Has anyone else heard from Michael Schlesinger at Sony? I just got a real nice email from him, which states the company is working on a Double Feature DVD of LH73 paired-up with the original version. He says, "locating all the lost footage may take some time, so stay tuned." So, hopefully soon, we'll get this movie on disc, pristine and uncut.
share[deleted]
write him at:
[email protected]
Excellent news. I'm a little bit surprised that you heard back at all.
Usually studios aren't that responsive. I'm glad I posted his contact
info here, and will definitely write this week to keep the fires burning.
Maybe we'll be really lucky and get this fully restored on Blu-Ray with a TruHD 5.1 soundtrack. I'm getting goosebumps ... :)
... and not being sarcastic. As much as I may snigger about some of the elements of the film that don't work, I still enjoy the film immensely and watch it more often that many other better-regarded films. And the music is really quite good.
Okay ... I've just written his as well, and encourage amyone else interested in the film to do likewise.
Have also written to Michael and he states that there is a search for the cut footage ongoing and to stay tuned, he does seem to have a fondness for the film though so im confident that this will see the light of day !
shareIt's ironic they want to double it up with the 1930s version--both versions were cut back by Columbia after they premiered! Perhaps he's looking for lost footage from both--if so, that could take some time. I let him know I have all kinds of extraneous odds and ends from the film, including the filmed wardrobe tests with the cast, and that I'd be glad to help out if he needed it. While I pick at the movie too, I certainly enjoy it and recommend it heartily to others. Hopefully, Sony shares our general enthusiasm.
shareId give my left leg to see The Things I Will Not Miss in Dolby 5.1 and remastered widescreen picture ! lol
shareMy letter:
Dear Mr. Schlesinger,
The DVD release of the 1973 musical version of LOST HORIZON is long overdue. Despite the reputation of the film over the years , it is an important musical for many reasons. First of all, it is the only ORIGINAL film musical composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and secondly and most importantly, it has the distinct reputation of being the ONLY anti- war musical fantasy ever made. Despite what the critics have written about this film, there are many of us out there who love it for a variety of reasons.
American Cinematheque ran a print of Lost Horizon a couple of years ago and the audience went wild for it. The film is a quirky and strange wonderful mixture of straight drama, adventure and pop musical sequences.
If the rumors are true, that this film is finally going to get a release on DVD, try to include the deleted sequence with the song, I COME TO YOU. That song and the scene actually work very well within the context of the film. The other two songs IF I COULD GO BACK and WHERE KNOWLEDGE ENDS, FAITH BEGINS were rightfully edited out of the picture. Those 2 songs do slow the picture down and in my opinion, don't work well at all.
Finally, do the DVD right with as many bells and whistles on it as possible. I've talked to both Michael York and Liv Ullmann about LOST HORIZON over the years. The director, Charles Jarrett is still alive and so are Bacharach and David as well as several people in the cast. A commentary track by Sally Kellerman, Olivia Hussey, George Kennedy or the above mentioned would give lovers of LOST HORIZON and fans of film in general a chance to understand what the experience was like for the people associated with making this film and the post reaction to it afterwards.
As you know, in 1972 LOST HORIZON was the number #1 project at Columbia Pictures. It was an important film at the time. It is also my understanding that the film did very well in all it's foreign markets.
The remake of LOST HORIZON is too wonderful not to be rediscovered and released on DVD. The prestige of this picture deserves to be lifted after all the years of backlash. I also believe the time is right for another remake of this story. A re-imagined version set in the 30's and starring someone like George Clooney in the lead. A straight version that focuses on the adventure and romantic fantasy elements of the story. Done correctly, it could be every bit as great and humorous as the original Frank Capra version.
Thank you,
Cliff Carson
A wonderful letter, I hope you get a well-earned response. From what I understand, the fertility dance sequence with Olivia Hussey is permanently 'Lost', but the caveat that "I Come To You" be reinstated is accurate and justified (altho I must say I love it when Liv Ullmann joins for Peter Finch for their "Knowledge" duet--it's creaky and old-fashioned, but they both take it so seriously that one is apt to respond). It's amazing how many members of the cast worked together bfeore LH and after.
Liv Ullmann and Peter Finch in "The Abdication"
Peter Finch and Michael York were brothers in "England Made Me"
Michael York and Olivia Hussey were together in "Romeo and Juliet"
Olivia Hussey and George Kennedy were reunited for "Death on the Nile"
George Kennedy and Sally Kellerman crossed paths in "The Boston Strangler"
Sally Kellerman and Michael York co-starred in "Ponce de Leon" for cable
Michael York and John Gielgud made two more pictures together, one of which was "Murder on the Orient Express"
George Kennedy and Peter Finch were together in "Flight of the Phoenix"
have I left anyone out??
The letter I wrote really doesn't require a response. I have to disagree with you on one thing. The song IF I COULD GO BACK makes Finch look very uncomfortable. You can tell he knows nothing about how a singer should stand, breath or move. He's completely out of his element and it shows. Besides, as filmed, that sequence slows down the picture. Big mistake in them shooting Finch lip synching. The scene should have stayed the way it began, with him just "thinking" the song as he started out doing in the beginning.
The critics saw the full version of Lost Horizon when it came out with all the songs, including that hilarious fertility dance that everyone talks about. By the time I saw LOST HORIZON in the theaters it was the cut version. I think it played better, except for the I COME TO YOU sequence. That one works. The critics might have gone easier on the film if they had seen the shorter version.
Has anyone seen the clip from the fertility dance on Youtube? Its pretty.........daft lol
shareAs a fan of the Capra version I saw the musical version in the movie theater in Japan as adouble feature with 007! The Japanese audience enjoyed the movie very much as did I. I still have the original soundtrack recording which I purchased shortly after seeing the film in 1974 and still enjoy most of the songs.
I believe the version I saw in Japan did have the fertility dance in it.
I think paring the 2 would make a good package but in any event I would love to buy a copy of the 73 version in any format.
[deleted]
Actually, I consider Sir Richard Attenborough's 1969 Oh! What a Lovely War to be a
anti- war musical fantasy as well.
How was that a fantasy??
http://www.iadvertiseme.com/blog/component/content/article/77-movies/9 4-make-a-list-of-films-you-cant-stand-or-find-overrated
[deleted]
Sorry, but you are seriously misinformed if you really think the embarassingly dreadful Lost Horizon, with some of the worst lyrics ever written, is "the ONLY anti- war musical fantasy ever made."
A major, brilliant anti-war musical fantasy is Oh What a Lovely War, directed and created on stage by Joan Littlewood in London ( I saw that production ) and directed for film by Richard Attenborough, with an amazing cast, hugely better music, and available on DVD.
There are other anti-war musical fantasies which I don't think have been filmed, like the Kurt Weill Johnny Johnson, at least available on CD.
Michael Simpson, South Africa
profsimp,
LOST HORIZON is a wonderful mixture of fantasy, adventure and pop music. Exquisitely directed and beautifully mounted. Every mans Shangri-La is different and that happens to be that one. Why shouldn't paradise be a slightly goofy place? The songs and the lyrics evoke the giddy happiness Hilton wrote about in his novel. It's not the "embarassingly dreadful" film you say it is. And it has way more fantasy elements in it than "Oh What a Lovely War".
That said, another anti-war musical fantasy comes to mind, THE LITTLE PRINCE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xemSSyru-Ss
IS IT COMING OUT ON DVD,I HAVE THE CD SOUNDTRACK WANT THE MOVIE ON DVD,,,ANY NEWS
shareI just read this thread and am very excited to hear that after so many years this is finally looking like it will be released on DVD. I have a copy on VHS I took off Bravo or another cable station several years ago, but look forward to getting the DVD. I hope they will include both the theatrical release as well as the entire unedited version with all the lost footage restored that they can find. I like to see both!
shareThose of you in the UK may be interested to know it is showing on TV on Saturday (on Five I think). Good news if a DVD is on the way!
"Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night" (Margo Channing in All About Eve)
Does anyone have the email address for Columbia so i can email them ?
shareAre you going to watch it?
sharei sure hope so,,love this film have the cd soundtrack,,on cd
shareGreat news that this version of the movie may be coming out on dvd (they've been saying the same thing for 13 years now), but I think it would be very unwise putting it out as a 'double feature' pack with the 1937 Frank Capra version.
Firstly the original version is truly a classic, and one that is far more dramatic and darker than the remake: the same events, but far more stark and bleak. Also there's no song and dance man in that cast--only Edward Everett Horton as occasional comic relief.
Packing the remake in with the original will only highlight the remake's shortcomings ten fold -- the remake plays best as a film unto itself and the Columbia marketing people must market it as a MUSICAL and a FAMILY MOVIE -- exactly how it was marketed back in 1973 and probably how most people on this message board saw this picture originally.
I have a great belief about marketing classic movies these days--no 10 year old kid is nostalgic about anything. That is why dvd/bluray studios or companies have to market these movies as brand new product and a G rated musical like this has to be sold highlighting the adventure, the music and the cast as it may encourage them to check out the actors' other movies.
I have the laserdisc of this movie and my one hope is the songs put back in are taken out again--if anyone on the face of the earth deserved a Victoria Cross medal for grace under pressure, it would go to Peter Finch and his valiant performance of the "If I Could Go Back" number -- Mario Lanza he wasn't and he knew it, but he still went ahead and mimed that song as best as anyone possibly could have: sadly at the world premiere, the audience went into hysterics and it was soon taken out of the movie, but remained on the soundtrack album.
But as a kid, I can remember both my mother and 9 year old sister falling in love with Peter Finch from this movie--his charm I think saved it somewhat and remains in peoples' minds to this day.
And yes--give the soundtrack as much DTS the studio can muster: and it must come out on bluray -- it was a movie released in 70mm and with that in mind, hopefully the studio can highlight the grandeur (real or not) in this picture.
thanks i do hope so it is a great movie love the s-track
shareThat would be nice as the version I have is dirty on the second reel. I am more interested in the LH73 adaptation though. I like the musical, like the way Hal David's lyrics add to the story line, like the believability of the cast -- and it's in colour! Not a big B/W fan..
To Be is not to be: it is to exist with confidence in sublimation.
Has anybody heard any more on this? I was 11 when it came out, saw it with my mom (who was only six when the original came out).
Someone should tell the studio I would pay serious money (three figures) for a DVD version.
Brings lots of memories watching it on pre-cable television late at night.
I haven't heard anything new from Sony, but keep emailing them. The email is on the first page of this board. Let them know you want to buy this movie on DVD, eventually they'll get the message.
shareI was 9 when I saw it with my Mom. It's one of the earliest movie memories I have (besides The Poseidon Adventure that same year). I think I was taken more by the drama than the music. But I still would love to see it again.
shareYeah, keep on e-mailing, kiddies. This thread began in 2008 and here we are - unless this comes out on a DVDR movie on demand, you won't be seeing it in the waning days of DVD. And IF it's movie on demand I think you can be sure there will be no bells and whistles.
shareTHE DVD-R has a very good picture. I think they should of restored the opening
"Overture" and "Exit Music"
Looks like it's coming October 4 on DVD-R:
http://www.oldies.com/product-view/1441ED.html