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

Well, where shall we start? Maybe at the end (for my husband and me) when we were almost forced from the theater, no longer able to control our howls of laughter, as much at the audience as the film.

Ahhh, it's coming back...it was the scene with the villagers toting the lovers down the mountain, snaking around the turns, bearing torches and singing, "Living Together, Loving Together" and a woman in front of us actually started weeping from the utter beauty of it all. Hubby and I beat a quick exit before the local natives turned on us.

Now, for the beginning, polar bears do NOT live in the Himalayan mountains! For goodness sake! Thus one could not have been ambling by when Sally was adjusting her chic beret after having trecked through the blizzards at the roof of the world. Then again, maybe the bear was lost too.

And didn't you love the stomping about, singing in the library? Pregers Olivia should have passed on that one, she couldn't dance well enough for one, much less two.

Let's not forget the charming number in the schoolroom with Liv and the kiddies bobbing and weaving to "The World is a Circle." That one will go down in movie history.

All is all, one of the more memorable theater going experience I can lay claim to. And I survived. Hey, that would have been a great way to make a few bucks- have a tee shirt stand outside when the show let out, charge ten bucks for one that says, "I survived Lost Horizon!"

It was a good film with good music, but alas, like the year it came out in 1973 as now-we have a world filled with war, strife and most of all among the Europeans and Americans-cynicism like no other time in history. If it is nice-crush it, if it offers some degree of betterment in it's message tear it apart. I could go on, the saddest thing of it all-it is reviled by folks who are both liberal and conservative minded. It was a nice film, it was not supposed to be like the great original, and as for it's caliber of musical worth, the same can be said for just about every film genre from the 1970's-save science fiction, every genre from the 70's has been smashed to pieces by the better decades before and after the most meaningless decade ever lived on this planet. A bright spot like this movie in an otherwise sea of nothing that the 70's sadly were gets bashed by ironically the sad, discontent people of that era-we few who wanted a better world and some nice films to go with it-instead were made to feel like outcasts for even wanting to see this film. I recommend it to anyone who has not seen it, as for it borrowing things from other musicals-so what? Does it really matter? Personally it has a more interesting story overall than some musicals mentioned it copied from-as for books on shelves not meeting this persons taste or why children were still learning if they were a 150 years old-one only has to look at the jackasses in this country who think learning is all you do until your maybe 18-22. I get off my soapbox now and end with a salute to those of you who liked the movie-stand firm in your beliefs of something better, we see what the majority has done to our planet-ruined it.

"It's the stuff that dreams are made of."

I agree!
Burt Bacharach is THE MAN... Pure and simple. I also, have loved his music since I was 11 or 12. I even have the music track that he did with Whitney Houstan's MOTHER! This film as well, was WONDERFUL! I got a copy for the first time last week and the only reason I ordered it was because of Burt's music and also the fact that the Twosome from Romeo & Juliette were in it. [Michael York, Olivia Hussey]. Really a wonderful version. Too bad it didn't fare well at the box office.

Janai P. Canada

The film bombed because of a disconnect between the score and the screenplay. If you look at just the non-musical sections, it's actually a pretty straightforward retelling of Hilton's book. Kramer added a few things (like changing Miss Brinklow from a missionary into a drug addict), but most of it is pretty faithful to the novel. And there are some good performances, such as John Gielgud as Chang.

The score contains wonderful 1970s pop songs by Burt Bacharach, many of which hold up quite well, if you accept that they're dated. Many Bacharach songs are firmly set in their time (look at the score for "Promises, Promises") but there's no shame in that. (Had David, on the other hand, drops the ball when facing the challenge of getting his lyrics to fit Bacharach's funky rhythms: "nobody knows where it really ends," "if you really want the things I have" etc.)

The problem was the attempt to mix the two. The first sign that things are going badly comes with the "Living Together, Growing Together" ceremony. Tibetan monks singing an "Up With People" type song is truly embarrassing. A number of other songs that are fun when heard as standalone pieces fail because they just don't fit with the story.

Maybe Columbia should've released two films: Lost Horizon without the songs, and a concert of Bacharach's score. Mixing the two just didn't work, and an objective viewing of the film today makes that clear.

Mark

This movie is bad because of the following reasons: There aren't enough songs to make it a real musical, the first song does not appear until 45 minutes on the film or something like that. The actors are dubbed when singing. Even though the some of the songs are not bad by themeselves they have ridiculous choreographies that make them look lame, like those monks singin or the other guy singing "Question me an answer", it was ridiculous, or the number when Liv Ullmann sings "the world is a circle", just lame. Maybe it would have been better without the songs. The cinematography and sets were quite unrealistic, I know it's meant to be this ideal place, but the sets looked like a theme park and the costumes looked a bit tacky. It's got a good cast though, it's a pity they're all wasted. It doesn't surprise me it made it into the top 50 of some list of the best worst films ever made. I watched this movie out of curiosity to check if it was that bad. Even though I don't think it's as bad as some people say it is still bad. It's good fun to watch if you know how to enjoy a bad film.

Try this site:

www.freewebs.com/vhs2dvd

Read the reviews page and see why it isn't out on an official DVD. And watch TCM when they have one of the classic musicals on. Then you'll at least see, by comparison, how low this musical aimed- and missed.

I'd say it's high time for "Lost Horizon" to be found and re-evaluated, especially with the passing today of Mr. Hal David.

today i saw this movie fr the first time. and i loved it. i didnt see any flaws. had me thinking is there a shangri-la in this world today. oh yes i also thought about the critic who said why are there no blacks and other races there. good question.