Well, dear readers, this month is flying by, like a gazelle singing Sixteen Going on Seventeen whilst doing the Highland Fancy in toe shoes. But let me get to the point – what is movie perfection? For me, it is when every element works together perfectly – from script to direction to score to acting to sets and costumes to photography and every other element, all working as a well-oiled machine in perfect harmony. Last night, I watched such a motion picture – a perfectly perfect motion picture in every way. Now, it has become somewhat fashionable in the intervening years for a certain number of so-called cineastes to make fun of movies like the one I just saw. And I will say it loud, and I will say it clear – they are full of badly baked beans. So, what is this motion picture perfection I watched last evening? I’ve already given a clew in the gazelle portion of this paragraph – yes, it is The Sound of Music. I’d seen a production of the musical at my beloved Bluth Brothers theater and enjoyed it for what it was – and certainly enjoyed the songs. That was in January of 1965, and it would play until the end of February, closing a mere ten days before the movie would open at the Wilshire Theater on Wednesday, March 10 with a gala premiere. I know I saw it that weekend. I thought the musical didn’t quite work – it lumbered in many scenes, and the second act was very slow. So, I didn’t know what to expect from the movie, other than it was in ToddAO and stereo and was directed by Robert Wise, who I was a big fan of from, of course, West Side Story. And I knew the screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, so that was a good sign – one of my favorite screenwriters. The musical opened with a bunch of nuns singing nun things and even on the cast album I thought that was not a good way to open a musical. I had great reserved seats – can’t remember who I took – probably the middle of the orchestra section. Now, I loved roadshows so I couldn’t wait for the overture. The house lights dimmed only there was no overture. The Fox logo came up, looking colorful and stunningly sharp. And then, Mr. Wise pulled a West Side Story – with helicopter shots of the most stunning mountainsides and blue skies and green hills with glistening lakes. Then the orchestra snuck in, kind of noodling with the visuals. Then the orchestra got bigger, and we cut to a mountaintop with a tiny figure in the distance. As the aerial camera gets closer and closer to the figure, the orchestra gets bigger and bigger, the figure is now close and turns around and in one of the greatest edits in movie history, Julie Andrews begins singing the title song. That is the way to open The Sound of Music – pure cinema. The staging of the number is simple and stunning. And at the end of it, when the church bells chime and Maria realizes she’s late, we get the first huge laugh (and I mean HUGE laugh from the full house), when she stops running and realize she’s left her wimple and runs back to get it with an exasperated “Ohhhh”. You could not have a more perfect opening to a movie.

And it’s just as brilliant from then to the end. The first half has so many great laughs – some of it from the musical play some courtesy of Mr. Lehman. I wondered why we didn’t get My Favorite Things with the Reverend Mother but found out soon enough that Mr. Lehman’s repositioning of the song was absolutely the right move. I Have Confidence brought the house down and got a huge applause every time I saw it at the Wilshire, and I saw it at least twenty times. The end of the first half is a great act-ender. But Mr. Lehman’s greatest hat trick is the second half. What could and frequently was a bit turgid on the stage, all works in Mr. Lehman’s screenplay. He throws in laughs at just the right moments, keeps it serious when it needs to be, and really understands the humanity of Georg telling Elsa it’s over and then revealing to Maria that it is she he loves. Then the ending is so suspenseful and nail-biting, but again Lehman leavens it with a huge laugh and applause-getter – the two nuns who admit they’ve sinned by disabling the cars of the mean Nazis.

You could not have better performances. Julie Andrews is a wonder as Maria – funny, sassy, lovable, joyous – one of the greatest musical performances in the history of the movies with nary a false moment. But it’s Christopher Plummer who makes Captain Von Trapp into a completely unique character – no stage Captain has ever gotten the subtlety and great laughs that Plummer gets. Every glance, every look, every line delivery – that was Wise’s genius casting move, and it grounds the movie and makes everything work. At the time, I didn’t care for Richard Haydn, but I really like him now. And Eleanor Parker’s Elsa is just a great, great performance, especially in the break-up scene.

The kids are all wonderfully cast, with special kudos to Charmian Carr – but they’re all fine. And any director who has the smarts to cast Norma Varden deserves all the kudos in the world. The choreography is perfection and most of the numbers got applause during the roadshow engagement – it played over a year, I think. The sets of Boris Leven are amazing, as are the gorgeous costumes of Dorothy Jeakins. The photography of Ted McCord uses some interesting diffusion in certain scenes, and it all is gorgeous and works beautifully. The editing is also simple and perfect. And one cannot say enough about the work of Irwin Kostal. Amazing.

And what about this new 4K transfer? Well, I got teary-eyed the second the Fox logo came up, and the first aerial shots began. Finally, perfect color and contrast after years of sucky transfers that all had issues. Yes, there are the usuals who think they know all about film and transfers who nitpick and complain about this and that – they’re to be ignored. Trust me when I tell you that this is a stunner, a perfect transfer in every way.

I could go on for many more paragraphs, but I shan’t. One final word – back in 1965, I was disappointed with only one thing in the movie – Climb Every Mountain. I didn’t understand why Wise would stage it the way he did but watching it last night I was wrong – it’s staged as simple as can be and rather than showing Peggy Wood all the time, she’s frequently back to camera singing as we see Maria and her reaction to the lyrics. At the end, we get plenty of Ms. Wood. One can only imagine how these idiot directors would shoot that today, with a million angles, the camera doing wheelies and overhead crane shots and not holding on any shot longer than five seconds.

Prior to that, I did get eight hours of good sleep, got up, got dressed, brushed the teeth, and went to the mail place and picked up two important envelopes and a couple of very small packages, which I was going to do in today’s notes, but given the length of the above, I’ll do it in tomorrow’s notes. I’d pre-ordered a Marco’s Ultimo Pepperoni, and it arrived on time around twelve-twenty. I’m happy to report it was very good – the last few times it hasn’t been, and I was ready to give up, but this did restore a little faith, and a little faith is a good thing. Then I did some organizing, had some chicken soup with pill two (earlier pills taken with the pizza), then after the movie, rice pudding and pill three. That was really about it. Not a bad day at all.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’m kind of craving a pastrami sandwich so I may do that (I’ll pre-order whatever I decide tonight), I’ll print out the latest script, I still have not received a contact sheet so I can send out the music so I’m seriously thinking we’re screwed in terms of anyone getting familiar with anything before the first rehearsal. Not the way I like to work, and I’ve asked for these e-mail addresses for days now. And people wonder why I get testy. I’ll eat whatever it is I eat and then I just want to rest and watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow is all prep for Tuesday’s rehearsal – not gonna get any staging done because I can’t stage if they have no idea of the music. Crazy. Then we have rehearsals Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then on Saturday morning. I sure would love to get four or five numbers done. We shall see.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, print out the latest script, eat, keep trying to get e-mail addresses, then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as I bask in the glow of the sound of perfection.