The Trapp Family (1956) by Wolfgang Liebeneiner - Review

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by Wolfgang Liebeneiner

grade: 7.5

The Trapp Family, while suffering from an overly famous, spectacular and almost ‘cumbersome’ remake, undoubtedly has a well-defined personality. And despite having – obviously – many similarities with The Sound of Music (especially with regard to some of the dialogue), it turns out to be a little gem to be discovered.

How dreams begin…

Over the years, the Trapp family has become a true legend. The story of this big family of singers – the Trapp Family Singers – who came from Austria and moved to the United States after the Anschluss became world-famous thanks to the musical The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965), based on the novel The Trapp FamilyThe Trapp Family, written by Maria von Trapp herself. Yet Wise’s feature film is not the only film transposition of the book. Nor the first. Already in 1956, director Wolfgang Liebeneiner had made The Trapp Family and, two years later, The Trapp Family in America.

The story is the one we all know, although in this case much more truthful than in Wise’s film. Maria is a young novice who is temporarily sent to work as a governess at the home of Baron von Trapp, a widower with seven children. Maria’s cheerful and lively character wins everyone over. Even the baron, who will soon ask her to marry him. Everything seems to be going well, Maria and the children begin to achieve success as singers, until the political situation in Austria forces them to leave their homeland.

Wolfgang Liebeneiner thought of everything during the making of his film. Produced by Austria and Germany, The Trapp Family features an outstanding cast, with the German actress Ruth Leuwerik as Maria, and the Austrians Hans Holt as Georg von Trapp and the great Josef Meinrad, who on this occasion takes on the role of Dr. Weisner, a priest friend of the von Trapp family.

Romantic, realistic, but also light and funny, The Trapp Family immediately stands out for its simple yet careful mise-en-scene. Shot entirely in film studios (with the exception of the outdoor scenes showing us evocative views of Salzburg), the film skilfully avoids any rhetoric and makes small gestures and glances (such as those between Maria and Georg shortly after they meet) its trademark. The family reunited at Christmas, the children playing happily in the park, warm colours and relaxing atmospheres are the absolute protagonists. A mise-en-scène, this one, that almost reminds one of the films of the glorious Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s and does not make us think nostalgically of Wise’s feature film. With the exception, perhaps, of the characterisation of the children, who here keep their original names, but who are presented to us as a unitary group, without each of them being given the necessary space to reveal their own history and character.

But that’s fine. After all, The Trapp Family, while suffering from an overly famous, spectacular and almost ‘cumbersome’ remake, undoubtedly has a well-defined personality. And despite having – obviously – many similarities with The Sound of Music (especially with regard to some of the dialogue), it turns out to be a little gem to be discovered. A timeless, elegant and sophisticated classic. A real pleasure for the eyes and the heart that we would love to watch again and again.