mock her. As Mrs. Mott tries to take Joey, Claire gets back up, having faked her asthma attack, and pushes Mrs. Mott out of the window, impaling her on the picket fence and killing her. Touched at how Solomon risked his life to protect her family, Claire welcomes him back into their lives as they leave the attic while the police and paramedics arrive at the house.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Annabella Sciorra as Claire Bartel
Rebecca De Mornay as Mrs. Mott
Matt McCoy as Michael Bartel
Ernie Hudson as Solomon
Julianne Moore as Marlene Craven
Madeline Zima as Emma Bartel
John de Lancie as Dr. Victor Mott
Kevin Skousen as Marty Craven

text: Filming locations[edit]

text: Filming locations were Issaquah, Washington; Seattle, Washington (Mott's residence at 2502 37th Ave W in Seattle); and the Bartels' residence at 808 N. Yakima Ave. Tacoma, Washington.[2]

text: Reception[edit]

text: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle opened on January 10, 1992, and grossed $7,675,016 in its opening weekend,[3] bringing Hook down to #2 from its four-week stay at #1. The film lasted at #1 for four consecutive weeks, then was upended by Medicine Man. By the end of its run, the film earned a domestic total of $88,036,683.[4][5] It was also placed at #24 in Bravo's special 30 Even Scarier Movie Moments.

text: The film has received mixed to positive reviews from critics, currently holding a rating of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews and a rating of 6.5/10 on IMDb.

text: Gene Siskel stated that he "had trouble accepting the premise of this picture because of the casual way in which the nanny is hired in an early scene by the mother," citing that the premise is unrealistic. However, he gave praise to Julianne Moore's character, saying, "much more believable, is the supporting character of the mother's best friend" and that "the friend is a terrific character, it's too bad she doesn't have more scenes in the picture." He mentioned that his "biggest objection to Hand That Rocks the Cradle is to its scenes with the children in jeopardy or psychic pain." Siskel finally remarked that "there are some fun thrills in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle to be sure, but I found a lot of it distasteful, too." Roger Ebert, however, had a higher opinion of the film, stating that he "found this film worked" and that "It touches on a fear and that's why it appeals to us." Ebert praised De Mornay's performance in the film, saying, "she does, I think, a very good job, a very, very sound job of being the villainess in this film and I think it's an effective performance" and that he found the scenes of the children "very interesting because I saw them as a portrait of the evil of that woman"[6]

text: Vincent Canby of The New York Times said of the film that "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" is meant to scare audiences more or less in the way that the patrons of the early nickelodeons were frightened when they saw the image of a train rushing at them. Audiences aren't asked to think, only to react" and that "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle proves again that not thinking isn't especially easy even today. Though Mr. Hanson is a slick movie maker, he is not an especially persuasive one here. Don't be gulled by those who would compare The Hand That Rocks the Cradle to Fatal Attraction, which features three strong characters who, in one way or another, are ready to answer for their actions." He added that "Mr. Hanson creates the occasionally effective shock effect to satisfy those who want to squeal in mock fright. More often the devices he uses are such tired tricks as the crosscutting between two sets of simultaneous, often innocent, actions to create the illusion of suspense that can't be sustained."[7] Rebecca Hawkes of The Daily Telegraph gave the film a rating a 3 stars out of 5 and said that "It’s a tense, viscerally unsettling moment, that helps make the film into something more than just a fun, formulaic thriller",[8] while Sue Heal of The Radio Times rated the film 4 stars out of 5, stated that "This is pure unbridled hokum, of course, but extremely effective until the last 30 minutes, when the plot rapidly self-destructs."[9]

text: Home media[edit]

text: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was released on VHS on July 8, 1992, on DVD on December 8, 1998 and Blu-ray on September 4, 2012. The film was presented in its original widescreen aspect ratio, approximately 1.85.1. The only special feature included on the DVD is the film's original theatrical trailer.


document_title: The Sound of Music (film)

question_text: who played the part of maria in the movie the sound of music

text: The Sound of Music (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In 1938, Maria is a free-spirited young Austrian woman studying to become a nun at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg. Her love of music and the mountains, her youthful enthusiasm and imagination, and her lack of discipline cause some concern among the nuns. The Mother Abbess, believing Maria would be happier outside the abbey, sends her to the villa of retired naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp to be governess to his seven children—Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. The Captain has been raising his children using strict military discipline following the death of his wife. Although the children misbehave at first, Maria responds with kindness and patience, and soon the children come to trust and respect her. Liesl, the oldest, is won over after Maria protects her from discovery when she is nearly caught sneaking back into the house after meeting with Rolfe, a messenger boy she is in love with.

text: While the Captain is away in Vienna, Maria makes play clothes for the children and takes them around Salzburg and the surrounding mountains, and teaches them how to sing. When the Captain returns to the villa with Baroness Elsa Schraeder, a wealthy socialite, and their mutual friend, Max Detweiler, they are greeted by Maria and the children returning from a boat ride on the lake that concludes when their boat overturns. Displeased by his children's clothes and activities, and Maria's impassioned appeal that he get closer to his children, the Captain orders her to return to the abbey. Just then he hears singing coming from inside the house and is astonished to see his children singing for the Baroness. Filled with emotion, the Captain joins his children, singing for the first time in years. Afterwards, he apologizes to Maria and asks her to stay.

text: Impressed by the children's singing, Max proposes he enter them in the upcoming Salzburg Festival but the suggestion is immediately rejected by the Captain as he is opposed to his children singing in public. He does agree, however, to organize a grand party at the villa. The night of the party, while guests in formal attire waltz in the ballroom, Maria and the children look on from the garden terrace. When the Captain notices Maria teaching Kurt the traditional Ländler folk dance, he cuts in and dances with Maria in a graceful performance, culminating in a close embrace. Confused about her feelings, Maria blushes and breaks away. Later, the Baroness, who noticed the Captain's attraction to Maria, hides her jealousy while convincing Maria that she must return to the abbey. Back at the abbey, when Mother Abbess learns that Maria has stayed in seclusion to avoid her feelings for the Captain, she encourages her to return to the villa to look for her life. After Maria returns to the villa, she learns about the Captain's engagement to the Baroness and agrees to stay until they find a replacement governess. The Captain's feelings for Maria, however, have not changed, and after breaking off his engagement the Captain marries Maria.

text: While the Captain and Maria are on their honeymoon, Max enters the children in the Salzburg Festival against their father's wishes. When they learn that Austria has been annexed by the Third Reich in the Anschluss, the couple return to their home, where a telegram awaits informing the Captain that he must report to the German Naval base at Bremerhaven to accept a commission in the German Navy. Strongly opposed to the Nazis and the Anschluss, the Captain tells his family they must leave Austria immediately. Many of the Von Trapp's friends are prepared to accept the new regime, including Rolfe, who Liesl is devastated to see has joined the Hitler Youth. That night, as the von Trapp family attempt to leave, they are stopped by a group of Brownshirts waiting outside the villa. When questioned by Gauleiter Hans Zeller, the Captain maintains they are headed to the Salzburg Festival to perform. Zeller insists on escorting them to the festival, after which his men will accompany the Captain to Bremerhaven.

text: Later that night at the festival, during their final number, the von Trapp family slip away and seek shelter at the nearby abbey, where Mother Abbess hides them in the cemetery crypt. Brownshirts soon arrive and search the abbey, and the family is discovered by Rolfe. Upon seeing Liesl, he hesitates raising the alarm long enough to allow the family time to flee, and the family is able to escape using the caretaker's car. When the soldiers attempt to pursue, they discover their cars will not start as two nuns have removed parts of the engines. The next morning, after driving to the Swiss border, the von Trapp family make their way on foot across the frontier into Switzerland to safety and freedom.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp
Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp
Bill Lee as Captain von Trapp's singing voice
Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa von Schraeder
Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler
Peggy Wood as the Mother Abbess
Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp
Nicholas Hammond as Friedrich von Trapp
Heather Menzies as Louisa von Trapp
Duane Chase as Kurt von Trapp
Angela Cartwright as Brigitta von Trapp
Debbie Turner as Marta von Trapp
Kym Karath as Gretl von Trapp
Anna Lee as Sister Margaretta
Portia Nelson as Sister Berthe
Ben Wright as Herr Zeller
Daniel Truhitte as Rolfe
Norma Varden as Frau Schmidt
Gil Stuart as Franz
Marni Nixon as Sister Sophia
Ada Beth Lee as Sister Catherine (uncredited)
Doreen Tryden as Sister Agatha (uncredited)
Evadne Baker as Sister Bernice
Doris Lloyd as Baroness Ebberfeld

text: Background[edit]

text: The Sound of Music story is based on Maria von Trapp's memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, published in 1949 to help promote her family's singing group following the death of her husband Georg in 1947.[5] Hollywood producers expressed interest in purchasing the title only, but Maria refused, wanting her entire story to be told.[5] In 1956, German producer Wolfgang Liebeneiner purchased the film rights for $9,000 (equivalent to $81,000 in 2017), hired George Hurdalek and Herbert Reinecker to write the screenplay, and Franz Grothe to supervise the soundtrack, which consisted of traditional Austrian folk songs.[6] The Trapp Family was released in West Germany on October 9, 1956 and became a major success.[5] Two years later, Liebeneiner directed a sequel, The Trapp Family in America, and the two pictures became the most successful films in West Germany during the post-war years.[5] Their popularity extended throughout Europe and South America.[5]

text: In 1956, Paramount Pictures purchased the United States film rights, intending to produce an English-language version with Audrey Hepburn as Maria.[5] The studio eventually dropped its option, but one of its directors, Vincent J. Donehue, proposed the story as a stage musical for Mary Martin.[5] Producers Richard Halliday and Leland Heyward secured the rights and hired playwrights Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, who had won the Pulitzer Prize for State of the Union.[6] They approached Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to compose one song for the musical, but the composers felt the two styles—traditional Austrian folk songs and their composition—would not work together.[6] They offered to write a complete new score for the entire production if the producers were willing to wait while they completed work on Flower Drum Song.[7] The producers quickly responded that they would wait as long as necessary.[7] The Sound of Music stage musical opened on November 16, 1959 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City and ran on Broadway for 1,443 performances, winning six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.[8] In June 1960, Twentieth Century Fox purchased the film adaptation rights to the stage musical for $1.25 million (equivalent to $10,300,000 in 2017) against ten percent of the gross.[9][Note 1]

text: Production[edit]

text: For the film, Richard Rodgers added two new songs, "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good", for which he wrote the lyrics as well as the music (Hammerstein having died in August 1960), while three of the original stage songs were omitted,[10] "How Can Love Survive", "No Way To Stop It" and "An Ordinary Couple". Arranger and conductor Irwin Kostal prerecorded the songs with a large orchestra and singers on a stage prior to the start of filming, and later adapted instrumental underscore passages based on the songs. Choreographers Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, who had worked with Andrews on Mary Poppins, worked out all new choreography sequences that incorporated many of the Salzburg locations and settings. The Sound of Music was filmed from March 26 through September 1, 1964, with external scenes shot on location in Salzburg, Austria, and the surrounding region, and interior scenes filmed at the 20th Century Fox studios in California. The movie was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Ted McCord and produced with DeLuxe Color processing and six-track sound recording.

text: Screenplay and pre-production[edit]

text: In December 1962, 20th Century Fox president Richard D. Zanuck hired Ernest Lehman to write the screenplay for the film adaptation of the stage musical.[11] Lehman reviewed the original script for the stage musical, rearranged the sequence of songs, and began transforming a work designed for the stage into a film that could use the camera to emphasize action and mood, and open the story up to the beautiful locations of Salzburg and the Austrian Alps.[12] The "Do-Re-Mi" sequence in the play, for example, was originally a stagnant number; Lehman transformed it into a lively montage showing some of the beautiful sites of Salzburg, as well as showing Maria and the children growing closer over time.[12] Lehman also eliminated two songs, "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way to Stop It", sung by the characters of Elsa and Max.[12] In January 1963, he saw the Fox English-dubbed version of the two German films. Not especially impressed, he decided to use the stage musical and Maria's memoir for most of his source material.[13] While Lehman was developing the screenplay, he and Zanuck began looking for a director. Their first choice was Robert Wise, with whom Lehman had worked on the film adaptation of West Side Story, but Wise was busy preparing work for another film, The Sand Pebbles.[14] Other directors were approached and turned down the offer, including Stanley Donen, Vincent J. Donehue, George Roy Hill, and Gene Kelly.[15]

text: In January 1963, Lehman invited one of his favorite directors, William Wyler, to travel to New York City with him to see the Broadway musical. After seeing the show, Wyler said he hated it, but after two weeks of Lehman's persuasion, Wyler reluctantly agreed to direct and produce the film.[16] After hiring musical supervisor Roger Edens, Wyler, Lehman, and Edens traveled to Salzburg to scout filming locations.[17] In two weeks they managed to see approximately seventy-five locations—an experience that helped Lehman conceptualize several important sequences.[18] During that trip, Lehman began to have reservations about Wyler's commitment to the project, and communicated this to Zanuck, who instructed the writer to finalize the first draft of the screenplay as quickly as possible.[19] Lehman completed the first draft on September 10, 1963 and sent it to Wyler, who had no suggestions or changes.[19] At that time, Lehman also secretly gave a copy of the script to the agent of Robert Wise, whom Lehman still wanted as the director.[19] Later that month, Wyler's agent approached Zanuck asking that production on the film be delayed so Wyler could direct The Collector. Zanuck told him to tell Wyler to make the other film, and that they would move ahead on schedule with another director, ending Wyler's participation.[19]

text: Meanwhile, Wise, whose film The Sand Pebbles had been postponed, read Lehman's first draft, was impressed by what he read, and agreed to direct the film.[20] Wise joined the picture in October 1963,[21] and flew to Salzburg with associate producer Saul Chaplin and members of his production team to scout filming locations, including many that Wyler had identified.[22] When he returned, Wise began working on the script. Wise shared Lehman's vision of the film being centered on the music, and the changes he made were consistent with the writer's approach—mainly reducing the amount of sweetness and sentimentality found in the stage musical.[21] He had reservations about Lehman's opening aerial sequence because West Side Story, whose screenplay Lehman had also written, had used a similar opening sequence, but he was unable to think of a better one and decided to keep Lehman's.[21] Other changes included replacing "An Ordinary Couple" with a more romantic number, and a new song for Maria's departure from the abbey—Rodgers provided "Something Good" and "I Have Confidence" especially for the film.[23] Lehman completed the second draft on December 20, 1963,[24] but additional changes would be made based on input from Maria von Trapp and Christopher Plummer about the character of the Captain. Plummer especially helped transform a character lacking substance into a stronger, more forceful complex figure with a wry sense of humor and a darker edge.[25] Lehman completed his final draft on March 20, 1964.[26]

text: Casting and rehearsals[edit]

text: Lehman's first and only choice for Maria was Julie Andrews.[27] When Wise joined the project, he made a list of his choices for the role, which included Andrews as his first choice, Grace Kelly, and Shirley Jones.[28] Wise and Lehman went to Disney Studios to view footage from Mary Poppins, which was not yet released. A few minutes into the film, Wise told Lehman, "Let's go sign this girl before somebody else sees this film and grabs her!"[27] Andrews had some reservations—mainly about the amount of sweetness in the theatrical version—but when she learned that her concerns were shared by Wise and Lehman and what their vision was, she signed a contract with Fox to star in The Sound of Music and one other film for $225,000 (equivalent to $1,780,000 in 2017).[29] Wise had a more difficult time casting the role of the Captain. A number of actors were considered for the part, including Bing Crosby, Yul Brynner, Sean Connery, and Richard Burton.[30] Wise had seen Christopher Plummer on Broadway and wanted him for the role, but the stage actor turned down the offer several times. Wise flew to London to meet with Plummer and explained his concept of the film; the actor accepted after being assured that he could work with Lehman to improve the character;[31] Plummer later described himself as having become quite arrogant at the time, "spoiled by too many great theater roles".[32]

text: Wise also spent considerable time and effort on casting the secondary characters. For the role of Max Detweiler, Wise initially considered Victor Borge, Noël Coward, and Hal Holbrook among others before deciding on Richard Haydn.[31] For the character of Baroness Elsa Schraeder, Wise looked for a "name" actress—Andrews and Plummer were not yet widely known to film audiences—and decided on Eleanor Parker.[33] The casting of the children characters began in November 1963 and involved over two hundred interviews and auditions throughout the United States and England.[34] Some of the child-actors interviewed or tested, who were not selected, included Mia Farrow, Patty Duke, Lesley Ann Warren, Geraldine Chaplin, Shelley Fabares, Teri Garr, Kurt Russell, and The Osmonds.[35] Most of the actors selected had some acting, singing, or dancing experience. Charmian Carr, however, was a model who worked part-time in a doctor's office and had no ambition to pursue a career as an actress.[36] After a friend sent her photo to Wise's office, she was asked to interview. Wise later recalled, "She was so pretty and had such poise and charm that we liked her immediately."[36] The last person to be cast was Daniel Truhitte in the role of Rolfe.[36]

text: Rehearsals for the singing and dance sequences began on February 10, 1964.[37] The husband-and-wife team of Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, who had worked with Andrews on Mary Poppins, worked out the choreography with Saul Chaplin on piano—the arrangements could not be altered under Rodgers and Hammerstein's contract.[38] The stage choreography was not used because it was too restrictive.[39] Breaux and Wood worked out all new choreography better suited for film that incorporated many of the Salzburg locations and settings.[39] They even choreographed the newly added puppet dance sequence for "The Lonely Goatherd".[40] The choreography for the Ländler strictly followed the traditional Austrian folk dance.[39] The musical arranger Irwin Kostal prerecorded the songs with a large orchestra and singers on a stage prior to the start of filming.[41] In her book, The Sound of Music: The Making of America's Favorite Movie, Julia Antopol Hirsch says that Kostal used seven children and five adults to record the children's voices; the only scene where the child-actors actually sing is when they sing "The Sound of Music" on their own after Maria leaves.[42] Charmian Carr refuted the claim that the voices of the child actors were dubbed in the film and on the soundtrack. Carr contended that all of the children who are in the film sing on the track, but four other children were added to most of the songs to give them a fuller sound, they did not replace them as singers.[43] The voices of some of the adult actors had voice doubles, including Peggy Wood and Christopher Plummer.[44]

text: Filming and post-production[edit]

text: Principal photography began on March 26, 1964 at 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles, where scenes from Maria's bedroom and the abbey cloister and graveyard were filmed.[45] The company then flew to Salzburg where filming resumed on April 23 at Mondsee Abbey for the wedding scenes.[46] From April 25 through May 22, scenes were filmed at the Felsenreitschule, Nonnberg Abbey, Mirabell Palace Gardens, Residence Fountain, and various street locations throughout the Altstadt (Old Town) area of the city.[46] Wise faced opposition from city leaders who opposed him staging scenes with swastika banners. They relented after he threatened instead to include actual newsreel footage of crowds cheering Hitler during a visit to the town.[32] On days when it rained—a constant challenge for the company[47]—Wise arranged for scenes to be shot at St. Margarethen Chapel and Dürer Studios (Reverend Mother's office).[48] From May 23 to June 7, the company worked at Schloss Leopoldskron and an adjacent property called Bertelsmann for scenes representing the lakeside terrace and gardens of the von Trapp villa.[49] From June 9 to 19, scenes were shot at Frohnburg Palace which represented the front and back façades of the villa.[49] The "Do-Re-Mi" picnic scene in the mountains was filmed above the town of Werfen in the Salzach River valley on June 25 and 27.[49] The opening sequence of Maria on her mountain was filmed from June 28 to July 2 at Mehlweg mountain near the town of Marktschellenberg in Bavaria.[50][Note 2] The final scene of the von Trapp family escaping over the mountains was filmed on the Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps.[51]

text: The cast and crew flew back to Los Angeles and resumed filming at Fox studios on July 6 for all remaining scenes, including those in the villa dining room, ballroom, terrace, living room, and gazebo.[52] Following the last two scenes shot in the gazebo—for the songs "Something Good" and "You Are Sixteen"—principal photography concluded on September 1, 1964.[52] A total of eighty-three scenes were filmed in just over five months.[53] Post-production work began on August 25 with three weeks of dialogue dubbing to correct lines that were ruined by various street noises and rain.[54] In October, Christopher Plummer's singing voice was dubbed by veteran Disney playback singer Bill Lee.[55] The film was then edited by Wise and film editor William Reynolds.[56] Once the film was edited, Irwin Kostal, who orchestrated the musical numbers, underscored the film with background music consisting of variations on Rodgers and Hammerstein's original songs to amplify or add nuances to the visual images.[55][56] When dubbing, editing, and scoring were complete, Wise arranged for two sneak-preview showings—the first one held in Minneapolis on Friday January 15, 1965[57] at the Mann Theater, and the second one held the following night in Tulsa.[58] Despite the "sensational" responses from the preview audiences, Wise made a few final editing changes before completing the film.[58] According to the original print information for the film, the running time for the theatrical release version was 174 minutes.[1] The film was eventually given a G rating by the Motion Picture Association of America.[1]

text: The Sound of Music was filmed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Ted McCord and produced with DeLuxe Color processing.[59] Aerial footage was photographed with an MCS-70 camera.[59] The sound was recorded on 70 mm six-track using a Westrex recording system.[1][59] The sets used for the film were based on the storyboards of sketch artist Maurice Zuberano,[60] who accompanied Wise to Austria to scout filming locations in November 1963.[61] Wise met with the artist over a ten-week period and explained his objective for each scene—the feeling he wanted to convey and the visual images he wanted to use.[60] When Zuberano was finished, he provided Wise with a complete set of storyboards that illustrated each scene and set—storyboards the director used as guidance during filming.[60] Zuberano's storyboards and location photos were also used by art director Boris Leven to design and construct all of the original interior sets at Fox studios, as well as some external sets in Salzburg.[62] The von Trapp villa, for example, was actually filmed in several locations: the front and back façades of the villa were filmed at Frohnburg Palace, the lakeside terrace and gardens were a set constructed on a property adjacent to Schloss Leopoldskron called Bertelsmann, and the interior was a constructed set at Fox studios.[63] The gazebo scenes for "Something Good" and "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" were filmed on a larger reconstructed set at Fox studios, while some shots of the original gazebo were filmed on the grounds at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg.[64][65][Note 3]

text: Release[edit]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Robert Wise hired Mike Kaplan to direct the publicity campaign for the film.[66] After reading the script, Kaplan decided on the ad line "The Happiest Sound in All the World", which would appear on promotional material and artwork.[66] Kaplan also brought in outside agencies to work with the studio's advertising department to develop the promotional artwork, eventually selecting a painting by Howard Terpning of Andrews on an alpine meadow with her carpetbag and guitar case in hand with the children and Plummer in the background.[67][68][Note 4] In February 1964, Kaplan began placing ads in the trade papers Daily Variety, Weekly Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter to attract future exhibitor interest in the project.[66] The studio intended the film to have an initial roadshow theatrical release in select large cities in theaters that could accommodate the 70-mm screenings and six-track stereophonic sound.[69] The roadshow concept involved two showings a day with reserved seating and an intermission similar to Broadway musicals.[69] Kaplan identified forty key cities that would likely be included in the roadshow release and developed a promotional strategy targeting the major newspapers of those cities.[67] During the Salzburg production phase, 20th Century Fox organized press junkets for America journalists to interview Wise and his team and the cast members.[67]

text: Critical response[edit]

text:
"No one is comfortable with an excess of hearts and flowers, but there is no valid reason for hiding honest emotion. This has always been a major element in the theatre, and it's my conviction that anyone who can't, on occasion, be sentimental about children, home or nature is sadly maladjusted."[70]
Richard Rodgers

tag: div

text: The film had its opening premiere on March 2, 1965 at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.[71][72] Initial reviews were mixed.[73] Bosley Crowther, in The New York Times, criticized the film's "romantic nonsense and sentiment", the children's "artificial roles", and Robert Wise's "cosy-cum-corny" direction.[74] Judith Crist, in a biting review in the New York Herald Tribune, dismissed the movie as "icky sticky" and designed for "the five to seven set and their mommies".[71] In her review for McCall's magazine, Pauline Kael called the film "the sugar-coated lie people seem to want to eat", and that audiences have "turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs".[75] [Note 5] Wise later recalled, "The East Coast, intellectual papers and magazines destroyed us, but the local papers and the trades gave us great reviews".[69] Indeed, reviewers such as Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "three hours of visual and vocal brilliance",[69] and Variety called it "a warmly-pulsating, captivating drama set to the most imaginative use of the lilting R-H tunes, magnificently mounted and with a brilliant cast".[69] The "wildly mixed film reviews" reflected the critical response to the stage musical, according to The Oxford Companion to the American Musical.[77] After its Los Angeles premiere on March 10, The Sound of Music opened in 131 theaters in the United States, including a limited number of roadshow events.[69] After four weeks, the film became the number one box office movie in the country, and held that position for thirty out of the next forty-three weeks in 1965.[78] The original theatrical release of the film in America lasted four and a half years.[78]

text: A few months after its United States release, The Sound of Music opened in 261 theaters overseas—the first American movie to be completely dubbed in a foreign language, both dialogue and music.[79] The German, French, Italian, and Spanish versions were completely dubbed, the Japanese version had Japanese dialogue with English songs, and other versions were released with foreign subtitles. The film was a popular success in every country it opened, except the two countries where the story originated, Austria and Germany.[80] In these countries, the film had to compete with the much-loved Die Trapp-Familie (1956), which provided the original inspiration for the Broadway musical, and its sequel Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (1958)—both films still widely popular in German-speaking Europe and considered the authoritative von Trapp story.[80] Austrians took exception to the liberties taken by the filmmakers with regard to the costumes, which did not reflect traditional style, and the replacement of traditional Austrian folk songs with Broadway show tunes.[80] The film's Nazi theme was especially unpopular in Germany, where the Munich branch manager for 20th Century Fox approved the unauthorized cutting of the entire third act of the film following the wedding sequence—the scenes showing Salzburg following the Anschluss. Robert Wise and the studio intervened, the original film was restored, and the branch manager was fired.[81]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The Sound of Music is one of the most commercially successful films of all time.[82] Four weeks after its theatrical release, it became the number one box office movie in the United States, from revenue generated by twenty-five theaters, each screening only ten roadshow performances per week.[78] It held the number one position for thirty of the next forty-three weeks,[78] and ended up the highest-grossing film of 1965.[83] One contributing factor in the film's early commercial success was the repeat business of many filmgoers.[79] In some cities in the United States, the number of tickets sold exceeded the total population.[79][Note 6] By January 1966, the film had earned $20 million in distributor rentals from just 140 roadshow engagements in the United States and Canada.[84] Overseas, The Sound of Music broke previous box-office records in twenty-nine countries,[85] including the United Kingdom, where the film earned £4 million in rentals and grossed £6 million—more than twice as much as any other film had ever taken in.[85] It was also a major success in Holland, Hong Kong and Tokyo, where it played for as long as two years at some theaters. It was not a universal success, however, with the film only enjoying modest success in France and it was a flop in Germany. It also initially performed poorly in Italy, but a re-release after the Oscars brought better results.[86] By November 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest-grossing film of all-time,[85] surpassing Gone with the Wind, which held that distinction for twenty-four years.[87][Note 7]

text: In November 1969, The Sound of Music completed its initial four-and-a-half year theatrical release run in the United States, having earned $68,313,000 in North American (United States and Canada) rentals and $44,168,000 in foreign rentals, for a worldwide total of $112,481,000 in gross returns.[86] It was the first film to gross over $100 million.[88] The film was re-released in 1973,[89][90] and increased its North American rentals to $78.4 million.[91] By the end of the 1970s, it was ranked seventh in all time North American rentals, having earned $79 million.[92] The film's re-release in 1990[90] increased the total North American admissions to 142,415,400—the third highest number of tickets sold behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars—and about 283.3 million admissions worldwide.[93][94] The Sound of Music eventually earned a total domestic gross of $163,214,076, and a total worldwide gross of $286,214,076.[95] Adjusted for inflation, the film earned about $2.366 billion at 2014 prices—the fifth highest-grossing film of all time.[93][96]

text: Historical accuracy[edit]

text: The Sound of Music film, like the stage musical, presents a history of the von Trapp family that is not completely accurate. The filmmakers used artistic license to convey the essence and meaning of their story. Georg Ludwig von Trapp was indeed an anti-Nazi opposed to the Anschluss, and lived with his family in a villa in a district of Salzburg called Aigen. Their lifestyle depicted in the film, however, greatly exaggerated their standard of living. The actual family villa, located at Traunstraße 34, Aigen 5026, was large and comfortable but not nearly as grand as the mansion depicted in the film. The house was also not their ancestral home, as depicted in the film. The family had previously lived in homes in Zell Am See and Klosterneuburg after being forced to abandon their actual ancestral home in Pola following World War I. Georg moved the family to the Salzburg villa shortly after the death of his first wife in 1922.[97] In the film, Georg is referred to as "Baron", but his actual family title was "Ritter" (German for "knight"), a hereditary knighthood the equivalent of which in the United Kingdom is a baronetcy. Austrian nobility, moreover, was legally abolished in 1919 and the nobiliary particle von was proscribed after World War I, so he was legally "Georg Trapp". Both the title and the prepositional nobiliary particle von, however, continued to be widely used unofficially as a matter of courtesy.[97]

text: Georg was offered a position in the Kriegsmarine, but this occurred before the Anschluss. He was heavily recruited by the Nazis because he had extensive experience with submarines, and Germany was looking to expand its fleet of U-boats. With his family in desperate financial straits, and having no other marketable skills other than his training as a naval officer, he seriously considered the offer before deciding he could not serve a Nazi regime. Rather than threaten arrest, the Nazis actually continued to woo him.[97] In the film, Georg is depicted initially as a humorless, emotionally distant father. In reality, third child Maria von Trapp (called "Louisa" in the film) described her father as a doting parent who made handmade gifts for the children in his woodshop and who would often lead family musicales on his violin. She has a different recollection of her stepmother, whom she described as moody and prone to outbursts of rage. In a 2003 interview, Maria remembered, "[She] had a terrible temper ... and from one moment to the next, you didn't know what hit her. We were not used to this. But we took it like a thunderstorm that would pass, because the next minute she could be very nice."[98]

text: Maria Augusta Kutschera had indeed been a novice at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg and had been hired by the von Trapp family. However, she was hired only to be a tutor to young Maria Franziska ("Louisa" in the movie), who had come down with scarlet fever and needed her lessons at home, not to be a governess for all of the children.[97] Maria and Georg married for practical reasons, rather than love and affection for each other. Georg needed a mother for his children, and Maria needed the security of a husband and family once she decided to leave the abbey. "I really and truly was not in love," Maria wrote in her memoir, "I liked him but didn't love him. However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children. I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after." They were married in 1927, not in 1938 as depicted in the film, and the couple had been married for over a decade by the time of the Anschluss and had two of their three children together by that time. Maria later acknowledged that she grew to love Georg over time and enjoyed a happy marriage.[97]

text: The von Trapp family lost most of its wealth during the worldwide depression of the early 1930s, when the Austrian national bank folded.[97] In order to survive, the family dismissed the servants and began taking in boarders. They also started singing onstage to earn money—a fact that caused the proud Georg much embarrassment.[99] In the film, the von Trapp family hike over the Alps from Austria to Switzerland to escape the Nazis, which would not have been possible; Salzburg is over two hundred miles from Switzerland. The von Trapp villa, however, was only a few kilometers from the Austria–Germany border, and the final scene shows the family hiking on the Obersalzberg near the German town of Berchtesgaden, within sight of Adolf Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus Eagle's Nest retreat. In reality, the family simply walked to the local train station and boarded a train to Italy. Although Georg was an ethnic German-Austrian, he was also an Italian citizen, having been born in the Dalmatian city of Zadar, which at that time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and later fell into Italian territory after World War I. From Italy, they traveled to London and ultimately the United States.[97]

text: The character Max Detweiler, the scheming family music director, is fictional. The von Trapps' family priest, the Reverend Franz Wasner, was their musical director for over twenty years and accompanied them when they left Austria.[97] The character of Friedrich (the second oldest child in the film version) was based on Rupert, the oldest of the real von Trapp children. Liesl (the oldest child in the film) was based on Agathe von Trapp, the second oldest in the real family. The names and ages of the children were changed, in part because the third child (who would be portrayed as "Louisa") was also named Maria, and producers thought that it would be confusing to have two characters called Maria in the film.[97] The von Trapp family had no control over how they were depicted in the film and stage musical, having given up the rights to their story to a German producer in the 1950s who then sold the rights to American producers.[97] Robert Wise met with Maria von Trapp and made it clear, according to a memo to Richard Zanuck, that he was not making a "documentary or realistic movie" about her family, and that he would make the film with "complete dramatic freedom" in order to produce a "fine and moving film"—one they could all be proud of.[100]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: The soundtrack to The Sound of Music was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and arranged and conducted by Irwin Kostal, who also adapted the instrumental underscore passages.[citation needed] The soundtrack album was released by RCA Victor in 1965 and is one of the most successful soundtrack albums in history, having sold over 20 million copies worldwide.[101][102]

text: The album reached the number one position on the Billboard 200 that year in the United States.[103][104] It remained in the top ten  for 109 weeks, from May 1, 1965 to July 16, 1966,[105][106] and remained on the Billboard 200 chart for 238 weeks.[103] The album was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 1965, 1966 and 1968 and the second best-selling of the entire decade, spending a total of 70 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart.[107] It also stayed 73 weeks on the Norwegian charts, becoming the seventh best-charting album of all time in that country.[108] In 2015, Billboard named the album the second greatest album of all time.[109][110]

text: The album has been reissued several times, including anniversary editions with additional tracks in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015.[104]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
Award

Category

Nominee

Result

Ref

Academy Awards

Best Picture

Robert Wise

Won

[111]

Best Director

Robert Wise

Won

[111]

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Julie Andrews

Nominated

[111]

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Peggy Wood

Nominated

[111]

Best Music (Scoring of Music – Adaptation or Treatment)

Irwin Kostal

Won

[111]

Best Cinematography (Color)

Ted D. McCord

Nominated

[111]

Best Art Direction (Color)

Boris Leven (art direction);Walter M. Scott and Ruby R. Levitt (set decoration)

Nominated

[111]

Best Costume Design (Color)

Dorothy Jeakins

Nominated

[111]

Best Sound Recording

James Corcoran and Fred Hynes

Won

[111]

Best Film Editing

William H. Reynolds

Won

[111]

BAFTA Awards

Best British Actress

Julie Andrews

Nominated

[112]

Directors Guild of America

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures

Robert Wise

Won

[113]

Golden Globe Awards

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Robert Wise

Won

[113]

Best Director – Motion Picture

Robert Wise

Nominated

[113]

Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical or Comedy

Julie Andrews

Won

[113]

Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

Peggy Wood

Nominated

[113]

Laurel Awards

General Entertainment

The Sound of Music

Won

[114]

Musical Performance – Female

Julie Andrews

Won

[114]

National Board of Review

Top Ten Films of 1965

The Sound of Music

Won

[113]

New York Film Critics Circle

Best Actress

Julie Andrews

2nd place

[114]

Writers Guild of America

Best Written American Musical

Ernest Lehman

Won

[114]

tag: table

text: AFI recognition[edit]

text: The Sound of Music has been included in numerous top film lists from the American Film Institute.

text:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – No. 55[115]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 40[116]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – No. 41[117]
AFI's 100 Years of Musicals – No. 4[118]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – No. 27[119]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
"The Sound of Music" – No. 10[120]
"My Favorite Things" – No. 64[120]
"Do-Re-Mi" – No. 88[120]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: In 1966, American Express created the first Sound of Music guided tour in Salzburg.[121] Since 1972, Panorama Tours has been the leading Sound of Music bus tour company in the city, taking approximately 50,000 tourists a year to various film locations in Salzburg and the surrounding region.[121] Sing-along Sound of Music revival screenings began in London in 1999, leading to a successful run at the Prince Charles Cinema which is ongoing as of 2016.[107][122] During the screenings, audience members are often dressed as nuns and von Trapp children and are encouraged to sing along to lyrics superimposed on the screen.[122] In July 2000, Sing-along Sound of Music shows opened in Boston and Austin, Texas.[122] Some audience members dressed up as cast members and interacted with the action shown on the screen.[122] The film began a successful run at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City in September 2000, with the opening attended by cast members Charmian Carr (Liesl), Daniel Truhitte (Rolfe), and Kym Karath (Gretl).[123] Sing-along Sound of Music screenings have since become an international phenomenon.[124]

text: In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[82] The Academy Film Archive preserved The Sound of Music in 2003.[125]

text: Television and home media[edit]

text: The first American television transmission of The Sound of Music was on February 29, 1976 on ABC, which paid $15 million for a one-time only broadcast that became one of the top-rated films ever shown on television to that point.[126] The movie was not shown again until NBC acquired the broadcast rights and telecast the film on February 11, 1979.[127] NBC continued to air the film annually for twenty years.[126] During most of its run on NBC, the film was heavily edited to fit a three-hour time slot—approximately 140 minutes without commercials. The thirty minutes edited out of the original film included portions of the "Morning Hymn and Alleluia" sung by the nuns, part of the dialogue between Mother Abbess and Maria in the abbey, part of Liesl and Rolfe's dialogue preceding "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", Liesl's verse of "Edelweiss" sung with the Captain, the Captain and Baroness waltzing at the party, and minor dialogue cuts within existing scenes.

text: The film aired in its uncut form (minus the entr'acte) on April 9, 1995, on NBC. Julie Andrews hosted the four-hour telecast which presented the musical numbers in a letterbox format. As the film's home video availability cut into its television ratings, NBC let their contract lapse in 2001. That year, the film was broadcast one time on the Fox network, in its heavily edited 140-minute version. Since 2002, the film has aired on ABC, generally during Christmas week, and has been broadcast on its sister cable network, Freeform, periodically around Easter and other holidays. Most of its more recent runs have been the full version in a four-hour time slot, complete with the entr'acte. ABC first broadcast a high definition version on December 28, 2008. On December 22, 2013, the annual broadcast had its highest ratings since 2007; the increase in ratings were credited to NBC's broadcast of The Sound of Music Live!—a live television adaptation of the original musical which aired earlier that month.[128]

text: In the United Kingdom, the film was first aired on BBC One on 25 December 1978 and, as of December 2016, fifteen times since, mostly around Christmas time. As the BBC channels in Britain are not funded by advertising there was no need to cut scenes to fit within a timeslot and the film was screened in the full 174-minute version without breaks.[129]

text: The film has been released on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD numerous times. The first DVD version was released on August 29, 2000 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the film's release.[130] The film is often included in box sets with other Rodgers & Hammerstein film adaptations.[130] A 40th anniversary DVD, with "making of" documentaries and special features, was released on November 15, 2005.[130] The film made its debut issue on Blu-ray Disc on November 2, 2010, for its 45th anniversary.[130][131][132] For the Blu-ray release, the original 70 mm negatives were rescanned at 8K resolution, then restored and remastered at 4K resolution for the transfer to Blu-ray, giving the most detailed copy of the film seen thus far. On March 10, 2015, Fox Home Entertainment released The Sound of Music 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition—a five-disc set featuring thirteen hours of bonus features, including a new documentary, The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg.[130][133] A March 2015 episode of ABC's 20/20 entitled The Untold Story of the Sound of Music featured a preview of the documentary and interviews by Diane Sawyer.[134]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Twentieth Century Fox also purchased the rights to the two German films for distribution in the United States. Fox combined the two films, Die Trapp-Familie and Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika, dubbed them in English, and released them as a single 106-minute film titled The Trapp Family, which was released on April 19, 1961.[9]

Jump up ^ Maria's morning run back to Nonnberg Abbey would have been about 11 miles (18 km).

Jump up ^ At the conclusion of filming at Schloss Leopoldskron, 20th Century Fox left behind the original gazebo as a gift to the city. The film's later popularity, however, led many fans to trespass onto the private and secluded lakefront property. To provide fans easier access to the famous structure, the city moved it to its present location at Hellbrunn Palace Park.[64]

Jump up ^ Terpning also created the poster artwork for Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, The Sand Pebbles, The Guns of Navarone, and the 1967 theatrical re-release of Gone with the Wind.[68] He is also known for his numerous magazine covers and his paintings of the American West and the Plains Indians.[68]

Jump up ^ Pauline Kael's review for McCall's generated a significant negative response from readers and contributed to her dismissal from the magazine.[75][76]

Jump up ^ In Salt Lake City, Utah  (population 199,300), for example, 309,000 tickets were sold in forty weeks.[79] In Albany, New York (population 156,000), 176,536 tickets were sold in twenty-seven weeks.[79] In Orlando, Florida (population 88,135), 105,181 tickets were sold in thirty-five weeks.[79]

Jump up ^ The Sound of Music remained the highest-grossing film of all time for five years until 1971, when Gone with the Wind recaptured the crown following its successful 1967 widescreen rerelease.

tag: ol