Version française
Version française
Though she's only 18, Maria Kutschera perfectly knows her future: she will devote her life to God and become a nun at the Nonnberg Abbey in Saltzburg. The Mother Superior however doubts this reclusive and meditative life is suitable for the spirited character of the young girl. Before to take her vow, she asks her to spend a few months at the Baron von Trapp. Since her wife was dead, the poor man indeed has a great deal of problems with her daughter Maria and none of the 25 (!) tutors he hired during the 18 previous months managed to make herself accepted by his children...
Like Judy Abott in Daddy Long Legs, Maria Kutschera has a fascinating destiny. It's all the more fascinating that the original tale is autobiographical, and this Cinderella's story almost completely authentic. Perhaps this is the reason why director Kozô KUSUBA showed a much greater maturity than in most of his other works. Though "The Story of the Trapp Family" neither has the narrative qualities of Romeo's last episodes, nor the depth of Annette's characters development, this series was made with a delicacy which Nippon Animation's pet director has shown nowhere else in his career. Some scenes remain slightly too melodramatic, but you never (or rarely) have those crises of tears or those sermons he is so used to. Most of his works too much try to be moving, and present many overdramatised sequences, whereas this one forms the very solid and well balanced unit that a true story deserves.
Most of the series is built around domestic scenes, showing the Trapp's daily life. It is from this angle the last WMT in the History to concentrate on the characters and their psychology. They have fewer facets than in the best productions of the line, but a real effort was made to give individuality to all of them, going far beyond any stereotype. KUSUBA succeeds in entering into the children's psychology, each of them reacting in his manner to Maria's arrival and to the projects of remariage of their father; from Edvige with the violence of adolescence to fragile Maria, fallen into deep lethargy. You have to look at the series quite carefully to notice all these small scenes which show how the children get little by little used to Maria, who is first just a governess, but soon reaches the statute of confidante, before finally becoming essential to the home life. As for the father, though he is pretty taciturn, you can easily see he is tortured by a flood of interrogations about his future and his family's. The doubt is also one of the aspects of Maria's personality, the main character, in spite of the impetuous temperament you could quickly attribute to her. But she is above all, thanks her naturalness and her frankness, one of most lovable heroines ever created in a Meisaku: a kind of Pollyanna, able to communicate her will to live to everybody (her influence on all the characters, including the children, the captain or the baroness is obvious), with a more mature and realistic personality. Even if it does not reach IMO the level of classics of the 70's and 80's, none of the 6 last WMT will have the ambition to bring the characters alive and to show them with a real complexity like "The Story of the Trapp Family" does.
As often with Nippon Animation, this series gives an opportunity to make a cultural trip to the Austria of the 30's. A wide pallet of cultural and historical details is used to set up the local atmosphere, like the walks in Salzburg, the Tyrol traditions or the soundtrack, with its pastoral accents which uses many traditional instruments. The relations between the inhabitants of Vienna and the provincials, with their reciprocal prejudices and their small quarrels, is one of the main comic elements of the series. As for the rise of the Nazism and the Anschluss, they serve as dramatic component of the end of the story.
The mood of the last 4 episodes is radically different from the rest of the series. The intrigue instantly passes from the small daily worries to the drastic changes imposed by the IIIrd Reich. Though the atmosphere had never been that merry, the anguish of this last part is very far from the standard of "children's works"; several episodes were even censured or removed during the French broadcast (cf. below). Very few WMT have as an intense ending as this one.
The only big reproach I finally make " The Story of the Trapp Family " is, of a purely technical nature. The finesse of the characters' movements, reaching the level of a real live action acting was one of the main strengths of the WMT during the 80's. Here you have nothing but some decently animated scenes, among many unbearably static plans. The staff tries to give individuality to the movements of the characters; but an obvious lack of means has stopped them in this noble intention. The character design is also pretty irregular, with too many inexpressive faces and caricatured features. Some scenes are completely spoilt by this technical weakness. Pity, pity, pity...
But beside this point, The Story of the Trapp Family " is one of the good WMT. More subtle than KUSUBA's usual works, it remains above all the last "classic" of the World Masterpiece Theater line.
The series was shown on France 3 in 1995, 96 and 98. It is also broadcasted every now and then on RTL9 (on the cable). The French opening is interpreted by Claude Lombard on the same melody (and video clip) as the Italian's. French netwoks were afraid to shock some parents and decided to cut most of the scenes were Nazis appeared: episodes 37 and 40 were largely censored; episodes 38 and 39 were simply removed: viva History!
Austria was the first German speaking country to have Maria's story in 1998 (on ORF1). Germans had to wait until Summer 2001 to watch it on RTL2, where it was broadcasted twice between July and October. The opening has the same melody as one of the Japanese Trapp songs.
The Story of the Trapp Family was shown on Italia 1 in September 1995. The credit song is interpreted by Cristina d'Avena.
Back to the World Masterpiece Theater's listing
Frédéric Goetzinger
(goetz@starnet.fr) Opening date: September 23, 2001 - Last update: December 2, 2001