It would be interesting to read the original book by the real-life governess, Maria von Trapp, to see just how far Hollywood departed from reality in the film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. However, we need not know the original to see what Hollywood has done!
In fact, the Bishop might have made a much stronger case by noting how the film did depart from reality&mdas. I haven't read Family on Wheels, but have read Maria (the prequel) a few years back, and that, along with the Bishop's comments, was enough to make me dig around on the net and find the information that I tried to link to in post 18 www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html .
As it stands, the film is good when compared with what passes for entertainment now days, but the Bishop does seem to have valid points in that history is altered for the sake of promoting an agenda, and the more one is aware of the history, the more the agenda is apparent. The Catholic children's author Hilda van Stockum, who was a friend of the Von Trapps, walked out of the Sound of Music because of the way it had altered things (I have this from one of Mrs. van Stockum’s granddaughters). In fairness, I ought to add, that, while friends, Mrs. van Stockum found Mrs. Von Trapp to be rather cantankerous (the link also notes the trait) and apparently found Julie Andrews to be the thing hardest to stomach.
Another instance of Hollywood making what passes for a decent movie that actually tilts social mores left is Yours, Mine, and Ours—which I really liked in the original form until I read the book upon which it is based, Who Gets the Last Drumstick? Thanks to this evening, I suspect that I will read Family on Wheels and never want to see the Sound of Music again.
While we can debate how Hollywood portrays historical events (given that movies don’t run in real time, and in The Sound of Music’s case the vista of the Alps is much better than the reality of leaving by train, as film is a visual medium), I think the most offensive part of the Bishop’s letter is his trite dismissal of the Nazi reigime as merely “nasty.” But given his denial of the Holocaust we shouldn’t expect anything less, I guess.
Anyone who gets their history from film or television deserves to get an F on their exam. After seeing a fact-based film, for example, the first thing I do when I get home is to do more research to fill in the gaps.
I couldn’t watch a film on TV with my dad that featured railroading—he worked for the Southern Pacific for 30 years, and would point out the flaws in every scene.
Most of the changes from history were made in the Broadway musical, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, which naturally had fewer outdoor scenes.