cap 39: just some local urchins

It is a difficult question by lemacd after so many viewings and so many years dissecting each sequence.
My first expectations when I first saw the movie were a very funny "Uncle Max" and a very serious and distinguished "Baroness", thanks to the dinner conversation (and the previous gossip from Frau Schmidt). Now I have doubts if they were "really" my expectations or Robert Wise's.

Anyway, I remember that I found the Baroness quite intriguing and maybe not perverse at first, although I remember ending up hating her (not now, that I am a member of team Elsa).

My theory about Georg's relationship with Max is absolutely scrambled by so many fanfics and so many read threads. But I always imagined that Max had some bond with Agathe, I don't know if it was a brothers thing, but surely someone whom the children associated with a time of love and fun.

It seems that this natural joy persists in Max despite all of Georg's disciplinary changes or even the death of his mother, as if Max continues to be that link to happiness for the children -even for Georg (his rolling eyes when he announces his arrival always seemed to me a gesture of giving up).

However, Max's lack of political conviction makes me think that it was not blood ties to the von Trapps or Agatha, but rather some episode with Georg in the navy that brought them together.

Sometimes I also think that Max and the Baroness know each other long after Max and Georg, but due to Max's love for the good life and the Baroness's natural sociability they come together in an interesting friendship.

I'm not sure if I stuck to the topic, sorry lemacd 😅

Since they refer to Max as "uncle" but clearly he is not a von Trapp, for me it was a natural connection through genealogy but perhaps in English the word "uncle" can have multiple applications.

I'm curious too to see other theories as to where Max came from :-)

Have you thought that the Baroness might also have a link with Agathe? for example, they could have easily coincided in a concert and eventually shared their love for music and chatted about it briefly. Or that both had a common doctor (a gynecologist, perhaps) and were not friends but acquaintances and then it would be relatively easy for Georg to access Elsa years later (you know, they were not complete strangers after all).

Great to have you back Lemacd!

Max might be called uncle because he is a godfather to one of the kids, maybe because he was an old friend or cousin of Agathe's?? This would fit with him and Georg having a rather unsettled relationship, but still getting invited/welcomed to the villa, especially if he also knew Elsa.

I have always thought Max and Elsa were an odd pair, because Elsa seems so sophisticated and is very wealthy, but Max is a hustler and seems not to have any money. Not natural partners?

Yes, I was thinking last week how essential it is that Max is an engaging character, because if he was bland and boring, we would just focus on the G&E&M triangle because it is so intriguing. But Max, by force of Richard Haydn's characterisation, adds a fourth dynamic and widens out the plot and the big picture towards the end.

I hadn't really considered it but it is an interesting observation. It must be the open car. I mean, they pass the children dangling from trees in their play clothes so it can't be very cool weather. But lol maybe they did have some kind of "oh we're going to the country? is there any sun there? better dress warm!" misconceptions.

It just occurred to me that Elsa and Max probably had the snow-capped mountains in mind when they thought of Salzburg, hence they set out in gear suitable for winter (especially as this is Elsa's first visit, possibly Max's too). Also explains why the resident, Georg, is sporting just a summer suit.

As for how Max fits into the picture, that's a tough one. 

I have never considered that he may have been related to Agathe. That's interesting. Though, I still think he has a long standing relationship with Georg. Otherwise, Georg wouldn't tolerate his antics. The Navy is a possibility, though, wouldn't serving his country ensure that Max had political convictions? Boarding school is a possibility too, though how old do we think Max is? Would he have been in school at the same time as Georg? Maybe he is just a distant relative that bonded with Georg when they were young, and this is why he remains in the picture when no other family seems to be invited to the villa? 

I like your point lemacd that along with being charming and amusing, Max is also not threatening. He doesn't appear to be trying to marry into aristocracy himself. He just wants to be friends with everyone so that he can sponge off of them. Brilliant really. 

Random question, but what side of the car is the steering wheel on in Austria? We see Georg driving here on the right side (looking forward from inside the car), but the caretaker's car at the abbey at the end of the movie has the steering wheel on the left side. 

This has to be the prize observation/question of the year. Congratulations reverendcaptain!

Maybe the caretaker at the Abbey was Italian or German, and brought his car with him over the border...?

It is true that British people drive sitting on the right, but Georg's slinky car is a Mercedes, so unlikely to be British in any way.