The Sound of Music

Factual error: The von Trapps are shown walking over the border to Switzerland after a short drive out of the centre of town...except Salzburg is about 200km east of Switzerland. If one walked across the border at Salzburg, you'd be entering Germany, which is where (I believe) the people they were trying to get away from lived. Take a look at a map.

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Suggested correction: Even though the von Trapps were 200km from the Swiss border, in the last 5 mins, they received a car from the sisters at the convent and the sisters disabled the cars of their pursuers.

Captain Von Trapp was clear, when they were about to hide, that they would drive into the mountains in Salzburg (which the movie did a close up on to show it was those mountains specifically) and walk over them on foot confirming the movie is pretending those are mountains into Switzerland. The director himself admitted this when the real Maria Von Trapp complained of this error. He said "In Hollywood you can make up your own geography."

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Mistakes

Revealing mistake: When the kids step out of the water and walk towards the house, the floor is already soaking wet from previous takes.

Sacha ★

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Quotes

Maria: I don't understand.
Captain von Trapp: Well, we called off our engagement, you see, and...
Maria: Oh, I'm sorry.
Captain von Trapp: Yes. You are?
Maria: Mm-hmm. You did?
Captain von Trapp: Yes. Well, you can't marry someone when you're in love with someone else... Can you?

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Trivia

Trivia: The front and back of the von Trapp house are actually two different houses. Also, the gazebo (which belongs to the house used for the back shots) is across a river from the house. You can take the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg.

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Questions

Question: Gretel was 5 years old and the mother died seven years ago. Who is Gretel's mom?

Answer: In the film, the Mother Abess explains to Maria that the Captain Von Trapp's wife died "several years" ago. This is commonly misheard by viewers as "seven years." In reality, the actual mother of the Von Trapp children was Agathe Whitehead, who died of scarlet fever in 1922, just four years before Maria came to the Von Trapp home, initially as a tutor (not a governess) in 1926.

Michael Albert

Answer: However when Captain Von Trapp gets the children to step forward and introduce themselves to Maria he states that their mother died 7 years ago.

Not in the 1965 film, perhaps in another version. In the 1965 film the only thing he says about his late wife when he first meets Maria is "you'll be the 12th governess...since their mother died." When he has the children introduce themselves, he only advises Maria to pay attention to their signals and names. Later after he leaves and the children say how old they are, Marta says "I'll be 7 on Tuesday."

Bishop73

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