The Sound of Mutants

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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 a nearby lake and rub shoulders with 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.