Sound of Music Movie Script

Introduction

Welcome to my site dedicated to the script of the Sound of Music. You will find here a complete transcription of the film including song lyrics, which are in italics. I have included pictures from my trip to Salzburg and surrounding areas from August, 2016. Thanks to Google Earth I was able to pinpoint many of the film locations. The Sound of Music is one of the most popular movies in history. It was filmed in 1964 and released in 1965.

Contact information: daviddwightpaul@gmail.com

Me at the the famous lake

Scene 3 Movie Location: Untersberg Mountain, Actual Location: Mehlweg Meadow above Marktschellenberg, Germany

Maria: The hills are alive with the sound of music. With songs they have sung for a thousand years. The hills fill my heart with the sound of music. My heart wants to sing every song it hears. My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds that rise from the lake to the trees. My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze. To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over stones on its way. To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray. I go to the hills when my heart is lonely. I know I will hear what I’ve heard before. My heart will be blessed with the sound of music and I’ll sing once more. [Scene 4 begins with Maria uttering "oh" while still on the meadow]

Scenes 5 & 6 Movie Locations: Nonnberg Abbey and St. Margarethen Chapel Salzburg, Actual Location: Exterior Nonnberg Abbey, Interior Studio USA, St. Margarethen Chapel

Choir: Propterea in exaltabit caput [Therefore shall he lift up his head]

Woman: Gloria Patri, et Filio et Spiritui Sancto [Glory be to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit]

Choir: Sicut evat in principio et nunc, et semper [As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be]

Et in saecula saeculorum Amen [and for all ages]

Rex admirabilis Et triumhator nobilis [The king admired; the noble conqueror]

Dulcedo ineffabilis, ineffabilis, Totus desiderabilis, Totus desiderabilis [ineffable sweetness, ineffable, desirable, desirable]

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

[Pictures at right are from Lake Königssee and Lake Obersee that appear in the introduction montage. Four shots from the montage are actually from these lakes. I’m aboard one of the white boats similar I’m sure to the boats in the film]

Sister Bernice: Reverend Mother

Mother: Sister Bernice

Sister Bernice: I simply cannot find her

Mother: Maria?

Sister Bernice: She’s missing from the Abbey again

Sister Berthe: Perhaps we should have put a cowbell around her neck

Sister Margaretta: Have you tried the barn? You know how much she adores the animals

Sister Bernice: I have looked everywhere. In all of the usual places

Mother: Sister Bernice, considering that it’s Maria I suggest you look in someplace unusual.

[Sister Bernice exits]

Sister Berthe: Well, Reverend Mother I hope this new infraction ends whatever doubts you may still have about Maria’s future here

Mother: I always try to keep faith in my doubts, Sister Berthe

Sister Margaretta: After all, the wool of a black sheep is just as warm

Sister Berthe: We are not talking about sheep, black or white, Sister Margaretta. Of all the candidates for the novitiate, I would say Maria is the least likely…

Mother: Children, children.

[Sisters Catherine, Sophia, and Agatha are addressed]

We were speculating about the qualification of some of our postulants. The Mistress of Novices [Mother nods to Sister Berthe] and the Mistress of Postuants [Mother nods to Sister Margaretta] were trying to help me by expressing opposite points of view. Tell me, Sister Catherine, what do you think of Maria?

Sister Catherine: She’s a wonderful girl…some of the time [scene 6 begins here]

Mother: Sister Agatha?

Sister Agatha: It’s very easy to like Maria…except when it’s difficult

Mother: And you, Sister Sophia?

The grounds of St. Peter's Cemetary in Salzburg. The opening scene with nuns praying was filmed here at St. Margarethen Chapel.

Sister Sophia: Oh, I love her dearly, but she always seems to be in trouble, doesn’t she?

[Sister Sophia was portrayed by Marni Nixon, who appeared on the Disney record Hansel and Gretel I had when I was very young. I believe this was her only film role…if you could choose only one film!]

Sister Berthe: Exactly what I say. She climbs a tree and scrapes her knee; her dress has got a tear.

Sister Sophia: She waltzes on her way to Mass and whistles on the stair

Sister Berthe: And underneath her wimple she has curlers in her hair

Sister Catherine: I’ve even heard her singing in the Abbey

Sister Agatha: She’s always late for chapel

Sister Sophia: But her penitence is real

Sister Berthe: She’s always late for everything

Sister Catherine: Except for every meal

Sister Berthe: I hate to have to say it but I very firmly feel

Sisters Catherine, Sophia, Berthe and Agatha [in unison]: Maria’s not an asset to the Abbey

Sister Margaretta: I’d like to say a word in her behalf

Mother: Then say it, Sister Margaretta

Sister Margaretta: Maria makes me laugh

Mother: How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down

Sister Margaretta: How do you find a word that means Maria?

Sisters Catherine and Agatha [in unison]: A flibbertigibbet

Sister Sophia: A will-o'-the-wisp

Sister Berthe: A clown

Mother: Many a thing you know you’d like to tell her. Many a thing she ought to understand

Sister Berthe: But how do you make her stay and listen to all you say?

Mother: How do you keep a wave upon the sand?

Sister Margaretta: Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?

Mother: How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

Sister Sophia: When I’m with her I’m confused, out of focus and bemused, and I never know exactly where I am.

Sister Agatha: Unpredictable as weather

Sister Catherine: She’s as flighty as a feather

Sister Margaretta: She’s a darling

Sister Berthe: She’s a demon

Sister Margaretta: She’s a lamb

Sister Sophia: She’d out pester any pest; drive a hornet from its nest

Sister Agatha: She can throw a whirling dervish out of whirl

Sister Margaretta: She is gentle; she is wild

Sister Catherine: She’s a riddle; she’s a child

Sister Berthe: She’s a headache

Sister Margaretta: She’s an angel

Mother: She’s a girl

Everyone [in unison]: How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Maria?

Sisters Catherine and Agatha [in unison]: A flibbertigibbet

Sisters Sophia and Margaretta [in unison]: A will-o'-the-wisp

Sister Bethe: A clown

Everyone [in unison]: Many a thing you know you’d like to tell her. Many a thing she ought to understand.

Mother: But how do you make her stay?

Sister Berthe: And listen to all you say?

Sister Margaretta: How do you keep a wave upon the sand?

Everyone [in unison]: Oh how do you solve a problem like Maria?

[Maria enters and exits]

Everyone [in unison]: How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

Scene 7 Movie Location: Mother Abbess’s Office in Nonnberg Abbey, Actual Location: Dürer Studios in Parsch (?)

Sister Margaretta: You may go in now, Maria.

Mother: Come here my child. Now sit down.

Maria: Oh, Oh Reverend Mother, I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. The gates were open and the hills were beckoning and before I…

Mother: Dear, I haven’t summoned you here for apologies

Maria: Oh, please Mother do let me ask for forgiveness

Mother: If it would make you feel better

Maria: Yes, well, you see, the sky was so blue today and everything was so green and fragrant, I just had to be a part of it. And the Untersberg kept leading me higher and higher as though it wanted me to go right through the clouds with it.

Mother: Child, suppose darkness had come and you were lost?

Maria: Oh Mother, I could never be lost up there. That’s my mountain. I was brought up on it. It was the mountain that led me to you.

Mother: Oh?

Maria: When I was a child, I would come down the mountain and climb a tree and look over into your garden. I’d see the sisters at work and I’d hear them sing on their way to vespers--which brings me to another transgression, Reverend Mother. I was singing out there today without permission.

Mother: Maria, it is only here in the abbey that we have rules about postulants singing.

Maria: I can’t seem to stop singing wherever I am. And what’s worse, I can’t see to stop saying things. And everything and anything I think and feel.

Mother: Some people would call that honesty

Maria: Oh, but it’s terrible, Reverend Mother! You know how Sister Berthe always makes me kiss the floor after we’ve has a disagreement? Well, lately I’ve taken to kissing the floor when I see her coming just to save time.

Mother: Maria, when you saw us over the abbey wall and longed to be one of us that didn’t necessarily mean that you were prepared for the way we live here, did it?

Maria: No, Mother, but I…I pray and I try and I am learning. I really am.

Mother: And what is the most important lesson you have learned here my child?

Maria: To find out what is the will of God and to do it wholeheartedly

Mother: Maria, it seems to be the will of God that you leave us

Maria: Leave?

Mother: Only for a little while, Maria

Maria: Oh Mother! Please don’t do that, don’t send me away! This is where I belong. It’s my home, my family. It’s my life

Mother: But are you truly ready for it?

Maria: Yes I am

Mother: Perhaps if you go out into the world for a time, knowing what we expect of you, you will have a chance to find out if you can expect it of yourself.

Maria: I know what you expect Mother and I can do it! I promise I can!

Mother: Maria…

Maria: Yes, Mother, if it is God’s will

Mother: There is a family near Salzburg that needs a governess until September

Maria: Until September?

Mother: To take care of seven children

Maria: Seven children?!

Mother: You like children, Maria

Maria: Well, yes, but seven?

Mother: I will tell Captain von Trapp to expect you tomorrow

Maria: Uh, captain?

Mother: A retired officer of the Imperial Navy--A fine man and a brave one. His wife died several years ago leaving him alone with the children and I understand He’s had a most difficult time managing to keep a governess there.

Maria: Uh, why difficult, Reverend Mother?

Mother: The Lord will show you in His own good time.

Choir: Dulcedo ineffabilis. Totus desiderabilis [ineffable sweetness. Desirable]

Scene 8 Movie and Actual Locations: Nonnberg Abbey, Old City Salzburg, Hellbrunner Allee, Schloss Frohnburg Palace (von Trapp home)

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Choir [continued from scene 7]: Totus desiderabilis [desireable]

Maria: When the Lord closes a door somewhere he opens a window. What will this day be like? I wonder. What will my future be? I wonder. It could be so exciting to be out in the world, to be free. My heart should be wildly rejoicing. Oh, what’s the matter with me? I’ve always longed for adventure, to do the things I’ve never dared. Now here I’m facing adventure, then why am I so scared? A captain with seven children, what’s so fearsome about that? Oh, I must stop these doubts, all these worries. If I don’t I just know I’ll turn back. I must dream of the things I am seeking, I am seeking the courage I lack. The courage to serve them with reliance, face my mistakes without defiance. Show them I’m worthy, and while I show them I’ll show me. So let them bring on all their problems, I’ll do better than my best. I have confidence they’ll put me to the test, but I’ll make them see I have confidence in me. Somehow I will impress them I will be firm but kind. And all those children, heaven bless them. They will look up to me and mind me. With each step I am more certain. Everything will turn out fine. I have confidence the world can all be mine. They’ll have to agree I have confidence in me. I have confidence in sunshine. I have confidence in rain. I have confidence that spring will come again. Besides what you see I have confidence in me. Strength doesn’t lie in numbers. Strength doesn’t lie in wealth. Strength lies in nights of peaceful slumbers. When you wake up, wake up, it’s healthy. All I trust I leave my heart to, all I trust becomes my own. I have confidence in confidence alone. Oh, help. I have confidence in confidence alone. Besides what you see, I have confidence in me. Oh, whew.

The first picture at right is the gate into Nonnberg Abbey. In the movie Maria exits here in this scene and suddely appears at the Mönchsberg Terrace (middle picure) on the other side of the Old City. The far right picture is of the fountain at the Residenzplatz taken from the other side than in the movie. The foreground picture is of the Frohnburg Palace (von Trapp home in movie)

Scene 9 Movie Location: von Trapp home, Actual Location: Exterior Frohnburg Palace Salzburg, Interior Studio USA

Maria: Hello, here I am. I’m from the convent. I’m the new governess, captain.

Franz: And I’m the old butler, fräulein

Maria: Oh well, how do you do? Hmm

Franz: You’ll, uh, wait here please.

Scenes 10 & 11 Movie Location: von Trapp home, Actual Location: Studio USA

Georg: In the future you’ll kindly remember that there are certain rooms in this house which are not to be disturbed.

Maria: Yes, captain sir.

Georg: And why do you stare at me that way?

Maria: Well, you don’t look at all like a sea captain, sir

Georg: I’m afraid you don’t look very much like a governess. Turn around, please

Maria: What?

Georg: Turn. Hat off. It’s the dress. You’ll have to put on another one before you meet the children.

Maria: But I don’t have another one. When we enter the abbey, our worldly clothes were given to the poor.

Georg: What about this one?

Maria: The poor didn’t want this one

Georg: Hmm

Maria: I would have made myself a new dress, but there wasn’t time. I can make my own clothes

Georg: Well, I’ll see that you get some material…today if possible. Now, Fräulein…um

Maria: Maria

Georg: Fräulein Maria, I don’t know how much the mother abbess has told you…

Maria: Not much

Georg: You are the twelfth in a long line of governesses who have come to look after my children since their mother died. I trust that you will be an improvement on the last one. She stayed only two hours.

Maria: What’s wrong with the children, sir?

Georg: There’s nothing wrong with the children, only the governesses.

Maria: Oh

Georg: They were completely unable to maintain discipline; without it, this house cannot be properly run. You will please remember that Fräulein?

Maria: Yes sir

Georg: Every morning you will drill the children in their studies. I will not permit them to dream away their summer holidays. Each afternoon they will march about the grounds, breathing deeply. Bedtime is to be strictly observed. No exceptions.

Maria: Excuse me sir, when do they play?

Georg: You will see to it that they conduct themselves at all times with the utmost orderliness and decorum. I’m placing you in command.

Maria: Oh, yes sir!

Georg: Hup. Now this is your new governess, Fräulein Maria. As I sound your signals you will step forward and give your name. You Fräulein will listen carefully; learn their signals so you can call them when you want them.

Liesl: Liesl

Friedrich: Friedrich

Louisa: Louisa

Kurt: Kurt

Brigitta: Brigitta

Marta: Marta

Georg: and Gretl. Now, let’s see how well you listened

Maria: Oh I—I won’t need to whistle for them, Reverend Captain. I mean, um, I’ll use their names--And such lovely names.

Georg: Fräulein, this is a large house. The grounds are very extensive and I will not have anyone shouting. You will take this, please. Learn to use it. The children will help you. Now, when I want you, this is what you will hear.

Maria: Oh no sir. I’m sorry sir. I could never answer to a whistle. Whistles are for dog and cats and other animals but not for children and definitely not for me. It would be too humiliating.

Georg: Fräulein, were you this much trouble at the abbey?

Maria: Oh, much more sir

Georg: Hmm

Maria: Excuse me sir, I don’t know your signal

Georg: You may call me “captain”

[scene 11]

Maria: At ease. Well, now that there’s just us would you please tell me all your names again and how old you are.

Liesl: I’m Liesl. I’m sixteen years old and I don’t need a governess.

Maria: Well, I’m glad you told me Liesl, we’ll just be good friends.

Friedrich: I’m Friedrich. I’m fourteen. I’m impossible.

Maria: Really, you told you that, Friedrich?

Friedrich: Fräulein Josephine. Four governesses ago

Louisa: I’m Brigitta

Maria: You, um, didn’t tell me how old you are, Louisa

Brigitta: I’m Brigitta. She’s Louisa. She’s thirteen years old and you’re smart. I’m ten and I think your dress is the ugliest one I ever saw.

Kurt: Brigitta, you shouldn’t say that

Brigitta: Why not? Don’t you think it’s ugly?

Kurt: Of course. But Fräulein Hilda’s was ugliest. I’m Kurt. I’m eleven. I’m incorrigible.

Maria: Congratulations

Kurt: What’s “incorrigible”?

Maria: I think it means you want to be treated like a boy. Mm-hmm?

Marta: I’m Marta, and I’m going to be seven on Tuesday and I’d like a pink parasol.

Maria: Well, pink’s my favorite color too. Yes, you’re Gretl. And you are five years old? My, you’re practically a lady. Now I have to tell you a secret. I’ve never been a governess before.

Louisa: You mean you don’t know anything about being a governess?

Maria: Nothing. I’ll need lots of advice.

Louisa: Well, the best way to start is to be sure to tell father to mind his own business.

Friedrich: You must never come to dinner on time

Maria: Uh

Brigitta: Never eat you soup quietly

Kurt: And during dessert, always blow your nose

Gretl: Don’t believe a word they say, Fräulein Maria

Maria: Oh, why not?

Gretl: Because I like you

Maria: Yeah

Frau Schmidt: All right now children, outside for your walk. Father’s orders. Now hurry up, hurry up. Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. Uh, Fräulein Maria

Maria: Mmm

Frau Schmidt: I’m Frau Schmidt, the housekeeper.

Maria: How do you do?

Frau Schmidt: How do you do? I’ll show you to your room. Follow me

Maria: Poor little dears. Oh.

Frau Schmidt: You’re very lucky. With Fräulein Helga it was a snake.

[scene 12]

Maria: Good evening. Good evening children.

Children [in unison]: Good evening Fräulein Maria

Maria: Umm

Georg: Enchanting little ritual. Something you, um, learned at the abbey?

Maria: No. Um, it’s um, um, r-rheumatism

Georg: Mmm

Maria: Excuse me captain, haven’t we forgotten to thank the Lord? For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen

Georg: Amen

Children [in unison]: Amen

Maria: I’d like to thank each and every one of you for the precious gift you left in my pocket earlier today.

Georg: Um, what gift?

Maria: It’s meant to be a secret, captain, between the children and me.

Georg: Uh-huh. Then I suggest you keep it and let us eat

Maria: Knowing how nervous I must have been, a stranger in a new household…knowing how important it was for me to feel accepted. It was so kind and thoughtful of you to make my first moments here so warm and happy and pleasant.

Georg: What is the matter, Marta?

Marta: Nothing

Georg: Um, Fräulein, is it to be at every meal or merely at dinnertime that you intend leading us all through this rare and wonderful new world of indigestion?

Maria: Oh, they’re all right, captain. They’re just happy.

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