Do Re Mi

[FrBrGr]

This video was made in the Antwerp, Belgium Central (train )Station. On a Monday morning, with no warning to the passengers passing through the station, a recording of Julie Andrews comes on the public address system singing “Do, Re, Mi.” As the bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances. Enjoy.

 

[JGalanos]

Cool! The Sound of Music is my all time favorite film.

[ThoughtFox]

Cool! The Sound of Music is my all time favorite film.

 

Despite its immense popularity, The Sound of Music is actually a very underrated musical. The King and I is comparatively overrated in my opinion (often held up as Rodgers' finest work when Carousel, South Pacific and Oklahoma! are all far superior, as is most of the work he did with Lorenz Hart). The original cast recording is magnificent as well (with Mary Martin in the lead). In fact, it's superior in some ways to the film soundtrack. They generally speed things up in the film, which is fine, except that they should have slowed the tempo considerably for a song like Climb Ev'ry Mountain, which loses much of its impact due to the insensitivity of the musical direction. I do love the coda they added to Do Re Mi in the film. The choreography, direction and the singing are all excellent. I find Julie Andrews a bit annoying at times but she is an excellent singer and she was perfect for this.

[Worker 11811]

"The Sound of Music" is the film that saved 20th Century Fox from going out of business. They spent so much money filming "Cleopatra" (which totally flopped at the box office) that they were almost bankrupt.

 

As of the year 2006, "Cleopatra" was the most expensive movie to produce of all time. It cost $44 million in 1963. In 2006, inflation-adjusted dollars that is over $300 million. The movie grossed $48 million but the studio's take was less than half that, $23 million. 20th Century Fox was forced to liquidate a lot of its studios and real estate just to stay afloat. If "Sound of Music" hadn't been such a big hit, they would have been bankrupt by the end of 1965.

 

Another thing to note: "The Sound of Music" was filmed in 70mm Todd AO format. If you have not seen the movie in 70mm you have not seen the movie! There is no video technology that can reproduce the visual quality that 70mm film is capable of. It is likely that there never will be. If you have only seen this movie on video or DVD you are truly missing out!

 

If you live in or near California, I know the Egyptian theater in Hollywood and the Aero theater in Santa Monica still show 70mm films.

http://www.americancinematheque.com/

 

I believe the Senator theater in Baltimore is still in business. I don't know if they still show 70mm films regularly.

http://www.senator.com/

 

In Boston there is the Coolidge Corner Theater (Brookline) but, again, I am not aware of their schedule beyond what's posted on their website.

http://www.coolidge.org/enter

 

P.S. -- These are theaters that I know from personal experience which play movies in 70mm. I have either been to these theaters or I know people who have worked in them. There are still lots of 70mm theaters all over the US. (And all over the world, for that matter.) You just have to look for them.

[JGalanos]

Worker - In your spare time do you contribute to wikipedia?

[alphonso]

Ah! Don't you just love those Belgians. But hey look what goes on down in London