The Sound of Mutants

The Sound of Mutants
Original poster by David Weaver Jr.
Directed by	Robert Wise
Produced by	Robert Wise
Written by	Maria von Krapp (Libretto)
Starring	Julie Ambrose Christopher Plodder Eleanor Barker Richard Hiding Peggy Blood
Music by	Richard Bodger (music/lyrics) Oscar Frankenstein II (lyrics)
Distributed by	20th Century Pox
Release date(s)	March 2, 1965 (US) March 29, 1965 (UK)
Running time	Interminable
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	Over
Gross revenue	Completely gross

Bodger and Frankenstein's The Sound of Mutants is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Ambrose and Christopher Plodder. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Mutants, with songs written by Richard Bodger and Oscar Frankenstein II. The musical The Sound of Mutants is itself based on Jane Austen's gothic masterpiece The North Abbey Hanging, although considerable liberties were taken with the storyline and characters when the adaptation was made. The Sound of Mutants is by some way the most widely-known adaptation of Miss Austen's oeuvre and regularly tops film polls in countries from Azerbaijan to North Korea, where it is understood to be a personal favourite of Kim Jong-Il.

The film's devoted following are often to be found visiting the locations where various scenes were shot, with the result that the hitherto sleepy goatherding village of Salzberg, Austria has been transformed into a glittering metropolis where the rich and famous park their yachts on the nearby Attersee and rub shoulders with the usual obsessive lunatics and stalkers. Once a year, the city plays host to the star-studded Mütanzfest, where dramatic readings of Austen's work are performed by such actors as Dame Judi Dench, Jeremy Irons and Christopher Biggins. Mütanzfest was originally conceived by the great Austrian comedian Herbert von Karajan, star of the much-loved Karajan films (Karajan Doctor, Karajan Camping, Karajan Up the Khyber and so on). The parade on the opening night vies with Bath's zombie parade as the biggest living dead-themed event in Western Europe.

Plot summary

As the story opens, Maria, a zombie novitiate at the Convent of St Catherine von Morland, is up in the mountains wandering among the sheep, looking for a nice, meaty one to kill. She hears the bell tolling for mass in the valley below and immediately runs down the mountain. In doing so, she covers several kilometres in a couple of minutes, demonstrating the unnatural superpowers that are giving her superiors cause for concern. There is, after all, nothing worse than a zombie with athletic prowess. As she arrives, the elder sisters discuss what they should do about her by singing the famous number '"How do you dissolve a zombie like Maria?'"

In the end, the Mother Abscess decides that the best course of action is for Maria to be sent away to live in the real world, in the hope that her zombiness may wear off. So she is dispatched to the family of Captain von Tilney, a widowed officer in the Austrian Steampunktflotte, as nanny to his seven children, Liesl, Diesl, Easl, Tiesl, Sniesl, Miesls and Gretl. At first, the children misbehave, but she soon puts them in their place by threatening to eat them, in the course of the song "My Favourite Fangs".

Maria has eccentric ideas about the children's education, eschewing the more traditional subjects in favour of running around Salzburg, performing a form of impromptu street theatre or irritatenstrassenspiel. When Captain von Tilney hears about this, he resolves to dismiss Maria, but is disturbed to find he is falling in love with her. However, she goes too far when she uses valuable fabric to make clothes for the children and this time it's curtains for Maria.

Maria returns to the Convent, bereft and confused. She seeks guidance from the Mother Abscess, who advises her to go back and face her demons, urging her to "De-limb Every Mutant". She is welcomed back into the von Tilney household and a happy ending seems inevitable. However, by now war clouds are looming and von Tilney receives his call-up papers to return to command his zeppelin submersible, but he tears them up, announcing that "Das boot is on the other foot". In a daring plan, they resolve to escape following their performance in the annual Eksfaktorkonzert, a celebration of local talent. After a tense confrontation with some Nazis back at the Convent, which is resolved by Maria eating the brains of their leader ("Rowlf! Rowlf!")), they escape into the mountains.

Critical appraisal

Despite the considerable love felt for the film by the general public, it is not a favourite of the Jane Austen community who regard it as little more than a "toothless husk"^{[citation needed]} when compared to the original novel. Most critics have given up passing comment on the film altogether, as any remotely deprecatory remark tends to be followed by a wave of death threats and excessively loud performances of "The Lonely Goatbotherer" (with puppets) outside their houses.

See also

• How Do You Solve a Problem Like Andrew Lloyd-Webber? (TV series)

Further reading

• von Krapp, M. The True Story of the von Tilney Family Singers. Dough Remy Books, 1968.
• Anon I Was a Lonely Goatherd. Private Publication, 1973.