大象传媒

Spurned by a killjoy religion, a naive virgin becomes obsessed with a draconian martinet who seemingly impregnated his late wife to death. Brainwashing his brood with melodic doggerel, she lures him away from his fianc茅e before helping him desert... Okay, so that might not be how you remember The Sound of Music. But given its recent hijacking by a sing-along cult of demented fancy-dressers and a talent search headed by Lord Lloyd-Webber, a timely reappraisal might well be in order.

None of the above, of course, will ever diminish the enduring appeal of this Robert Wise favourite, a heartwarming classic from Hollywood's last golden age that represents a shining beacon of surety in our uncertain world. (Nuns and puppet shows - good! Nazis - bad!) Christopher Plummer may have called it "The Sound of Mucus" and compared working with Julie Andrews to being "hit over the head with a Valentine". Even he, though, would be hard-pressed to deny the curative properties of this iconic feel-gooder, with its sunny Salzburg locations, unfeasibly cute children and timeless Rodgers and Hammerstein score.

"SENTIMENTAL WHOLESOMENESS"

Then again, would we hold the film in such high regard had decades of TV exposure not imprinted its sentimental wholesomeness on our cultural DNA? What are we celebrating when we watch The Sound of Music: the film itself or our unblemished memories of it? And do opportunistic reissues like this one merely cash in on that dewy-eyed nostalgia? Like Charmian Carr's strapped-down bust, there could be more to this than meets the eye.

The Sound of Music is out in the UK on 21st September 2007.