LOST HORIZON 1973 - The Complete Version - Page 3

The scene (superimposed over a map) of the DC-3 carrying Indiana Jones to Nepal to meet Marion Ravenwood in 'Raiders' is footage from this LH.

This Bob guy? Why do you even come on this thread if it's to trash the movie? You don't like it, fine. That's your prerogative, but why troll your cynicism here?

If anything, the picture will be beautiful and the best song in the film is put back in and restored. I COME TO YOU. An important scene since it's the only time in the film when the two leads kiss.

I agree that it's great to have it at all, but if there ARE better audio elements available, I wish they had been used so what we will have is the best it could have been.

 

Oh, I like the film--just not for the same reasons. I'm not alone in that in this thread, if you check back to the beginning (or any reviews from 1973). And I own the DVD-R. Plus we got some interesting info about intermissions from a non-imflammatory remark I made. And I'm not putting bogus informatio about the disc audio out there, like, you know, some. Five posts in and you're not making an overwhelmingly favorable impression, Cineramic...

My copy came today (not for review, just a personal copy). DOn't know when I'll get to watch it, my first viewing in almost forty years (I never had the laserdisc). But I'm looking forward to seeing it again to gauge how my reactions as a much older man stack up to what I thought as a young man. 

r

 

Certainly looking forward to you thoughts on the film after all these years and on the DVD-r. 

 

Watched the disc last night...Wow - SONY did a pretty good job for a MOD of an unpopular film (4 trailers, Song demos with an extensive and well put together slide montage show, an alternate scene, and two making of docs, plus a beautiful image transfer!

 

The Disc

The print was pretty clean of any damage, dirt etc. (Of course the film didn't get much play in theaters so the neg wouldn't be worn) The colors looked great, and the restored scenes also looked great (couldn't tell a difference)

 

The sound was flat mono - true - and there is no chapter stop menu (but there are chapters)

 

The Film

This film's reputation is more famous than the film itself - yes we've all heard the Bette Midler quite about Liv Ullman musicals....and yes the film was referred to as "Lost Investment" by the studio.  But honestly - this film isn't really bad - it's extremely watchable and much of the acting is very good (Peter Finch esp)

 

The look of the film is much better on the dvd than I remember from recent theatrical screenings. Detail is very good - I could finally appreciaite the costumes and set design.

 

The cut sequences seemed to add to the film (in this case). Maybe since musicals have fallen out of style this film doesn't look as bad as it seemed in 1973 (and many worse musical films have come along since then ...The Wiz, Xanadu, Annie, A Chorus Line.....oh, I could go on and on.

 

What gives this film the negative press has always been The score - most of the musicals numbers are voice over monologues or performance pieces, few burst into song running down the street in the rain. Some of the songs are okay (Share the Joy, I Come to You, World is a Circle, Things I Will Not Miss)  others really miss the mark

 

Hermes Pan did the choreography (He staged Fred Astaire's musical numbers in many of Fred's films)

I could never understand Pan's talent (Fred seems to be the man responsible for all his own work) everything Pan did without Astaire was pretty weak and Lost Horizon is his worst. (Of course he was working with actors who weren't musical to begin with)

 

Hal David's lyrics are pretty bad, the music sometimes works but David should not be writing musical theater ("Promises Promises" was a hit in spite of it's score and much to Michael Bennett's choreography and Neil Simon's book)

 

Of course "racial" casting was not a sign of the times in 1972 and Asians were still portrayed by white English & French actors (though Mickey Rooney was unavailable)

 

Okay that Fertility dance - not as bad as I believed it would be - in fact the dancers were very professional and didn't embarrass themselves (and it was not as bad as some of the dances in "Jesus Christ Superstar" also 1973).  I thought the whole thing worked well enough. 

 

The number I always cringe at is Bobby Van's (who by the way is the only dancer in the cast) when he sings the awful "Question Me an Answer" and Sally Kellerman's little jiggle dance in "Reflections"

 

 

If you think the songs are bad (Many do) wait until you hear them sung by Burt Barcharach himself - truly bad, if the composer can't pull them off how can a cast of non-singers? Who greenlit the score?

Edited by GMpasqua - 10/14/11 at 11:05am

And thank goodness Mr. Rooney was not available

To GM, if you know anything about composers, they often sing their own songs no matter what their voice sounds like. THEY ALL do it. Has nothing to do with if they can't make them sound good, how can anyone else? That's ridiculous.

The lyrics for most of the songs are very good, particularly SHARE THE JOY, I COME TO YOU and IF I COULD GO BACK. I will agree that the lyrics for QUESTION ME AN ANSWER are really silly and the song is not one of my favorites, but outside of that one, I think the rest are fine.

The only real bit of silly choreography is the giggling on the rock Sally Kellerman move. I think at the time, the thinking was, "hey, it's Academy Award nominee Sally Kellerman and she has a style all her own". Between Charles Jarrott and Hermes Pan you would have thought that one of them would have tried something different.

LOST HORIZON is a strange mixture of straight drama, adventure and musical sequences. It has the distinction of being the ONLY anti war musical fantasy ever filmed.

What you don't hear about this film is that it made a lot of money overseas. Highly different and unique in it's approach as a film musical, it deserves far better credit than it's given. As a story, LOST HORIZON is an incredible adventure and both the 1937 Frank Capra film and this 1973 musical are faithful adaptations of the James Hilton novel. What I like about the 1973 version is the freedom in which the musical numbers are presented. The film has a prestigious cast and a gifted director and cinematographer. This is a BURT BACHARACH Shangri-La. Songs like THE WORLD IS A CIRCLE, SHARE THE JOY and LIVING TOGETHER, GROWING TOGETHER evoke a giddy happiness that Hilton wrote about in his novel. Why shouldn't Shangri-La be a slightly goofy place? The two love songs, I MIGHT FRIGHTEN HER AWAY and the deleted I COME TO YOU are the sensitive spots in the picture. There's a peacefulness and soft spoken quality in both these songs that is very much keeping with the philosophy of the story.

I always found it interesting in this story how the High Lama kidnaps someone from the outside world to take his place in Shangri-La. The character of the High Lama is a gentle soul but somewhat radical in his view of mankind as a whole. He has no hope for the world outside of Shangri-La. If this film were to be remade today, it would be interesting to see more emphasis put on the leading character, RICHARD ONWAY'S conflict with what he left behind in the outside world as opposed to what he's found in Shangri-La.

Of course, for the film to be believable, the character of RICHARD CONWAY must be presented as suffering amnesia at the end, like he was in the book. Neither film versions of LOST HORIZON were faithful to the novel in that regard. Did Conway find Shangri-La or was it imagined? Did they all die in the plane crash? Every man has his own idea of what his Shangri-La would be. The conflict with Conway wanting to believe in Shangri-La and returning to his old life in the outside world is powerful. I like the melancholy on the faces of Kellerman, Kennedy and Van as they watch their friends leave the mystical valley. Interesting how Conway doesn't want to leave paradise, but is being pressured out by his brother. Both versions of LOST HORIZON work in different ways, but both are successful in probing James Hiltons ideas of a hidden valley where money has no value and moderation is the rule. So in a sense it's anti capitalism in it's theme where as money and materialism is not the motivation. Human kindness, decency, compassion, courtesy, etiquette and living harmoniously with each other is the rule.

LOST HORIZON has a much stronger story than most musicals. It attempts to answer the basic fundamental questions of life and one can hardly fault it for not succeeding. One has to remember that LOST HORIZON in 1973 was post CABARET. It was no longer fashionable for characters to break out in song in a musical, much less to be dubbed by other singers. LOST HORIZON was an easy target for jaded critics. The expectations for it were high, almost unreasonable. There were two targets to be hit, the producer, ROSS HUNTER and BURT BACHARACH and the critics were out to get both of them. Ross Hunter had enjoyed decades of financial success as a producer and LOST HORIZON was his follow up film to his 1970 blockbuster AIRPORT That film was Universals biggest moneymaker up to that time and the success of that picture triggered a decade of disaster films. For years AIRPORT was the most watched film ever to be shown on television. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture. At the time, Burt Bacharach and Hal David were the most successful songwriters in the country. The unabashed sentimentality of LOST HORIZON hardly had a chance in the wake of the breakdown of censorship in groundbreaking films like EASY RIDER, MIDNIGHT COWBOY and THE GODFATHER. Sex and violence was a new frontier in the late 60's and early 70's Audiences were flocking to films with content that they were not use to seeing on the screen. Lavish musicals were no longer well received no matter how well they were made. Today LOST HORIZON can be enjoyed and appreciated on several levels. It's an escapist film with a strong story, wonderful music, an expensive budget and some quirky humor. It's unconventional in the sense that the music is not introduced until 45 minutes into the film. It changes course mid way when Shangri-la is introduced. This was hard for alot of viewers to accept.

Many composers do not you have the greatest voices, but I do know when the songs are given to non-singers they aren't going to sound any better. 

 

When demos make the score song sound sub-standard - unless you get an extremely talent singer - the end results will not be better.  Maybe Barbra Streisand could have pulled some of the songs off, but then again maybe not. Certainly a non-musical actor who's voice is over dubbed will not bring any more magic to a song than sounds mediocre at best on a demo recording. But listening to the demos I can't hear how anyone would think this score was good regardless of the composer's vocals.

 

Non-composers may think the lyrics sounds okay, but the lyrics here are really not well crafted - there was no attempt to follow traditional musical comedy/drama lyric writing craft which has been proven to work time and time again. And David's style may work in one number but not in 7 numbers. Though, as I watched the film I was reminded of an excellent score ...one written by Lener and Lowe ...for "Camelot"...but that's because the film was shot on the same set as King Arthur's castle in the 1967 film of "Camelot"

 

 

 

Bobby Van's dancing comes off as silly and embarrassing and he was trained at MGM and has done very good work in the past. If anyone should look good dancing in Lost Horizon it's Bobby Van!

 

 

As far as anti-war musicals, I guess you never heard of "Hair"

 

There's a wonderful pre-Lost Horizon anti-war musical: Richard Attenborough's Oh, What a Lovely War!

 

But what about:

"When the day comes that the world begins to look for a new life, it is our hope they may find it here in Shangri-La. Here we shall be with our way of life based on one simple rule--love. And it is our hope that Shangri-La's brotherly love will then spread throughout the world. And when the strong have devoured each other, then at last the meek shall inherit the Earth."

Sounds pretty optimistic to me.

"Oh, What a Lovely War" is one of my favorite films   the DVD looks pretty good too

 

....but usually if you say "I guess you never heard of "Oh What a Lovely War"?

most people would say "No, I haven't" it had a small release in 1969 in the States. After a few months in a few major cities it went to art houses in early 1970
 

 

 

Great film and one of my favorite's.  I was lucky enough to spend time with Richard Attenborough at a Showeast Convention around Jurassic Park time and he was amazed that I had seen Oh, What A Lovely War! and was quite pleased that I considered it a favorite and was very proud of the film. 
 

 

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE was advertised as being "presented in the grandeur, scope and excitement of 70mm projection and 6 track stereophonic sound" at bothe the National in NYC and the State-Lake in Chicago. Also, the Egyptian in Hollywood and Alexandria in San Francisco also advertised it in 70mm and 6 track stereo throughout both theatres' runs.

I'm a little curious about statements of LOST HORIZON being a roadshow as stated in the press release. The world premiere was at the National Theatre in Westwood (Los Angeles) and the engagement there was a regular continuous performance basis. (According to a Cinema Treasures post by Michael Coate, it ran 11 weeks there, and 18 weeks at the Northpoint in San Francisco).

This Cinema Treasures link shows a picture of World premiere night:

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/799/photos/7864

I first saw LOST HORIZON on television when NBC split it up into two nights (a Sunday and Monday, IIRC) and even though it was chock full of commercials and panned and scanned, it still made an impression on me.

 

I'd never seen the 1937 version before this, so to my sensibilities, this one is the "original".  The music didn't bother me at all - I'm a fan of Burt Bacharach's work - even his vocals.  At that point the movie faded into obscurity for a long time.  I caught it listed (again in two parts) as a WABC late night movie sometime in the early '80s.  Living in Philly, the best I could obtain on videotape was a fuzzy version from WABC.  A few years later, I managed to spot another rare television showing on TBS.  It was chopped up with commercials and heavily edited, but at least I could now see a semi-decent picture.

 

Finally the 1992 LaserDisc was announced, and I drove myself 30 miles out to "LaserLand" in Paoli, PA, a store that specialized in LaserDiscs.  It was Tuesday, release-day, and I wanted that movie that day.  Finally, I'd get a chance to see the movie in all its widescreen glory.  I remember sitting in the parking lot, opening the gatefold LaserDisc package, reading all of the liner notes, checking the specs, and being intrigued with not only restored footage, but stereo sound, and the ability to isolate the score on one of the analog channels.

 

In the past year I've archived a copy of the LaserDisc onto two DVD-Rs - it wouldn't fit on one without compromising the picture, and have been meaning to also attempt to capture the isolated soundtrack.

 

I got word of this MOD-DVD-R the other day and promptly ordered it through Amazon.  It's not here yet, and now I find myself somewhat dismayed that I hadn't found this thread first.  I might have held off on ordering it if I'd known of its lack of a stereo track.  But I'll probably still enjoy the enhanced picture on the HDTVs.

 

Harry

I miss the days when network television would show epic theatrical releases over 2 nights. It made the films seem that much more special-and like NBC's titled series-they seemed like a Big Event.
Even better was when they added network footage to the telecasts to either make up a longer running time to fit a 3 hour or 2 night time slot or to excise footage seemed unshowable with more pedestrian material. Either way it added to my enjoyment to see a network version of TWO MINUTE WARNING (which-to me-seemed like a tv movie with added violence that went theatrical).
I also remember the unfairly trashed LOST HORIZON's network premiere-it was one to cherish.

I remember "Lost Horizon" was shown during Chrismas week 73 or 74 in New York - that's the first time I saw it.  It must have been successful on TV because they re-ran it the following year. Then it disappeared and turned up on TBS or TMC on Christmas night in the early 90's. Then the laserdisc came out.

 

As for "The Posideon Adventure" ya know...you're probably both right ... not all prints of a film are released in stereo or 70MM.  Some cities even got Mono prints of big roadshow films that opened in New York or LA in 6 channel stereo.  I saw "Grease" on opening day in 1978 at the Lowes State 1 in New York - it was a 70MM blow up and stereo surround etc ...a few weeks later I saw it again at the mutlipelx - it was 35mm stereo - but I don't believe it was 6 channel or anything like that. By the way, the 35mm version looked awful compared to the 70MM blow up.  After a film played in stereo at a first run theater the second run theaters sometimes got mono prints.

 

Some theaters never even got the full version of many roadshow films which were cut by the time the opened in their cities.

I got my copy of Lost Horizon this morning.
I have todeclare an intense interest, as i am the one that produced the Pioneer Laserdisc version ofthismusical.

Its great to see the restored songs from good material. All I had was ok faded workprint towork from.
The song I Come to Youis not the same shot version. this one Live Ullman And Peter Finch sing the entire song resting against the tree. The one I had to use for the laser started briefly against the tree and continued as thetwoof them walked.

Still Missing is the Intermission. This should come at 01:36:32
Also missing is the reprise of Living Together sung by George Kennedy, sallyKellerman and then the chorus. This should come at 01:43:42

Also missing, surprisingly is the original uncut version of where Knowledge Ends. Theroadshow version has TWO verses. The only one i could find was a one verse version. thats the exact same version yu get here. You can hear the two verse version on the oldLP or CD of the soundtrack.

Liv Ull man is sung by a freind of minek, Diane Lee. Diane also sang for Samantha eggar in Dr. Dolittle.
Diana is the daughter of famed dubber Bill Lee - the voice of Captain von Trapp in theSound of Music and joe cable in south Pacific.
INterestingly, you CAN see and her a bit of the missing Living together reprise in one of the docs on the disc - Ross Hunter - on the way toShangri La
at 08:31 you can see some osf the native girls dancing and singing to this, Then at 08:55 you can see George Kennedy and sally Kellerman on top of the dam singing along with them.

 

The 35mm Grease stereo would have been Dolby Stereo (4-channel) which was introduced to theatres in 1977.  A Star Is Born was the first film to use the 4-channel stereo, but it was Star Wars that really got it noticed.  The theatre circuit that I was with at the time, put in five Dolby Systems just for Grease in their busier complexes, but only one auditorium, the big one, got the system.  The smaller towns and second run theaters along with smaller auditoriums in the complexes that had Dolby Stereo when the print was moved down would have played it mono since the systems were not prevalent.  The Dolby Stereo prints were backward compatible so they could play in a theatre with a Dolby Processor or on an old RCA tube sound processor at the Strand Theatre in Sulligent, AL. 

 

It actually was not until the early 90's that major theatre circuits would equip all their screens in new complexes with some type of stereo system.  
 

 

Where was the film roadshowed? The day after the World Premier, the film ran regular continous performances in two L.A. theatres (National, Hollywood Cinema) and a week later opened in NYC at the State and Tower East theatres, also on continous performances. With the showtimes listed, I doubt there was even an intermission used. It opened its engagements on March 7 in L.A. and March 14 in NYC.

Actually, Grease only opened in 35mm Dolby Stereo at the State in NYC. It wouldn't be until August 16 of that summer that a 70mm 6-Track Diolby Stereo print would appear at the Ziegfeld. (Grease had been planned for release in excluisive engagements during Memorial Day weekend, all in key markets in 70mm...post production delays caused this plan to be cancelled and the film went wide instead in June. A second 70mm print was booked in Los Angeles that August at the Village in Los Angeles). Thanks to Michael Coate's research that confirmed my memories on this.

One memory I have of LOST HORIZON was the TV coverage of the premiere in L.A. M.C. Merv Griffin asked Liv Ullman if this was just the biggest and best movie she had ever made. She kind of stumbled through an answer that said something like, "well, it was certainly the most expensive."

As for me, I saw the movie that summer in Bakersfield at the late, great 1230 seat Valley Plaza Cinema, a 70mm house showing a 35mm MONO print (WERE there any stereo prints of this film? Two other "BIG" Columbia releases in this time frame, 1776 and Young Winston, were only released in mono!

I got my LOST HORIZON today. It's beautiful. Details that I'm not use to seeing. Sounds gorgeous and the added material is essential. Why would they cut that fertility dance? You can understand what everyone was talking about. No matter what your opinion of it is, that dance is mesmerizing. You can't keep your eyes off it. It IS the best part of this DVD. I was struck that the I COME TO YOU sequence on the laserdisc was actually an outtake, which I prefer to the one in this version, which I suppose is what audiences saw back in 1973. It's nice too, but I like when Finch gets up and walks towards the Malibu mountain and turns around to Ullmann. At least they have it on here as an outtake. Burt Bacharach singing I COME TO YOU is very wonderful. The alternative LIVING TOGETHER on the teaser trailer is a wonderful arrangement of that song. MISSING however is the instrumental track, so for that reason, the laserdisc remains a collectable.

Wow, watching this version of LOST HORIZON is affecting me more than I thought it would. The inserted restored scenes deepen the performances and work in a way they never did in the laserdisc version. Burt Bacharach is a genius. The songs are alive and moving. The color timing is different than how I'm use to watching this film, but this story remains powerful. Ross Hunter made some classic memorable films, but LOST HORIZON, AIRPORT and IMITATION OF LIFE are his masterpieces.

Cineramic, you are amazing in this thread.
The new version affects you more than it ever did on Laser. Thats your opinion. I Come to You is the best song - says you !!

the old laser version of that song is an outake - says you!! How the hell would you know either way.
wonderful pronunciamentos from someone who did not A work on the Film B restore the laser C. restore the dvd. D. was at opening night inNew York for the uncut showing with Intermission.

I recall watching Lost Horizon back in the early 70s, finding it very absorbing, and rather unexpectedly moving towards the end. Completely ignorant of the capra version, of course.

Now I have the Capra on dvd and find shangri-la to be just a set of 20s/30s california buildings with an art deco flavour, which rather loses the magic for me.

Yet Lost Horizon remains a guilty pleasure for me, a blast of colour and gentle music in my memory.

Not sure whether I'll aim for this disc or hold out for a later edition without a mono soundtrack. Very pleased to know it is available on dvd!

Joe Caps, I see you took your bitchy pill today.

You may have worked on the laser disc but you had nothing to do with this latest DVD release. Moreover, you bragged to everyone about laying in your own singing voice in the Share the Joy number on the laser disc which is a load of crap and you told me at that you stoled the isolated instrumental track to the film, so you're a shady character.

I many have worked on the LASERDISC? I produced it and my name is on it.l

As for other accusations- prove it- I stole the music only track. Hardly worth doing when its on every laserdisc produced of this film

Seeing as you have seemed to join this forum only to talk about Lost Horizon, you doing pretty good. I did NOT take a bitchy pill. I call them as I see them.

I finally found the time to watch Lost Horizon this afternoon.

 

The DVD video quality is simply spectacular, and it upconverts beautifully. This is one of the very best DVD (DVD-r included) releases I've seen in a long, long time in terms of the video quality. Clean image with excellent sharpness and rich, rich color. Good black levels and little to no sign of wear and tear. I was really, really surprised and delighted by the picture quality.

 

The sound is, alas, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. It's clean audio but rather flat sounding, I thought. The Sony Home Entertainment logo at the beginning of the disc IS in Dolby Digital 5.1. Perhaps that's why the press release said that codec was featured on the disc. It is, for about 10 seconds.

 

As for the film, it's a decent version of the Lost Horizon story, but I didn't think the performances were that special (I liked Sally Kellerman best), and some like Liv Ullmann really lack that prime essential for a musical: charm. The director didn't show much fluidity with the camera during the musical numbers, and they mostly seem static and lifeless.

 

I also do not much like the score. I wish Lerner and Loewe had been asked to tackle it (they were alienated from one another but did regroup for The Little Prince one last time). And if L&L wouldn't do it, perhaps Bock and Harnick might have worked well with the material. I think the score is mostly forgettable.