Tom SantopietroAnmeldelser

Hmm.....I wanted more of out of this book. I have been sitting on my review for several days, trying to figure out my thoughts. Only I still don't know what to make of them.

I adore To Kill a Mockingbird and Atticus Finch. Gregory Peck absolutely epitomizes the lawyer! So I loved highlights and such from the making of the movie. And I enjoyed learning more about Harper Lee and her friendship with Truman Capote. But as to everything else......it just got LONG. And bordered on redundant to me.

There's nothing more guaranteed to make a person feel old than learning that one of her all-time favorite films is coming up on its fiftieth anniversary. I had just started college when The Way We Were opened, and I made a beeline for the theater and what would turn out to be one of the most memorable movie experiences of my life.

There's a reason why the movie theater experience is hands-down better than watching a film on a big-screen television at home. Sitting in the packed, darkened theater on that long ago day, when Robert Redford said, "Katie, you expect so much!" and Streisand looked at him and replied, "Oh, but look what I've got!" every female in the audience (and probably many males) audibly sighed. I'll never forget that.

So... I wanted to know more about this movie, and author Tom Santopietro certainly delivered the goods with his in-depth, meticulous research. The movie studio was strapped for cash and thought that a movie with a non-singing (and Communist!) Barbra Streisand was the kiss of death. How wrong could a bunch of "experts" be?

From writing the story and the unforgettable music to choosing actors and filming locations and beyond, I feel as though I learned everything there is to know about The Way We Were. Anyone who's interested in this classic romantic film or in film-making itself should read it, too.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)½

Excellent overview of the making of the film,from every angle possible. Detailed about the casting choices made,direction,producing,costume,editing. Great for fans of the now classic film but also extremely interesting for people who want to know about film production and the huge impact thisvfilm had on the film industry. Extremely well- researched and written. Great book with many photos.

The Sound of Music movie evicts feel-good memories of my childhood. The storyline, the characters, the cast, and the setting blaze on in my mind. I jumped at the opportunity of reading The Sound of Music Story. It filled in gaps and gave reality to the dreamy thirteen-year-old girl who watched the movie play out on the large screen in San Francisco. If you are as big a fan as I am, you may want to pick up The Sound of Music Story to discover the background information surrounding the making of the film and the facts about the real people in the story. From interviews to behind-the-scenes information, Tom Santopietro fills you in on what you always wanted to know about The Sound of Music. He has done a thorough job of research. It's a satisfying read.

Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review this book. My opinions are my own and were not required. The Sound of Music Story by Tom Santopietro. #NetGalley

Do you like “The Sound of Music”? Do you really, really want to know EVERYTHING about the movie, about the family von Trapp, about the filming of the movie, about the premier, the life of the actors and the people that made the movie? Do you feel the need to know about all the problems with the filming, the problems before the filming and stuff like that? Then, this is the book for you!

Personally, I found that the book contained way too much information that I just felt wasn't really that interesting to know or that I already knew from watching a documentary about the movie that I have on my DVD version. I mean, the von Trapp family history is interesting and of course, the filming of the movie is always nice to read about, but much of the information after the premier wasn't really that interesting to read about. You get the van Trapp family's history, what happened to all the children. You get to know how the life turned out for the actors that played in the movie. You get statistic about the movie.

But in the end, I would watch the documentary again instead of reading this book, I get the information I want/need and I get to watch the actors instead of reading about what they think about the movie. It's just so much cozier and there are no dry parts. The book felt sometimes a bit too heavy to read, too much information that just didn't interest me so much and also sometimes I felt that it lost the thread when it discussed other movies than "The Sound of Music”.

And, I wished that had been photos with the book. This is an ARC so I hope the complete book will have photos.

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review! Thank you!

This caught my eye at the library a few days after we’d watched the movie with our youngest granddaughter- who was captivated by the musical numbers.

It turned out to be an informative (at times too informative) read about how the iconic movie came into being, it’s production, reception, and it’s growth as an international phenomenon.

While full of facts and anecdotes it was missing a central narrative. As one of the actual Von Trapp children noted about the movie “It was a nice story, but it wasn’t our story,” I felt the same about this book, It was an interesting story, but I don’t know whose story it was.

I recently re-read To Kill A Mockingbird. The classic novel is one of 100 books chosen for The Great American Read. I remembered loving the book when I read it in high school and again in college. I think I liked it even more re-reading it as a middle-aged adult.

Tom Santpietro's book delves into the impact that the novel and the 1962 film version have had, touching on whether the book is racist and how it relates to the current culture in America. I loved this in-depth look at one of my favorite classic books (and classic film). I liked how the author pinpointed why this book is still relevant today. I didn't necessarily agree with all of his points and the discussion of whether this book is racist went on a little too long in my opinion. But, I thought it was a thoughtful and well-researched look into the novel and the impact it had on American, and global, culture.

Reading this book has given me the strength to finally read the copy of Go Set a Watchman that has been sitting on my TBR shelf since it's publication. I haven't been able to gather up the courage to read it since I know it changes the story somewhat (Atticus is racist and other major changes), and because I felt it might have been exploitation of the author to publish what is basically her first unpublished version of the story. I think I'm ready to brave it now.....and then spend some time thinking about how I feel about it.

This is the first book by Tom Santopietro that I have read. He's written several other books about films and culture including The Godfather Effect, Considering Doris Day, The Sound of Music Story, and The Importance of Being Barbra. I'm definitely going to read more of his books. This one was incredibly thought provoking for me and I enjoy how he relates literature and film to our culture.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from St. Martins Press. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

The Sound of Music Story provides a broad overview of the subject, from the real-life von Trapp family to the Broadway Play to the Film, and its legacy. The book is detailed, well-written and informative, with interviews of the relevant people where possible. If you are a Sound of Music fan, you will love this book, if you just like the movie, there might be too much detail here.

While reading this, just over a month after processing more or less the same information in Joseph Crespino's Atticus FInch: The Biography, I was mentally preparing a five star review which would promote Tom Santopiero's more centred and comprehensive study of the novel and film over Crespino's edgy cross examination of Atticus Finch. On finishing the final few (slightly repetitive) chapters, however, I've decided that both recent takes on Harper Lee's eternal classic are about on a level, but approach the same task - writing about the history of the novel and the film adaptation - from different angles. Overall, I would say I prefer this detailed dedication to Crespino's potted social history of civil rights wrapped in a token biography/critique, simply because Santopietro seems to care more about the novel and sticks closer to the subject matter that readers really care about.

I learned some new facts about the film, or perhaps the same facts repackaged in some cases - Santopietro acknowledges that Gregory Peck wanted to make Atticus the main character, instead of focusing on the children, but rather than make the late actor sound like an egomaniac like Crespino does, he suggests that Peck actually saved the film by giving Alan Pakula and Robert Mulligan the final authority, rather than Universal, the distributor. Harper Lee, Gregory Peck, Pakula and Mulligan owned the film, which is why the adaptation retained such dignity. There are also some touching quotes from the cast and crew, including Mary Badham and Philip Alford who stayed in touch with Peck throughout their lives, which were probably taken from other sources but still make this a lighter, more satisfying tribute to book and film. There is only so much that can be said about a film that is nearly 60 years old, after all, which might explain why a couple of the chapters seem a bit repetitive, but this is overall a very informative and respectful account.

Watchman of course rears its ugly head, as does 'news' of the most recent stage adaptation, but Santopietro seems more suitably interested in the enduring appeal of the far more nuanced, Pulitzer Prize winning original novel than its opportunistic, derivative bastard half-sibling, as any true fan of Harper Lee would hope. I also took away two other reading suggestions - You Can't Go Home Again by Tom Wolfe and Broken by Daniel Clay - which is my highest accolade for non-fiction, and bought a copy of Elmer Bernstein's original score, so I can say that I was genuinely captivated by Tom Santopietro's ode to the original novel. Definitely worthy of a place on my Mockingbird bookshelf, even if I have read the same story before.

Santopietro provides a thorough look at Harper Lee’s most famous work. He starts out with Ms. Lee herself, with a childhood that closely resembled Scout’s and follows that with the publication and resultant exaltations. Then the story shifts to the film with insightful biographies of the cast and crew. This will be a sublime read for book lovers.

Free review copy.

The Sound of Music was the first film I saw on the big screen. Like many others, I was enchanted by the story, over the moon for Julie Andrews and adored the children, especially Gretl who was my age. This is a book for us. Tom Santopietro leaves out no detail or fact. He describes the dynamics between cast members, crew, director, fawns over Julie Andrews and Robert Wise and at times gives an almost minute by minute accounting of some of the scenes and songs. I enjoyed reading about how hated the movie was by film critics and yet became one of the most beloved movie in film history. I also appreciated his historically correct analysis of how Austrians in reality welcomed the Nazi party and how repugnant this whitewashing has been, including later (mild) attempts by people associated with the movie to address it.

While this book offers fans the pleasure of learning every possible twist in the Sound of Music story, it is not a critical appraisal or a particularly insightful read it. In all, however, if you want to read an adoring fan book this book is definitely for you.½