The Oscar Project #38: The Sound of Music (1965)

by Chris Marshall:

As was the case with West Side Story, I watched The Sound of Music several years ago in a high school music class, so I didn’t exactly relish the idea of watching it again. It’s a good movie, but I don’t love it to the degree that many others do. Fortunately, I found that it was still enjoyable upon a second viewing.

It’s hard to imagine a movie star more likeable than Julie Andrews. At the time this movie was released, she was in the middle of a spectacular run. She won Best Actress for being Mary Poppins, won a Golden Globe for The Sound of Music, and was nominated for another Golden Globe for Thoroughly Modern Millie. Add the box office receipts for these films to her critical acclaim, and you have a pretty successful four year period.

If you’re the type of person to read The Oscar Project, you almost certainly know the plot already. Andrews, a nun, becomes governess for the Von Trapp family (she specializes in child rearing, apparently), falls in love with the man of the house, and then helps the family escape the Nazis. Oh, and everybody still knows all the musical numbers today, 47 years later.

The Oscar Project #37: My Fair Lady (1964)

by Chris Marshall:

I don’t know whether or not I agree with Roger Ebert’s assessment that My Fair Lady is one of the greatest of all musicals, but I will admit that it has a certain charm to it, a great deal of which is attributable to its lead actors. Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison may seem like an odd couple on the surface, but as it turns out, they have a great deal of chemistry.

Hepburn, as Eliza Doolittle, sells flowers on the streets and is from the lowest of the lower classes. Henry Higgins, or ‘Ennery ‘Iggins as Eliza calls him, is a linguist/phonologist/speech pathologist who believes that, in six months’ time, he can train anybody to speak “properly.” Higgins bets a fellow linguist, Pickering, that he will be successful.

Contrary to popular belief, though, or at least contrary to my belief, the speech lessons are not originally Higgins’s idea. Instead, Eliza seeks him out for lessons, believing that she will never be able to work in a flower shop unless she changes the way she speaks. She even offers to pay, although she can only afford to pay one shilling per lesson. Here is where the bet comes into play. Because Higgins won’t do it for such a low price, Pickering offers to pay for the lessons up front, on the condition that Higgins can “change” her in six months.