Synopsis

[The nuns discuss Maria] The Mother Abbess is concerned by the antics of tomboyish Maria, a novice at the abbey in Salzburg, and she is unsure whether Maria really wants to become a nun.

[Maria sings about her Favourite Things] To allow Maria to test her feelings, the Mother Abbess sends her to be the governess for the seven children of the widowed Baron von Trapp, a retired naval officer. The children are at first hostile to Maria, but she soon wins them over.

The baron, who is a strict disciplinarian, leaves to visit Baroness Schraeder, and while he is gone, Maria allows the children greater freedom and teaches them to sing.

["High on a hill is a lonely goatherd!"]

[The Baron berates his wayward children]

On his return the baron is shocked to find his children dressed in play clothes made from old curtains. This starts an argument between Maria and the baron, and he orders her to leave; but when he goes into the house and finds the children entertaining his friend [Max ponders] Max and the baroness with a song, he asks Maria to stay. Max later suggests that they enter the Salzburg Festival as a singing group, but the baron refuses.

Maria becomes aware that she is falling in love with the baron and runs back to the abbey.

But the Mother Abbess sends Maria back to the von Trapp home. [Maria confides in the Mother Abbess]

Max, Elsa von Shraeder and Baron von Trapp Maria again decides to leave when she hears that the baron plans to marry the baroness, but the baroness realises that he loves Maria and releases him.

Maria and the baron marry, and while they are away on their honeymoon, the Nazis take over Austria.

[Maria and the Baron marry in the abbey]

Max, taking advantage of the baron’s absence, enters the children in the Salzburg Festival—but when Maria and the baron return, he forbids the children to appear at the festival.

The baron then learns that the Nazis, to whom he is vehemently opposed, have ordered him to take command of a ship.

[Admiral von Schreiber gives Captain von Trapp his marching orders] [Max and the local Nazi party official face off]

[The von Trapp Family Singers perform at the Saltzburg Festival]

Max convinces the local gauleiter that they are on their way to the festival and that the baron will leave for his ship immediately after the performance. The von Trapps win first place and, using their exit song to escape, they take refuge in the abbey. The Nazis learn their whereabouts and surround the building, but the family escape through a secret tunnel and flee over the mountains to Switzerland.

[Maria, the Baron and the children escape over the mountains to Switzerland, with the help of the abbey nuns]

Photographs: Kenneth Wilkie <Ken@images42.fsnet.co.uk>