Lost Horizon

I have a confession to make.....in August 1974 I re-opened an old cinema and this was the premiere attraction. The sound gargled away from behind the flabby screen and the invited audience sat on the lumpy seats. I looked like Top Cat in a tuxedo, and this film unfolded across the joins on our cinemascope presentation. What a night! Unforgettable in its mangy charm and an intro into the glamorous world of second rate showbiz to which I am still magnetized today. As a result I have a special place in my heart for this gloriously awful musical. All I can say was that the opening night crowd fled into the darkness after the last reel flapped off the projector. Some even promised to return and asked what was on next week: "MAME ...with Lucy" I grinned as I locked the door. Somehow the business survived and I even got to showcase AT LONG LAST LOVE the next year. LOST HORIZON was quite successful in Australia and was first released in Sydney as presented in 70mm for 13 weeks.... families liked it and for a while it was considered the sort of Brady Bunch family sort of musical. I just wanted to open my crummy seaside cinema with something nice. So I did and thank Neptune the locals forgave me. I deliciously look forward to the DVD release with the infamous deleted scenes, especially the legendary diaper dance with the guys swinging teapots and extended versions of Bobby Van leaping about with Liv Ullman. Am I correct in believing this was Ross Hunter's last production?

Usually when a film is hailed as the above description, it has to be considered watchable enough to enjoy the film's ineptitude. Some films like this are bad, but to watch them would be asking a whole lot of the viewer. LOST HORIZON certainly does not fit that last description because while CITIZEN KANE it is not, it certainly does not deserve to be trashed.

By the time LOST HORIZON came along, the movie musical was already considered a dead genre, save for the occasional import from Broadway that actually turned out well (OLIVER! & CABARET come immediately to mind). However, the age of the musical where songs were written especially for the movie had long been buried. That did not matter to producer Ross Hunter, who always was a safeguard of Old Hollywood even after the advent of the MPAA allowed for movies to be made of subjects that the studios would not have touched with a ten-foot pole. Hunter may have succeeded in bringing back old-fashioned soap operas with the Douglas Sirk movies, but as THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE showed with its original songs that paled in comparison to the classics it stood alongside (well, almost), the musical was perhaps not a genre in need of a revival.

You certainly could have fooled Hunter, who went full-steam ahead with his musicalization of a property that should have been left alone to begin with. Casting actors with little to no musical training & badly dubbing them was bad enough, but choosing a project that worked best in its original format was double trouble. That is certainly not to fault Burt Bacharach & Hal David's music, which is fine enough, though certainly not up to par with their Dionne Warwick spectaculars. But you get the idea that maybe even they were doubtful of this project's bankability. Supposedly the film led to the break-up of their previously infallible partnership, as well as Hunter's film career (he mostly worked for TV afterwards).

Apparently, Hollywood likes to keep its megaflops very secret because LOST HORIZON has not been seen much since its theatrical debut, and has not even made it onto VHS, let alone DVD in the U.S. (I found my copy courtesy of eBay). But if even Ed Wood's hilariously bad movies can be released & enjoyed by people even for all the wrong reasons, then certainly LOST HORIZON can. So I hope that Columbia Pictures can find it in their hearts to bring this movie back into circulation so we can enjoy it (even genuinely because it appears some people actually did). Heck, if only for the camp value, it would be a surefire hit. With CHICAGO & MOULIN ROUGE having indicated the musical is making a comeback, then it would be good to have LOST HORIZON out on the market again to educate people in how not to make one. But it sure is hell of a lot of fun along the way.

Lost Horizon is not nearly as bad as the box office numbers would suggest. Its chief failing is the audience comes to see Shangri-La and sees, well, Burbank. Actually, it looks more like the Huntington Gardens. It would have been better to improve upon the book's shortcomings rather than try to recreate it. Perhaps a "Wizard of Oz"-like plot, where all of the people meet along parallel paths to Shangri-La, only to discover their real sanctuary was where they came from.

I remember getting a preview copy of the album quite some time before the film was released. I loved the music, but would have to agree the vocal performances are a disaster. But, I was looking forward to seeing it in the theater. At nearly 2.5 hours in its roadshow release, I was checking my watch about 45 minutes into the piece. Even when I watch it on DVD today, there are large sections I fast forward through.

As others have noted, why didn't Ross Hunter hire people who could sing in the key roles? Probably studio pressure for "bankable" stars who were "hot" at the time. No doubt someone also observed Bacharach & David are pop song writers, and you don't need to be a very good vocalist to sing pop--right? Well, the more recent musical disaster, the aptly named "Mamma Mia!" ABBA tribute also suffered from dreadful vocal performances. So much for the "anyone can sing pop" theory. Make no mistake, Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan are fine actors, but they should never the be the leads in a musical! Why not cast Glenn Close?

But back to "Lost Horizon," I think the other problem is by the time this was released in 1972, the music and presentation were considered dated or "old school." Similar complaints were leveled at Hunters 1970 film "Airport"--calling it "old fashioned filmmaking."

So, you've got three things working against the film: a dull plot, dated music, and principal vocalists who can't sing. Now some have commented that the Hollywood musical was dead by 1972. There were some other big features that only had mediocre results at this time, but just 6 years later, "Grease," with a budget of just $6 million, earned almost $400 million at the box office. No doubt it was helped by a couple of hit singles, but there was certainly some audience interest still out there.

Disney seems to have found a formula that appeals to a new generation with its "High School Musical" series and its forthcoming "Teen Beach Musical." Several of the studio's animated musical features have been remade into successful Broadway musicals. Time will tell if there is a revival of interest in big budget, big screen musicals with principals who can actually sing.

This movie is one on the forgotten musicals. The Burt Bacharach-Hal David music alone is worth the price of the film. Almost all reviewers say it is a bomb, but after seeing it three times it grows on you. The music is TERIFFIC!

While the songs and dance numbers, in general, aren't as strong as many would have them be, the film's storyline and message are still there and ring out loudly above the simple 70s-style musical numbers.

Keeping in mind that this film was made after the Hollywood Musical had nearly died out (with few exceptions being rock musicals), the audiences that went to see it new didn't appreciate the fact that it was a brave attempt at something that hadn't been done to date. Audiences that see it today will tend to judge it against the films and musicals of today and, perhaps, the huge all-star casts of musicals gone past. But to do that to this film, or any for that matter, is an injustice to the film itself.

There are some good musical moments in the film. The first is that of Bobby Van. Mr. Van took his role of Harry Lovett just after closing a 2 year Tony nominated (for best actor) run of the Broadway revival, "No, No, Nanette." He is a song-and-dance-man from way back and, honestly, the only one in the cast that was truly talented and experienced for musicals. He never misses a step in his "Question Me An Answer" and rightly so ... he was totally at home as Harry. Other pleasant numbers are done by Olivia Hussey when she welcomes the new visitors and while the lyrics are weak, James Shigeta shows his strong voice in the "Family" song, as well as a nicely done staging of the full piece.

View the film for what it is ... a fantasy about a place where you never grow old, hidden in the ice and snow covered mountains of Tibet, found by a group of unsuspecting modern-day people wrapped up in the strife of any modern culture. Take this and compare it to reality and you get a film that falls short of a goal. But ... take this film for the message of love and peace and tranquility and brotherly love and you get a warm and refreshing message and a positive one at that.

To some this film may seem corny to others a welcomed release from the hectic pace of reality. To the first, try to not judge and just enjoy the message. To the second, you have discovered the secret of Shangri-La!