Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika

Sequel to the successful film with Ruth Leuwerik and Hans Holt

So now they have arrived in America! The Trapps and their many children have found shelter in the cramped Bronx. With Pastor Wasner (Josef Meinrad, 1913-1996) in tow, the singing family seeks success in performing spiritual songs by Bach and Palestrina. Of course that can't go well. Baron Trapp (Hans Holt, 1909-2001) wants to give up, although their American driver Patrick (Wolfgang Wahl, 1925-2006) encourages him. An appointment with agent Harris (Holger Hagen), who sees no future for this deadly boring family, turns into a real fiasco. Mother Trapp (Ruth Leuwerik, 1924-2016) needs to read a little more sex appeal in books. But it comes as it has to come. First, the neighbors (including Til Klokow (1900-1970) as Bronx-Lilly, who is known as the voice of Claudette Colbert (Cleopatra / It Happened One Night) and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard)) in the notorious Bronx come across the really beautiful voices of the children (Regensburger Domspatzen). And then the family gets to know a millionaire's wife from Austria (with a lot of Viennese insults: Adrienne Gessner, 1896-1987), who has a decisive influence on the music repertoire. As soon as "Oh Susanna" and in the final scene "No beautiful country in this time" are heard, the interested viewer is done for. Splendid!

Of course, from today's perspective, it all seems all too old-fashioned when the then superstar Ruth Leuwerik goes in search of more sex appeal or the old priest clings to the extended family like a burr. The exterior shots of New York convey a great feeling of authenticity, and the children (including Michael Ande and Ursula Wolff) are sooooo cute! Almost 8 million viewers wanted to see the film in West German cinemas. Two years earlier, THE TRAPP FAMILY had attracted more than 26 million viewers to the cinemas!

The director was the veteran Wolfgang Liebeneiner (1905-1987), the script was written by Herbert Reinecker. What the man has written! The busy Ilse Kubaschewski (1907-2001), who with her Gloria film distribution company was one of the most important figures in the German-speaking film industry of the 1950s and 1960s, acted as producer.

The great Ruth Leuwerik cannot be praised enough! How lucky that there was once such a big film star in the German-speaking world! If you want to see this fantastic actress in her later years, you shouldn't miss the two DERRICK episodes "An Ambush" (1978) and "The Perpetrator Sent Flowers" (1983).

Wonderfully nostalgic!

It came as no surprise to anyone that all involved should choose to follow 'Die Trapp Familie', one of the most successful German films of the 50's, with a sequel. The result was 'Die Trapp Familie in Amerika' and it literally began where the earlier film left off.

With Ruth Leuwerik reprising her formidable performance as Baronin von Trapp, the producers clearly hoped their subject's on-going story would help swell the studio's coffers once more - it did! Lavishly produced, director W. Liebeneiner turned every single one of the film's galloping clichés into gold. However, the red meat of the Trapp-saga had already been devoured by audiences in Part One - and all that was left second time around were scraps of plot. Spicing it up and helping to make the most of the least were the gorgeous gowns worn by Miss Leuwerik, who looked a treat!

This sequel to "Die Trapp Familie" tells the story of the Von Trapps after their immigration to the USA; this could have been a nice follow-up, but it seems as Wolfgang Liebeneiner did it without much interest and at least with little inspiration, but he had also to deal with a weaker script than with "Die Trapp Familie"; the producer should have used Georg Hurdalek again. The film proceeds awkwardly from one situation to the other and has little dramatic atmosphere; scene in Vermont: a walk, they find a house, "yes, we buy the house", end of scene, next scene. Again there is good music by Franz Grothe, including some music in the Gershwin idiom. Ruth Leuwerik is fine again as Maria; in the last shot she addresses (as in "Die Trapp Familie") directly the viewer this time saying "Auf Wiedersehen", probably hinting at a second sequel which luckily was never made.

Saw this film online in German, a language I don't know extremely well, yet I could understand enough to know the context of the dialogue. I found it to be a delightful, if fancifully abbreviated, account of the Trapp family's initial hardships and subsequent success, in America. The female lead playing Maria was charming and more or less believable. The sequence in which she seeks the meaning of "sex appeal" is hilarious (and 100 percent clean). The young actors portraying the children are charming as well. Sure, you could nit-pick it factually, but just sit back and enjoy the show! You won't be sorry.

The saga continues with the troubled lives of the sweet family - seems the folksongs are out of step with the new rock and roll era. Sniff ! They should have stopped at the first film - the second is just too much to swallow.