My mother always wanted a girl - she had 4 sons instead... me being the oldest. Not deterred by her lack of female offspring, she set out to show us every estrogen-rich movie out there - Shirley Temple movies, Anne of Green Gables, etc... and every musical she could find - including the one that haunts my dreams: The Sound of Music. Damn it to hell.

No wonder the Nazis lost the war... they couldn't catch a bunch of singing kids and a nun. Useless.

Beautifully shot: every scene has amazing scenery and sets and is perfectly composed. Characters are inconsistent, with everyone playing exaggerated cartoons at the beginning but becoming a lot more nuanced and interesting right about at the point where the baroness arrives. It's from this point onwards that it becomes a much more interesting film, building up to quite a tense ending, though you have to overlook the Nazis who are outmaneuvered by exiting stage right. One thing that remains consistent are the songs, which are saccharine drivel.