How do you describe a character like Maria?

Short answer: You don't. You cast a phenomenal performer like Julie Andrews in the lead, give her a lush Austrian backdrop, Christopher Plummer to squabble with and seethe for, and, most importantly, arm her with music and lyrics by a couple of gentlemen called Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

Then, you pick your jaw up from the floor and make sure the cinematographer's catching it all.

The sixties was a decade of great cinematic boisterousness, celebrating the big, happy musical with classic films like My Fair Lady, A Hard Day's Night, and Mary Poppins.

So why does Robert Wise's film 'beat' them all? Well, it's the only one that takes the musical note 'Do' and turns it into a deer.

The film is sheer magic. Family films featuring children, to this day, suffer from a Sound Of Music hangover. And why not? Andrews plays Maria, a nun-in-training who ends up being governess to seven children living with their widower father, Captain von Trapp (Plummer).

But of course you know the story, and how smoothly the narrative goes from clothes cut out of curtains to an anti-Nazi family on the run. The plot progression is a work of wonder.

So here's one of those ridiculously precious video clips, just to remind us why this film will always be one of our, ahem, favourite things: Click here for video.

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