The Trapp Family 1956

At Nonnberg Abbey in the 1930s Austria, a spirited novice named Maria Ruth Leuwerik is sent by her abbess to the estate of a widowed Austro-Hungarian Navy war hero, Baron von Trapp Hans Holt to look after his seven unruly children. The baron is a stern disciplinarian and runs his household with the efficiency of a World War I U-boat commander. When Maria arrives, she invites the children to stretch beyond strict routines, lets them play games, and teaches them how to sing, imbuing the house with warmth and music. When the baron discovers how Maria is ignoring his orders, he sends her back to the convent. Later, however, hearing his children perform songs learned from Maria, his rigid reserve begins to soften, and his feelings for her shift.

Gradually, the baron falls in love with the young woman and proposes marriage. After obtaining permission to wed from the abbess, Maria becomes the Baroness von Trapp. With the loss of the family fortune, the priest of the household, Dr. Franz Wasner Josef Meinrad, encourages Maria and the children to sing for charity, and their talent attracts a growing following. As history moves forward and the Nazi annexation of Austria takes place, the baron refuses to live under the new regime and the family chooses to flee to the United States, where they continue to perform. But their journey is far from smooth: a naïve Maria reveals to an immigration inspector that they intend to stay forever after he questions how long they will be visiting the country.