"Die Trapp-Familie" or "The Trapp Family" is a German German-language film from 1956, so it is already over 60 years old. The director is Wolfgang Liebeneiner and this is one of the more known works from his truly long and prolific career. And it's not just the people who made this film, but also those who starred in it back then who were enjoying pretty successful careers, such as actress Ruth Leuwerik who died not too long ago in her 90s and who plays the main character here, even if the title refers to a whole family. I think Leuwerik did a good job overall here and certainly elevated the material in its weaker moments. But still I must say that I did not enjoy the watch here as much as I hoped I would. The early scenes at the monastery and also the ways in which she breathes life into the rigid kids were fine and okay to watch just like the way she gets together with the dad, but when they actually are the family the film is talking about, then it all becomes pretty boring and feels at time like a poor man's Sissi film, which is once again not Leuwerik's fault. I also think it could/should have been 15-20 minutes shorter. The color should not be taken for granted looking at when this came out and it sure adds something to the overall product, but it's also not enough to make up for the glaring weaknesses and lengths in the second half. This is a film that is at least partially based on real events and characters and also from a biopic perspective I hope it could have been better. I see there is a sequel, but from what this one here developed into I have zero interest in seeing it any time soon and same is true for the more recent, more modern film on the Trapp family. The music side here is tolerable, nothing more. Overall I think the weak and forgettable in here is more frequent unfortunately than the quality stuff and that's why I give this pretty old film a thumbs-down. Watch something else instead.

Just when everybody thought that German post-war cinema was on the downward hill financially, along came this warm, often tender, sometimes touching, colorful hit of gargantuan proportions. Produced on the lavish side, with Germany's top box-office attraction, regal Ruth Leuwerik in the lead, 'Die Trapp Familie' broke all records, second only to 'Schwarzwaldmaedel' as Germany's most popular Heimatfilm and easily became the biggest hit in Miss Leuwerik's chain of successes.Largely forgotten today, the pic holds up quite well. The story is not too exciting, there's nothing that might offend blue-noses and all takes place against an pastoral background of green meadows and snow-capped mountains.Ruth Leuwerik does what she can with the wafer-thin part and her warmth and natural beauty prevent the whole thing form being too syrupy.Interesting sideline: while 'The Sound of Music', a lavish musical version of the same story, broke box-office records in 1965 all over the world, it flopped miserably in Germany and Austria, still faithful to 'Die Trapp Familie'.

This is the film that started it all and via the musical gave us the film "The Sound of Music". This is the film of which Baroness Von Trapp after its premiere said: "Nothing is true, but it is wonderful". Well, wonderful it is not, but it ìs a fairly well-made, ditto scripted and entertaining film about Maria who would become Baroness Von Trapp. Ruth Leuwerik, who always would blossom under Liebeneiner's direction, is convincing as Maria and Hans Holt is the perfect Baron Von Trapp. Fine set design and as usual very good music by Franz Grothe.It is not as saccharin as "The Sound of Music", and it should be considered a typical product of its time with its optimistic "to every problem there is a solution" premise; it may be that this premise was in the minds of the makers rather than the life of the Von Trapps. As such it was a modern fairy tale for German 50's audience with Maria as the fairy-godmother; this role is emphasized by the last shot of the film in which Maria looks straight at the viewer and says "Gute Nacht" as a kind of blessing.Liebeneiner directs with light touch and knows how to tell the story economically, but neither he nor the scriptwriter seems very at ease in dealing with the thread of Nazism and the subsequent 1938 Anschluß of Austria; not surprising however as Liebeneiner could not have had a clear conscience on the matter. The script suggests that after their escape from Austria the Von Trapps went straight to the USA, while in fact they toured Europe and went to the USA in 1939 for an American tour; the trouble with the immigration never existed.The film is loosely based on the memories of Maria Von Trapp, which she published in 1947; the family had already stopped with their singing. The story goes that the producer's agent lead Maria to believe that German law forbid payment of royalties to foreigners. Later she found out that this was not true, after which she received a lump sum of $ 9.000,--!. The story of the film (and its sequel "Die Trapp Familie in Amerika") was sold to Broadway producer Richard Halliday and the rest is history.

Romantic story of the lively young novice who falls in love with the Baron and his children. Then, due to the war, they all hit off to America to pursue their singing career. Different from the Julie Andrews version but I can`t say that it is better !