I still wish Wise hadn't cut this and "How Can Love Survive?" from the movie. These two songs explain the breakup of the Captain's and Elsa's engagement in the backdrop of political incompatibility.
Part of the reason they were cut - this one in particular -was because of what was going on in the world; the movie came out right in the middle of the Vietnam War, and a political aspect wasn’t something they wanted to include on too deep a level.
It wasn't Wise's decision. It was the screenwriter's Ernest Lehman. And the whole point was to draw a contrast between the older, starchy, super-sophisticated Elsa vs. the naive unschooled, country girl Maria. Remember, the Capt says something like: Maria, you brought music back to this house. I had forgotten what it was like to sing . . . or something like that. Now, if super-sophisticated Elsa could beat Maria in music, then the Captain would be a terrible dope for dumping the upscale, trophy woman for the hick novice Maria. It's all a matter of balance. So, per the film version, the gift of music was something Maria had and could bring to the table. Elsa didn't have that; and she was going to ship the kids off to boarding school. Elsa would have split the family apart and she just wanted wealth and power.
If West Side Story can be a film remake so can the Sound of Music. This song from the stage play should be included, not only because it's good, but also because it informs the political realities that surround the story and demonstrates what was pushing the attitudes of Max, the Baroness, and the captain in different directions. It also gives the Baroness a meatier character than she was allowed in the 1965 film.
The sudden zoom at 1:56 is particularly odd, especially when their dancing is not focussed on, even when it’s the main focus. So zooming in on Georg is just weird.
@@richardbourton4523 I don’t think we were supposed to see the zoom. I think the camera was supposed to already be in on him before they cut to it. There is no traditional editing. All cuts were live. The way multi-cam sitcoms were.
Quite sobering when you realize that the song is about passively collaborating with the Third Reich. Justifying and enabling as so many people did, which allowed the atrocities to come to fruition. Rather puts these characters in a different light. Of course the Captain had to break it off with Elsa. To change this to 'nah, I'd rather go with the younger girl' as they did for the movie considerably waters it down.
@@lauraschoenborn3544Of course if this song had been in the original film it would have completely changed the ending of it because as far as Max helping the Von Trap family escape to Austria, the Captain would have had no reason to trust him whatsoever.
I think in a way it points up the horror of what they're singing about. Doing a silly vaudeville routine while singing about collaborating with the Nazis as a way of advancing themselves or saving their own hides. Terribly ironic.
@@yanagelfand4337 I actually liked the way the Carrie Underwood Version was staged the best. Because you saw the captain’s anger at the two. And when he was singing with them his voice was practically shaking with Anger. Largely thanks to Stephen Moyer’s acting. But it also showed him trying to walk away from the two while they were singing. And they kept following him to try to get him to see their point.
This song explains why she wouldn’t be a good wife. This song was needed. You say she would have made a good wife but would she have supported his escape the way Maria did?
