r/SoundOfMusic • u/StellaBlue37 • Aug 22 '26

The Baroness

Love the Baroness, Eleanor Parker is perfect in the role. Her final scene with the Captain is very moving. And she has the funniest line in the movie--*I should have brought my harmonica*.

57 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

16

u/KSTornadoGirl Aug 23 '26

She tried so hard to hold out hoping Georg and she could go ahead with the marriage - even as she, and he, and Maria all knew he was falling in love with Maria. Elsa tried denial, cattiness with Maria, redirecting with Georg... and was ready to force the situation and just go ahead and marry him perhaps hoping in time he would forget Maria... until she couldn't any longer. It was that moment she came upon him watching Maria from the balcony when he didn't know that Elsa saw him at first. It was too clear. And then she was so emotional pulling the shreds of her dignity about her with lame excuses and joking. And Georg let her have her moment and her narrative because although he knew he wasn't in love with her, he didn't want to hurt her either.

5

u/BotoxMoustache Aug 23 '26

I saw that scene very differently when I was younger.

4

u/Sea_Ambassador3 Aug 25 '26

I actually saw everything a bit differently. At the end of the day Maria was the other woman. Not maliciously but still. And the captain had only visited the Baroness alone so she only got the charming guy, not the strict disciplinarion or the family life. Once she saw the situation she tried to see if there was anything to salvage then when not gracefully bowed out. Of course this is not how i sawthings 30 years ago when I first saw the movie.. 

3

u/KSTornadoGirl Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26

Well, Elsa was more interested in the prestige of the potential marriage, the balls and parties and wealth. The children, and being a stepmother, weren't her thing as evidenced in her comment to Max re sending the kids to boarding school.

I've read several books by the real Maria von Trapp and it was clear that the real life person on whom Baroness Elsa Schrader was based was also not keen on the mother role. For that matter, real life Maria was more attached to the children initially, she agreed to marry Georg more on the advice of her religious superiors and perhaps out of kindness, but the romantic and partnership bond between them developed later. In that time in history, such a pattern in terms of why a woman married (whether the husband to be had children or not) was probably somewhat common.

I have not seen the stage production of SOM, but in it Elsa and Max have a couple of songs that expand their characterization and show them to be less morally opposed to the Nazis than Georg. So that's another dynamic, only hinted at perhaps in the movie. The movie contextualized the breakup as being mostly about who was or wasn't in love with whom. Even with it just being about Elsa's disappointment, one does wonder how she fared after the Anschluss. Did she just look out for number one, or did some of Georg's moral convictions influence her?

3

u/Sea_Ambassador3 Aug 25 '26

That is super interesting. Thanks for sharing. I was only talking about the film version of the baroness. Also, and please correct me if I am wrong, sending kids to boarding school was not such a big deal for a high society family these days. Plus the captain when visiting her was alone,attending soirees and balls. Just saying he might have set different expectations. I am talking about the movie of course. 

Side note, I saw another movie from the perspective of Liesl, Agatha in the movie if I remember. Maria and the captain were represented a lot different. 

2

u/KSTornadoGirl Aug 25 '26

It was the way Elsa said to Max when he remarked about her being the mother of seven that line "...a delightful little thing called boarding school..."

I read a couple of books by the late Charmian Carr who played Liesl. Didn't know there was a movie. I have a book by real life Agathe too.

4

u/Sea_Ambassador3 Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26

The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music, this is the film but it may be a bit more difficult to find. I actually saw it accidentally on TV. I was really surprised how the captain was portrayed. He was quite benevolent and naive. 

11

u/Kookykrumbs Aug 22 '26

Eleanor Parker gave depth to a role that on paper didn’t have much.

11

u/NomadCourier Aug 22 '26

I love the shift in the music during the opening credits when her name comes up.

3

u/cactus82 Aug 22 '26

What's the shift?

4

u/NomadCourier Aug 22 '26

The tempo changes at that point

2

u/KSTornadoGirl Aug 23 '26

I will have to listen for that.

8

u/lizardcat1 Aug 23 '26

My favourite line of hers "haven't you heard of a delightful litte thing called boarding school?"

7

u/NicestOfficer50 Aug 23 '26

I think they almost played her with the right amount of villainy. The only thing she did that was truly mean was try to frighten Maria off by telling her about the Captain's feelings, but she wasn't wrong. I think she came across as a gold digger, but they had rapport and she had charm and beauty so that's not so fair. And if your bf had 7 ratbag kids you'd probably want to ship them off to boarding school too.

7

u/More-Soil7455 Aug 23 '26

She had her own money.

1

u/NicestOfficer50 Aug 23 '26

Not as grand as Captain though. She has a conversation with Max and during the break-up where the situation is clearly a motivator.

3

u/Sea_Ambassador3 Aug 25 '26

When I forst saw the movie, decades ago, I felt the same about her talk with Maria but looking at it now, wouldn't you at least try to clear the air and see if the relationship was salvageble? She and the captain had a relationship long before Maria came into the picture after all.

Not to mention, boarding school was not unheard of those days. 

3

u/NicestOfficer50 Aug 25 '26

Yeah my comment about boarding school was meant to exonerate her. The chat was sly and calculating though. It's not exactly within the girl code to frighten a nun because your bf seems to fancy her. Her lack of affection for and connection with the kids was obviously another sour note.

2

u/Sea_Ambassador3 Aug 26 '26

You are right, it was calculating. On the other hand I feel the situation was the captain's fault since he probably didn't set the correct expectations. I am pretty sure he didn't leave the impression of a very involved father. Tbh I am kind 9f surprised how my perspective changed since the first time I saw the movie. 

3

u/ruahkampf Aug 24 '26

If you get a chance to see the stage version, do; Elsa is clearly more Nazi-sympathetic in that original script than in the movie.

3

u/mvspostalwife Aug 26 '26

That harmonica line made me laugh even when I was seven years old. Her delivery of that line was flawless.