The Trapp Family

This article is about the film. For the family, see Trapp Family.
The Trapp Family
Poster showing a nun smiling and a couple embracing
German theatrical release poster
Directed byWolfgang Liebeneiner
Screenplay by
Story byMaria von Trapp
Based onThe Story of the Trapp Family Singers
by Maria von Trapp
Produced byIlse Kubaschewski
Starring
CinematographyWerner Krien
Edited byMargot von Schlieffen
Music byFranz Grothe
Production
company
Divina-Film
Distributed byGloria Film (West Germany)
20th Century Fox (United States)
Release dates
  • October 9, 1956 (1956-10-09) (West Germany)
  • April 19, 1961 (1961-04-19) (United States)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman
Box office6 million DM (Germany)[1]
$800,000 (US)[2]

The Trapp Family (German: Die Trapp-Familie) is a 1956 West German comedy drama film about the real-life Austrian musical family of that name directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner and starring Ruth Leuwerik, Hans Holt, and Maria Holst.[3] Based on Maria von Trapp's 1949 memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, the film is about a novice nun sent to care for the unruly children of a wealthy baron, who falls in love with and marries the young woman. Through her caring influence, the family becomes a famous singing group. When the baron is pressured to join Hitler's navy, the family escapes to the United States, where they establish themselves as singers.

The Trapp Family became one of the most successful German films of the 1950s and was the inspiration for the even more fictionalized 1959 Broadway musical The Sound of Music, and its highly successful 1965 film version. The film had one sequel, The Trapp Family in America (1958).

  1. ^ "Germany's Top Grossers (Since World War II)". Variety. 9 April 1958. p. 62.
  2. ^ "O'Seas Films $69,000,000 in US". Variety. 2 May 1962. p. 18.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference nytimes-thompson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).