Lost Horizon (1973 film)

Lost Horizon is a 1973 American adventure fantasy musical film directed by Charles Jarrott and starring Peter Finch, Liv Ullmann, Sally Kellerman, George Kennedy, Michael York, Olivia Hussey, Bobby Van, James Shigeta, Charles Boyer, and John Gielgud.[3] It was the final film produced by Ross Hunter. The film is a remake of Frank Capra's film of the same name, with a screenplay by Larry Kramer. The stories of both this version and that from 1937 were adapted from James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon. The song score was composed by Burt Bacharach, with lyrics by Hal David.

Lost Horizon
Theatrical release poster by Howard Terpning
Directed byCharles Jarrott
Produced byRoss Hunter
Screenplay byLarry Kramer
Based onLost Horizon
(1933 novel)
by James Hilton
Lost Horizon
(1937 film)
by Robert Riskin
StarringPeter Finch
Liv Ullmann
Sally Kellerman
George Kennedy
Michael York
Olivia Hussey
Bobby Van
John Gielgud
James Shigeta
Charles Boyer
Music byBurt Bacharach
CinematographyRobert Surtees
Edited byMaury Winetrobe
Production
company
Ross Hunter Productions
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • March 17, 1973 (1973-03-17)
Running time
150 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5.9 million[1]
Box office$3.8 million[2]

Lost Horizon was lambasted by critics at the time of its 1973 release, and its reputation has not improved since, though it has developed a small cult following. It was selected for inclusion in the book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, co-written by critic Michael Medved, and is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.[4] The film was also a box office bomb, losing an estimated $9 million.[5]

Plot

This musical version is much closer to the 1937 film than to the original James Hilton novel. It tells the story of a group of travellers whose airplane is hijacked while fleeing a bloody revolution. The aeroplane crash lands in an unexplored area of the Himalayas, where the party is rescued and taken to the lamasery of Shangri-La. Miraculously, Shangri-La, sheltered by mountains on all sides, is a temperate paradise amid the land of snows. Perfect health is the norm, and inhabitants live to very old age while maintaining a youthful appearance.

The newcomers quickly adjust, especially Richard Conway, the group's leader. He falls in love with Catherine, a schoolteacher. Sally Hughes, a drug-addicted news photographer, is suicidal at first, but begins counselling with lamas Chang and To-Lenn and finds inner peace. Sam Cornelius discovers gold, but Sally convinces him to use his engineering skills to bring better irrigation to the farmers of Shangri-La instead of attempting to smuggle out the gold. Harry Lovett is a third-rate comic and song and dance man who has a flair for working with the children of Shangri-La.

Everyone is content to stay except Conway's younger brother, George. George has fallen in love with Maria , a dancer, and wants to take her along when he leaves. Chang warns Richard that Maria came to Shangri-La over 80 years before, at the age of 20. If she were to leave the valley, she would revert to her actual age.

Richard is summoned to meet the High Lama, who informs him that he was brought there for a reason, to succeed him as the leader of the community. However, on the night that the High Lama dies, George and Maria insist to Richard that everything the High Lama and Chang have said is a lie. They convince him to leave immediately.

Still in shock from the High Lama's death, Richard leaves without even saying goodbye to Catherine. Not long after their departure, Maria suddenly ages and dies, and George, in grief over the death of his partner, commits suicide by falling to his death down an icy ravine. Richard struggles on alone, ending up in a hospital bed in the Himalayan foothills. He runs away, back to the mountains, and miraculously finds the portal to Shangri-La once more.

Cast

Production

Development

Ross Hunter made his name producing remakes at Universal, including Magnificent Obsession and Imitation of Life. Lost Horizon had been adapted on Broadway as Shangri-La in 1956. In April 1971, Hunter left Universal after an association of over 20 years. He set up operations at Columbia where his first film was to be Lost Horizon.[6] Hunter called the film "a picture of hope, of faith with a spiritual quality. We all need that with the pressures of the world... Everyone's looking for a place that has peace and security."[7]

Larry Kramer has publicly acknowledged that he is not particularly proud of his workmanlike job adapting the original film's script for this film. However, the deal he engineered for his work on the film—hot on the heels of his Oscar nomination for the screenplay for Women in Love—combined with skilled investments, made it possible for him to live the rest of his creative life free of financial worries. In that sense, this film enabled Kramer to devote himself to the gay community activism and the writings (e.g., his AIDS play The Normal Heart) which came later.

Hermes Pan, best known for his work with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, was hired to do choreography.[8]

Casting

Hunter had a role in the film written for Helen Hayes, though her role was ultimately taken by Sally Kellerman.[9] The other leading roles were cast with four-time BAFTA-winning actor Peter Finch, Liv Ullman, George Kennedy, Michael York, Olivia Hussey, and Bobby Van. Caucasian English actor John Gielgud was cast the lama Chang, performing the role under yellowface. [10] Many of the lead actors had their singing dubbed in the film.

Finch later said he did not enjoy making the film and regretted the experience.[11]

Filming

Charles Jarrott was the third director to be involved with the production.[12] Carol Reed was originally set to direct and, because of Reed's involvement, Larry Kramer agreed to write the screenplay. Reed backed out, and was replaced by Franklin J. Schaffner, who in turn was replaced by Jarrott.

The film was shot in the American states of Oregon, Washington, Arizona and California. Mt. Hood in Oregon was used to simulate the Himalayan mountains. Some of the snow sequences were shot on location in the Cascade Mountains in Washington. The opening evacuation sequence was shot in Tucson, AZ, the refueling sequence in Victorville, CA and that closeups of the trek to Shangri-La were shot at Bronson Canyon in Los Angeles, with simulated snow.

For a cost of $500,000 the lamasery set was built on four acres of the backlot of Burbank Studios, which had previously been used as King Arthur's court in the 1967 production Camelot. The commemorative book stated that the 20th Century Fox ranch in Malibu, CA was leased for the Valley of the Blue Moon scenes.

Music

On the hiring of Burt Bacharach as composer, Hunter said in 1971, "Burt and I have been talking about doing a picture together for years, but Burt's been saying 'I've made so much money that when I do a movie I want it to last. Then maybe my movie will last."[7]

In his 2013 autobiography, Burt Bacharach cites Lost Horizon as very nearly ending his musical career.[13] He stated that the songs worked when taken in isolation, but not in the context of the film. The Bacharach-David partnership, which had been long and both critically and financially successful, was effectively terminated by their experiences working on the score. Bacharach felt that the producers were sanctioning weakened versions of his music, and he attempted to exert greater influence over what was being developed. However, this led to him being banned from the editing suite at Todd-AO.[14] Bacharach felt that he had been left to defend his position alone, and that Hal David had been inadequately supportive. This led to an exchange of lawsuits, destroying their professional relationship.[15] Bacharach's own vision of the music was later realised in his album Living Together (1974).

Of the lead actors, only Sally Kellerman, Bobby Van, and James Shigeta perform their own singing. George Kennedy was coached by Bacharach but was not used as a vocalist in the finished film. Olivia Hussey, Peter Finch and Liv Ullmann were dubbed by Andra Willis, Jerry Whitman, and Diana Lee respectively. Some of the children who provided the singing voices of the children of Shangri-La were Alison Freebairn-Smith, Pamelyn Ferdin (a popular child actress of the 1960s and 1970s, who was the original voice of Lucy Van Pelt in the Peanuts TV specials), Harry Blackstone III, David Joyce and Jennifer Hicklin.

Large parts of the score were deleted after the film's roadshow release. The dance sections of "Living Together, Growing Together" were cut, and "If I Could Go Back", "Where Knowledge Ends (Faith Begins)", and "I Come to You" were cut, but restored for the laserdisc release of the film. All of the songs appear on the soundtrack LP and CD. According to the notes on the laserdisc release, Kellerman and Kennedy had a reprise of "Living Together, Growing Together" that was also lost.

Critical reception

Lost Horizon is considered one of the last of several box-office musical failures of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and also the last musical film to be given the roadshow release, which came in the wake of the success of The Sound of Music.[16] Attempts to update the idea of Shangri-La with its racial inequalities intact, coupled with old-fashioned songs, effectively sealed its fate according to The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael. She noted that Shangri-La was depicted as:

a middle-class geriatric utopia [where] ... you can live indefinitely, lounging and puttering about for hundreds of years ... the Orientals are kept in their places, and no blacks ... are among the residents. There's probably no way to rethink this material without throwing it all away.[17]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one star out of four and wrote that "it sinks altogether during a series of the most incompetent and clumsy dance numbers I've ever seen."[18] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded one star out of four and wrote that "Nothing works. Not the lyrics, not the sets, not the dancing, not the script, and—with all that going against them—not the actors."[19] Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "a big, stale marshmallow" that was "surprisingly tacky in appearance" despite its large budget.[20] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film looked "tacky and uncomfortable" and described the songs as "mechanical and uninteresting."[21] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the score "leaves almost no impression and certainly nothing resembling a joyful impression", adding, "Even if the songs did make you dance with joy, you'd be dancing alone. With the exception of Bobby Van, a kind of poor man's Donald O'Connor, the cast has no aptitude for singing and dancing."[22]

After derided preview screenings[23] Columbia Pictures attempted to re-cut the film, but to no avail. Critic John Simon remarked that it "must have arrived in garbage rather than in film cans." Lost Horizon was such a box-office failure that the film gained the nickname "Lost Investment".[24] Bette Midler alluded to it as "Lost Her-Reason" and famously quipped "I never miss a Liv Ullmann musical".[25] Woody Allen quipped "If I could live my life over again I wouldn't change a thing...except for seeing the musical version of Lost Horizon".

The film was selected for inclusion in the book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, co-written by critic Michael Medved. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.[26]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was moderately more successful than the film, peaking at #56 on the Billboard 200. Commercially successful singles were issued of both the title song, performed by Shawn Phillips, and "Living Together, Growing Together" by The 5th Dimension, the latter being the band's last top 40 hit on the Billboard pop charts. The song "Things I Will Not Miss" was covered by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye during recording sessions for the 1973 album Diana and Marvin. Tony Bennett recorded "Living Together, Growing Together" and "If I Could Go Back" for MGM/Verve. Richard Harris sang "If I Could Go Back" to the original musical arrangement made for the movie in the 1973 TV special Burt Bacharach in Shangri-La. Bacharach later reworked "Living Together, Growing Together" for his 1974 album of the same name, rewriting the rather ponderous opening verse as a bridge within the song.[27][28]

Songs
  • "Lost Horizon" (sung by Shawn Phillips over the opening and closing credits)
  • "Share the Joy" (Maria)
  • "The World Is a Circle" (Catherine, Harry and children)
  • "Living Together, Growing Together" (To Len and Company)
  • "I Might Frighten Her Away" (Richard and Catherine)
  • "The Things I Will Not Miss" (Sally and Maria)
  • "If I Could Go Back" (Richard)
  • "Where Knowledge Ends (Faith Begins)" (Catherine)
  • "Reflections" (Sally)
  • "Question Me an Answer" (Harry and children)
  • "I Come to You" (Richard)

Hunter wanted to follow up the movie with another musical Hollywood Hollywood set in Hollywood in the 1930s.[29] It was never made.

Home media

On October 11, 2011, Columbia Classics, the manufacturing-on-demand unit of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, released a fully restored version of the film on DVD in Region 1, which reinstated all of the elements cut after the roadshow release. The DVD also contains supplemental features, including promos featuring producer Ross Hunter as well as the original song demos played and sung by composer Burt Bacharach. Some of these demos contain different Hal David lyrics from those in the final versions utilized in the film.

On December 11, 2012, Screen Archives Entertainment (Twilight Time) released an exclusive Blu-ray Disc version of the film, with a 5.1 lossless soundtrack and an isolated film score.

See also

References
  1. "Dream Maker for a Dream-Loving Audience". Haber, Joyce. Los Angeles Times, 11 March 1973: p11
  2. "Big Rental Films of 1973". Variety, 9 January 1974: p19
  3. "Lost Horizon". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  4. Wilson, John (2005). The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-69334-0.
  5. "Greatest Box-Office Bombs, Disasters and Flops". Filmsite.org.
  6. A Remake of Lost Horizon': Film Notes By Gary Arnold. The Washington Post, Times Herald 16 June 1971: B5.
  7. Himalayas Saga on Hunter's Horizon Los Angeles Times 3 June 1971: g15.
  8. Ross Hunter Signs Choreographer Pan Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif]04 Mar 1972: b7.
  9. Equal Time on Previn's 'Evil' Score Los Angeles Times 26 Aug 1971: h22.
  10. MOVIE CALL SHEET: Brando in Paris for Last Tango' Filming Murphy, Mary. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif]25 Feb 1972: h15.
  11. "Interview with Peter Finch for Australian radio" (Interview). Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  12. Jarrott to Direct 'Horizon' Murphy, Mary. Los Angeles Times 31 Dec 1971: a8.
  13. Bacharach, Burt (2012) Anyone Who Had A Heart, HarperCollins ISBN 978-0857898012, p. 154
  14. Bacharach, Burt (2012) Anyone Who Had a Heart, HarperCollins ISBN 978-0857898012, p. 156
  15. Dominic, Serene (2003) Burt Bacharach: Song by Song, Music Sales Group, pp.242-3
  16. Caporiccio, Joe Lost Horizon CD soundtrack liner notes.
  17. Kael, Pauline Reeling (1977) Marion Boyars
  18. Ebert, Roger (March 26, 1973). "Lost Horizon". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  19. Siskel, Gene (March 26, 1973). "Lost Horizon". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 16.
  20. Canby, Vincent (March 15, 1973). "Ross Hunter's Version of 'Lost Horizon' Opens". The New York Times. 58.
  21. Champlin, Charles (March 7, 1973). "Shangri-la Still a Paradise Lost". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 1.
  22. Arnold, Gary (March 31, 1973). "Search for an Elusive Shangri-La". The Washington Post. D1.
  23. Medved, Harry and Michael The Golden Turkey Awards (1980) Berkley
  24. "Lost Horizon (1973)". IMDb.com.
  25. Musto, Michael (2008-03-27). "You Tube Treasure: Lost Scene From Lost Horizon!". Blogs.villagevoice.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  26. Wilson, John (2005). The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-69334-0.
  27. Dominic, Serene (2003). Burt Bacharach, Song by Song: The Ultimate Burt Bacharach Reference for Fans, Serious Record Collectors, and Music Critics. Music Sales Group. pp. 233–43. ISBN 0825672805.
  28. "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. February 17, 1973. p. 4 – via Google Books.
  29. New Hepburn Film: Film Notes By Gary Arnold. The Washington Post, Times Herald ]11 Aug 1971: B8.
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