The Sound Of Music (World, 9.10pm) is the film people love to hate. It is coy, it is corny and those Von Trapp children are as sickly as candy floss running around in their play clothes made from curtains (honestly, would you have worn them as a child?).
Yet there is no doubting the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is one of the most popular films of all time, made so by the stunning Austrian scenery, the music that is hard to forget (though many have tried) and the performances that are as spirited as the script is contrived.
Before the film was made, The Sound Of Music had been a triumph on Broadway, where it ran for more than 1,400 performances, earning Tony awards for its authors as well as its star, Mary Martin.
But in bringing it to the screen, even director Robert Wise was concerned about the saccharin content of the true story of a novice nun, Maria, who, concerned that the cloistered life is not for her, is sent to act as nanny to the children of the widowed Baron Von Trapp.
When playwright Robert Anderson heard Wise was going to film the play, he apparently sent Wise a note saying: 'Can't you run those kids through a whorehouse, or something?' Early on, Wise named Julie Andrews as the actress he wanted for Maria (as so often is the case, the stage star, Martin, was neglected), but there were some reservations.
'We all felt Julie was the one but there was this little undercurrent around town that questioned how photogenic she was. That gave us just a little bit of pause,' said Wise.
A list of possible alternatives was drawn up, including Grace Kelly, Leslie Caron, Anne Bancroft, Angie Dickinson, Carole Lawrence and Shirley Jones, but when Wise was given the chance to see a preview of the yet-to-be-released Mary Poppins, his decision was made for him.
