FOR SOME UNKNOWN (TO ME) REASON, THIS VERSION (1973) SANK IN BOX OFFICE - Lost Horizon (1973) Discussion

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] MinervaMoon 20 years ago

Yeah, I don't see what's wrong with this. It was beautiful.

Gentlemen! You can't fight in here: this is the War Room!

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[–] smortslori 20 years ago

This was a very good "feel good" type of movie. A good musical and understand nearly as good as the original. I have the album and know the songs and think that it's really too bad that there is not such a place to go and live in. I have a copy from television and don't think much was omitted (cut), thank goodness!

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[–] moonlady814 20 years ago

This and "Bugsy Malone" are my two abosolute favorite movies - I have been reluctant to buy them both since now at 40 years old I am afraid they will not hold the same shine they did back when I was a kid - what do you think?? (I do know that if I did get them I would still know every word to every song in both!!!!)

"good times, noodle salad"

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[–] gumborific 17 years ago

I am 39, Bugsy Malone is fun every time.

"In our wings that bark, flashing teeth of brass, standing tall in the dark" - David Bowie

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[–] pierce_MN 20 years ago

Oh come on! This is one of the worst movie musicals ever made. Along with At Long Last Love, The Wiz and the 1982 Annie, it's the reason musicals fell out of favor. The casting is dreadful, and Larry Kramer's screenplay is a disaster, which removes all the heart and soul from the novel by James Hilton. Kramer doesn't even list it among his credits, and you will find him all over the web, because he's articulate gay activist! Sally Kellerman is the only one of the principals who'd done a musical onstage(she was in the stage version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, enough said) and the score is dreadful.

Hermes Pan's choreography is lifted from so many good musicals of the past: "The World is a Circle" is stolen from both The Sound of Music and The King and I, the picnic love song is from South Pacific, and the song done by Kellerman and Olivia Hussey is from Funny Face.

If you love Lost Horizon, why not see the brilliant 1937 version directed by Frank Capra, with Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt and Sam Jaffe. It's an outstanding masterpiece that will have you in tears, and it's far more honest and faithful to the original story than this ghastly

Bette Midler quipped at the time that she "never misses a Liv Ullmann musical." Thank goodness there was only one other, I Remember Mama onstage.

Instead of this nonsense, view some of the greatest musicals ever made, such as Cabaret, Chicago, Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon, Gigi, The Sound of Music, Funny Girl, Funny Face, Swing Time, 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, the Judy Garland A Star is Born and Meet Me in St. Louis. Now those are great musicals!!!

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] goddessoftheocean 20 years ago

Opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one.
That is the beauty of freedom of speech.
As I'm sure you think your opinion is great, let’s remember that not everyone shares the same opinion. I have read all of the comments about this movie and it appears to me that there are more people who like this movie then dislike it.
So thanks for stating your "opinion" but I don't agree with it.
I liked this movie and the soundtrack. I have it on album, yes I said album and it is one of my favorites. So now I've stated my opinion.

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[–] Harold_Robbins 19 years ago

I too, have the vinyl album of this around somewhere, and though I surely haven't listened to it in 30+ years, I can still hum some of the tunes. . .but then again, I can hum some of the tunes from COCO as well. LOST HORIZON probably seemed a good idea at the time - take a beloved classic, update it a little (for those modern audiences who don't know much about history), throw in some songs by the hottest songwriting team going at the time (Bacharach & David) and you'll come up with a winner. But beyond the fact that several of the actors couldn't carry a tune (never mind that better voices probably wouldn't have helped as the tunes weren't very good anyway), there was something else producer Ross Hunter should have thought about before undertaking this: surprisingly, LOST HORIZON does NOT lend itself well to musicalization: a previous attempt in 1956, titled SHANGRI-LA, was plagued with production problems (including the death of James Hilton, who wrote the original novel and was working with Jerome Lawrence/Robert E. Lee on the stage adaptation) and resulted in one of Broadway's biggest bombs of 1956 - it ran 21 performances and lost a bundle of money. Fortunately, Lawrence & Lee had another iron in the fire - their adaptation of Patrick Dennis's "irreverent escapade," AUNTIE MAME, would open about 4 months later. . .

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] aciolino 10 years ago

Ahem. . . There was a reason it bombed at the box office. Wanna guess what that reason was?

I was there. My girlfriend forced me Togo see it. I watched the audience laugh AT the film not with it. They cringed at EVERY insipid song, at the superficial and rather childish dialogue. For me, it wasn't so much funny as it was sad -- sad watching all these talented actors struggle to make the material work, knowing themselves that they were failing miserably.

It remains, for me, the worst film ever made.

There's an old saying in show business and the theater: "You can't fool an audience."

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[–] aciolino 10 years ago

Ahem. . . There was a reason it bombed at the box office. Wanna guess what that reason was?

I was there. My girlfriend forced me Togo see it. I watched the audience laugh AT the film not with it. They cringed at EVERY insipid song, at the superficial and rather childish dialogue. For me, it wasn't so much funny as it was sad -- sad watching all these talented actors struggle to make the material work, knowing themselves that they were failing miserably.

It remains, for me, the worst film ever made.

There's an old saying in show business and the theater: "You can't fool an audience."

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[–] brux (14724) 3 years ago

> Opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one.
> That is the beauty of freedom of speech.

What? That you can see and hear everyone else's a**holes?

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[–] bschneid76 19 years ago

There is nothing wrong with the 1982 version of Annie. The reason musicals bombed was because people didn't want to go see "feel good" movie musicals, look at Broadway too. People during that time wanted movies that were "real". But i feel that movie musicals are pretty cool. There are many good ones out there. Sadly, this All-Star fiasco isn't very appealing, though the scenery is nice, the music is what brings it down. Though i must say that i do own this on DVD because it is somewhat of a guilty pleasure, and it's hilarious to watch, similar to the 1978 fiasco Sextette with Mae West.

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[–] copeland_399 19 years ago

I've just been watching this on TV and came here to see what others thought about it. I must say, I'm a fan of musicals in general such as The King and I, Sound of Music, Cabaret, even the old Carousel and Oklahoma ones but I've really never seen one as bad as this (in my humble opinion of course). It just seemed to lose its way - starting off serious and then turning into a really bad musical. The acting is so wooden, the songs are out of place, unmemorable and too contrived for my liking. There are so many "goofs" too, like how come Liv Ullman still has a foreign accent, having been brought up there from a baby? The best thing about it (if there is one good thing) is the gorgeous Michael York.
I'm amazed that anyone can say that they liked it. Ah well, it's a good job we all like different things isn't it.

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[–] mcpablo 19 years ago

I too have just caught the end of this film on tv this afternoon. It was so bad I had to look it up on IMDb to check it wasn't a spoof!

I know some people out there love it and you're entitled to your opinion but WOW what a stinker!

"Question me an answer"... I howled with laughter.

So I suppose it was certainly entertaining and cured my New Year hang over!

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[–] zeppo-2 19 years ago

I too half watched this with some friends after a New Year dinner and thought it one of the worst cases of miscasting I'd ever seen. The film was okay for the first 40 minutes when it just followed the plot of the original but then they had to spoil it all by starting to sing! Dull...dull...dull...is Shangri-La really this mind-numbingly tedious? What was the attraction in staying there? Just to ponce around all day looking gormless and tending the fields? As someone once said, count me out...

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[–] xanderspuppy 19 years ago

Oh - for goodness sake you guys!! There was nothing wrong with the casting, the setting, or the music! The whole point was to show the contrast between all that is wrong with the 'outside' world and the joy and goodness in the valley of 'Shang-ri-la'. If you remember the guys in the plane were all deeply unhappy with their lives when they arrived there, having suffered great misfortunes and depression. i.e. take Sally Kellerman's character, Sally Hughes. She eventually lost her 'Ice Queen' persona and soon happily dreamed of changing places with the unfortunate Maria. Then after spending some time there the peace and tranquility of the place just got to them. No wonder they felt like singing and dancing!! Wouldn't you, if you found somewhere beautiful where there was no slaving away daily 9-5, with someone delicious to share the dream with, and away from the rat race?. Although it was made in 1973 the same comparisons can be made with the way the world is today. Nothing has changed. There is still the same stresses, crime, war, greed, death and destruction, class division and no-one can say they would live in this world if there really was such a place as Shang-ri-la. At least for two and a half hours we can also live the dream, plus the songs are catchy and quite sweet. Co-incidentally I actually ordered the soundtrack from Amazon before noticing the film was coming onto the TV on 1st Jan. The songs are still going round and round in my head. I also cannot understand why this film got such bad reviews and wasn't copied to video or DVD.

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[–] CineramaMama 9 years ago

Only an 8-year-old would like these songs.

I just watched this last night on TV and it was painful to sit though endless insipid dialog and vapid children's tunes, including the restored "Fertility" scene. Ross Hunter must have been on drugs to put together such a hodge-podge of cinematic ideas. This movie didn't know if it wanted to be a dramatic commentary on the current troubles of the world, or The Sound of Music.

ALL of the music impressed me as scraps somebody dug out of the Sherman brother's waste-basket, and to see good actors struggling with lousy dialog made me feel embarrassed for them. And then the singing started... the only thing to do was laugh to keep from getting sick. The set looked like cardboard most of the time. I've seen better high school musicals.

The only saving grace was the cinematography of Robert Surtees, one of Hollywood's best. It was made to be a 'big-screen' spectacle, and Surtees does his job, but the writer, director, and producer were out to lunch.

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[–] willjohn 13 years ago

Mad Magazine did a send up of this when it came out.

In one part it has Peter Finch asking Charles Boyer for some words of wisdom, Boyer replies "Come with me to the Casbah."

Finch "What"?

Boyer "That was a line from a good film I was in."

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[–] joetheatre 18 years ago

Actually, EVERYTHING is wrong with the film of "Annie" -- ridiculous script, a director who'd never directed a musical, plot changes that bastardize what was charming about the stage show, and new songs that never should have been added. Nice production designs, though.

But the topic here is "Lost Horizon", and it is one of my greatest guilty pleasures. The thing is a turkey, but so bad in so many places that it's enjoyable -- an intoxicating sensation of "am I really watching something this ridiculously awful?" Bachrach's tunes are actually quite good, but that horrible Hal David wrote some of the worst lyrics of his long history of wretched lyrics -- let's look at a few examples:

"When you search for the truth, don't just use your eyes. Look inside yourself; that is where the truth always lies."

" 'Cause your reflection reflects in everything you do, and everything you do reflects on you."

"Can I accept what I see around me? Have I found Shangri-La, or has it found me?"

"And just because you think you're small; that doesn't mean that you're small at all. And even if they're partly right, at least their partially wrong -- to someone else you are strong."

THESE are the hallmarks of a really lousy lyricist -- there's some skill with word flow, but the cumulative effect is of meandering nonsense. It's rather obvious that Bachrach wrote the music first and David had to glom something onto it -- not a great way to write. [Sullivan always wrote his music after Gilbert was done writing the words.]

Still, I was ten when this film came out, and I was enthralled by its creativity [I was SUCH a budding drama nerd]. Having encountered it again in my 30s after considerable experience in theatre and with being around great writing, I realized how wretched it was but also immediately recognized how its crappyness qualified it as campy good fun. I'm now seeking a DVD copy.

Oh, and I had the good fortune a couple years ago to see a copy of this film's "holy grail" -- the Fertility Dance that was cut from the original theatrical release. Oh dear God, do your damndest to find it somewhere, because it will make you pee with laughter -- it is just the most ludicrously pretentious thing imaginable, and surely some of the dancers busted up with laughter when the choreographer wasn't around. It is at least 100 times funnier than Mel Brooks' "Springtime for Hitler."

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[–] ccs-5 19 years ago

I am a great lover of musicals in general (including, I might add, the 1982 "Annie," which I thought was a wonderful film with a few flaws). So on the day "Lost Horizon" was released in 1973, I entered the theater with great anticipation.

I am sorry to say that I found this film to be an absolute embarrassment in every way. For me, it is the very embodiment of the word "bomb." I managed to sit cringing through about 2/3 of it, and found everything about the film, including the songs, boring, unappealing, or downright laughable. The acting was generally wooden, the singing was generally poor, and the dialogue was often ridiculous.

Even Olivia Hussey (who I had a major crush on ever since 1968's "Romeo and Juliet") looked and acted horribly. What a disappointment!

I am not trying to be overly harsh here -- and I admit I have not seen this monstrosity since 1973, so maybe I might be a bit more forgiving if I watched it now -- but my feeling is that this has to rank as one of the worst big-budget, star-filled films ever made. How it manages to rate even a 4.3 or whatever on the IMDB is a total mystery to me. I think the reason it is not lumped together with films like "Heaven's Gate" and "Ishtar" when critics speak of the all-time Hollywood disasters is because not enough people saw this film on its original release because word spread so quickly that it was a stinker.

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[–] ijonesiii 19 years ago

I don't think you'e being harsh. I think your assessment of this film is pretty much dead solid perfect,

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[–] ijonesiii 19 years ago

This movie sank at the box office because it was terrible.

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[–] laurence01 19 years ago

The movie sank because it was a musical. Between 1970 and 1980 with the exception of grease virtuly all musiacals flopped. They just were not in vogue at the time. Evan musicals like "fidler on the roof" whitch has critical aclaim flopped at the cinema.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] markedjuan 18 years ago

Fiddler on the Roof was a blockbuster. It earned over $40 million in rentals. Other musical hits of the 70s, aside from Grease, were Funny Lady and Cabaret. Okay, Cabaret earned $10 million in rentals but it was enough to turn in a profit since it didn't have a big budget anyway.

Anyway, one of my favorite Bacharach tunes is in Lost Horizon, the song I Might Frighten Her Away. Lyrics are too mushy but it has a beautiful romantic melody.

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[–] Harold_Robbins 18 years ago

I think the surviving cast members pay annual dues to Ross Hunter's estate to keep this film out of circulation.

"I AM big - it's the pictures that got small!"

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[–] jjgigem 18 years ago

The soundtrack is still available on CD because the music in the movie was and still is popular to many. One or two of the songs from the movie were in the Top 40 in 1973. Unfortunately, the plot in the movie is weak. The movie would have been better if it was a shorter. There is about 45 minutes and the movie is over two hours long.

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[–] aciolino 10 years ago

"More sophisticated"??? Are you on drugs? Idiot.

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[–] milliedil 10 years ago

Evan musicals like "fidler on the roof" whitch has critical aclaim flopped at the cinema.

You are entirely wrong and have been for 9 years. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF was a smash hit movie musical. So was CABARET.

Thank you, thank you--you're most kind. In fact you're every kind.

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