In 1938 in Salzburg, at the end of the Federal State of Austria regime, Maria is a free-spirited young Austrian woman studying to become a nun at Nonnberg Abbey.

Mother Abbess sends Maria to the villa of retired naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp to be the new governess to his seven children: Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl.

Mother Abbess learns that Maria has stayed in seclusion to avoid her growing romantic feelings for the Captain, so she encourages her to return to the villa to look for her purpose in life.

Having learned that Austria has been annexed by the Third Reich, the couple return to their home, where the Captain receives a telegram, ordering him to report to the German Naval base at Bremerhaven to accept a commission in the Kriegsmarine.

That night, the von Trapp family attempt to flee to Switzerland, but they are stopped by a group of Brownshirts, led by the Gauleiter Hans Zeller, waiting outside the villa.

Later that night at the festival, during their final number, the von Trapp family slips away and seeks shelter at the abbey, where Mother Abbess hides them in the cemetery crypt.

[8] In 1956, German producer Wolfgang Liebeneiner purchased the film rights for $9,000 (equivalent to $101,000 in 2023), hired George Hurdalek and Herbert Reinecker to write the screenplay, and Franz Grothe to supervise the soundtrack, which consisted of traditional Austrian folk songs.

[8] Producers Richard Halliday and Leland Heyward secured the rights and hired playwrights Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, who had won the Pulitzer Prize for State of the Union.

[12][Note 1] In December 1962, 20th Century-Fox president Richard D. Zanuck hired Ernest Lehman to write the screenplay for the film adaptation of the stage musical.

[25] Lehman completed the second draft on December 20, 1963,[26] but additional changes would be made based on input from Maria von Trapp and Christopher Plummer about the character of the Captain.

"[29] Andrews had some reservations—mainly about the amount of sweetness in the theatrical version—but when she learned that her concerns were shared by Wise and Lehman and what their vision was, she signed a contract with Fox to star in The Sound of Music and one other film for $225,000 ($2.21 million in 2023).

[35] Some of the child actors interviewed or tested, who were not selected, included Mia Farrow, Patty Duke, Lesley Ann Warren, Geraldine Chaplin, Shelley Fabares, Teri Garr, Kurt Russell, and The Osmonds.

[41] The musical arranger Irwin Kostal, who also had worked in the same role on Mary Poppins, prerecorded the songs with a large orchestra and singers on a stage before the start of filming.

[48] From April 25 through May 22, scenes were filmed at the Felsenreitschule, Nonnberg Abbey, Mirabell Palace Gardens, Residence Fountain, and various street locations throughout the Altstadt (Old Town) area of the city.

[49] Rainy days were a constant challenge for the company,[50] so Wise arranged for scenes to be shot at St. Margarethen Chapel and Dürer Studios (Reverend Mother's office).

[51] From May 23 to June 7, the company worked at Schloss Leopoldskron and an adjacent property called Bertelsmann for scenes representing the lakeside terrace and gardens of the von Trapp villa.

[71][72][Note 3] Most of the soundtrack to The Sound of Music was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and arranged and conducted by Irwin Kostal, who also adapted the instrumental underscore passages.

[79] The Sound of Music: Original Soundtrack Recording (Super Deluxe Edition) was released on December 1, 2023, compiling all of the previously released music, as well as the complete instrumental score, demo versions, songs with alternative scoring (i.e. solely instrumental), alternative Christopher Plummer vocals recorded prior to their removal for the final film, and interviews with Richard Rodgers, Robert Wise and Charmian Carr.

[87] Kaplan also brought in outside agencies to work with the studio's advertising department to develop the promotional artwork, eventually selecting a painting by Howard Terpning of Andrews on an alpine meadow with her carpetbag and guitar case in hand with the children and Plummer in the background.

[87] The studio intended the film to have an initial roadshow theatrical release in select large cities in theaters that could accommodate the 70-mm screenings and six-track stereophonic sound.

[94] Bosley Crowther, in The New York Times, criticized the film's "romantic nonsense and sentiment", the children's "artificial roles", and Robert Wise's "cosy-cum-corny" direction.

[92] In her review for McCall's magazine, Pauline Kael called the film "the sugar-coated lie people seem to want to eat", and that audiences have "turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs.

[90] Indeed, reviewers such as Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "three hours of visual and vocal brilliance",[90] and Variety called it "a warmly-pulsating, captivating drama set to the most imaginative use of the lilting R-H tunes, magnificently mounted and with a brilliant cast".

The website's critics consensus reads, "Unapologetically sweet and maybe even a little corny, The Sound of Music will win over all but the most cynical filmgoers with its classic songs and irresistible warmth.

[108] Worldwide, The Sound of Music broke previous box-office records in twenty-nine countries,[109] including the United Kingdom, where it played for a record-breaking three years at the Dominion Theatre in London[110] and earned £4 million in rentals and grossed £6 million—more than twice as much as any other film had taken in.

[153] The film incorporated many "fairy tale" tropes which included the idyllic imagery in the hills of Salzburg, the European villas, and the cross-class Cinderella-like romance between Maria and Captain Von Trapp.

In reality, third child Maria Franziska von Trapp (called "Louisa" in the film) described her father as a doting parent who made handmade gifts for the children in his woodshop and who would often lead family musicales on his violin.

The von Trapp villa, however, was only a few kilometers from the Austria–Germany border, and the final scene shows the family hiking on the Obersalzberg near the German town of Berchtesgaden, within sight of Adolf Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus Eagle's Nest retreat.

A Sing-along Sound of Music revival screening was first shown at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 1999,[172] leading to a successful run at the Prince Charles Cinema which was ongoing as of 2018.

[173] The film began a successful run at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City in September 2000, with the opening attended by cast members Charmian Carr (Liesl), Daniel Truhitte (Rolfe), and Kym Karath (Gretl).