Dreams Are What Le Cinema is For: Lost Horizon - 1973

LOST HORIZON 1973lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2011/10/lost-horizon-1973.html

It’s not my intention to turn this blog into a celebration of the worst that cinema has to offer (although there are thosewho would say I already have), but the recent DVD release of the notorious 1973 mega-flop, Lost Horizon, is anevent of considerable note. A cause for celebration, if you will, for both lovers of entertainingly bad cinema (yourstruly), and those who have come to regard Lost Horizon as an underappreciated classic.

Lost Horizon, James Hilton’s paean to peace and spiritual life everlasting in a magical land called Shangri-La, wasfirst adapted to film by Frank Capra in 1937. Thirty-five years later, MOR pop sensations Burt Bacharach and HalDavid were hired by producer Ross Hunter to score this big-budget, semi all-star, musical remake. Alas, LostHorizon fell prey to the prevailing twisted logic of the day which held that what modern musicals needed most wasdramatic talent, so, Columbia Pictures, not having learned its lesson from Camelot (whose revamped set serves aShangri-La’s lamasery), populated Lost Horizon with a cast of dramatic actors who could neither sing nor dance.

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Really? This is 35 years of film progress?: Above, Shangri-La envisioned as a Streamline Moderne paradise inthe1937 film; below, Shangri-La as a Las Vegas theme hotel.

To promote Lost Horizon, Ross Hunter—the comb-overed, leisure-suited, closeted-gay producer (his 40-yearslifetime partner was frequent co-producer Jacque Mapes) responsible for the Tammy films, Douglas Sirk, and thoseRock Hudson/Doris Day comedies—appeared in a flurry of self-congratulatory, back-slapping, print and televisionpublicity declaring how proud he was of Lost Horizon, and how (in a subtle slap in the face to the newpermissiveness in films) his musical was to be a return to the wholesome family films of yesteryear.Hunter, who had reason to crow, coming as he did off of the staggering blockbuster success of Airport (1970), wasabout to get a none-too-subtle dose of hubris when critics and audiences nationwide met the release of Lost Horizonwith a conjoined hostility that effectively ended his 20-plus years as a feature film producer. Had Hunter been a littleless "proud" of Lost Horizon, he may have emerged from the fiasco reasonably unscathed. Unfortunately (but ratherhelpfully), Ross Hunter chose to plaster his name in large type above the film's title in any and all publicity, making iteasy for everyone to know just where and with whom to place the blame.

These aren't the same guy?Disaster film producer Irwin Allen (l.), producer of disasters of a different

sort, Ross Hunter (r.)

Following much advance hoopla, when ultimately released, Lost Horizon (which provided Norwegian art-housesensation, Liv Ullmann, her ignominious American film debut) had the dubious distinction of being one of the mostheavily-promoted, yet widely-reviled films of the '70s. A title it may well have held in perpetuity had it not been for thetwin-missile launch of two equally high-profile musical bombs later in the decade: At Long Last Love (1975) and TheBlue Bird (1976).

Even with the excision of several laugh-inducing musical numbers, Lost Horizon limped along at theaters beforedisappearing completely within weeks of opening. Soundtrack albums and truckloads of Lost Horizon merchandisingitems (comic books, paper dolls, etc.) filled the remainder bins. Denied a VHS release and airing on cable TV only inits severely edited-down form, Lost Horizon, a film otherwise destined for obscurity, has over the years risen tomust-see status primarily due to its long-standing unavailability and a lingering public curiosity surrounding itactually being as awful as its reputation attested.

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Now, for the first time since that calamitous opening week in 1973, the curious and devout alike can witness LostHorizon in all its fully restored, digitally enhanced, wide-screen splendor, with all but one of its five deleted musicalnumbers reinstated (a brief Sally Kellerman/George Kennedy reprise of "Living Together, Growing Together" is stillMIA). Sure, the recovery of lost footage from Lost Horizon is a bit like a Bizarro World reenactment of therestorations of Stroheim's Greed or Lang's Metropolis; but it’s rare for a studio to treat one of its money-losingembarrassments with such respect.

Peter Finch, most likely thinking of his paycheck.

Liv Ullmann, adopting the universal "Who knows?" pose when asked why sheagreed to appear in this film

Sally Kellerman, upon hearing that her big solo number, "Reflections" is to takeplace atop a big ol' rock

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Michael York, Shangri-La's snappiest dresser

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILMAlthough I am very fond of Lost Horizon and have seen it many times, I don't number myself among those whoactually think it’s a good film. I like it because of the nostalgia it invokes (the pro-Lost Horizon cult is comprisedchiefly of individuals who saw it as children. Bless their undiscerning little hearts); my love of Burt Bacharach; andbecause I have a decided taste for cheese. Lost Horizon is a banquet of tacky aesthetics, risible dialog, awkwardperformances, wince-inducing lyrics, and moldy choreography. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Movies thiswrong-headed are just too much fun.

Bobby Van and George Kennedy model the latest in caftan finery from the 1973Ah Men catalogue: The Allan Carr/Fire Island collection

As with many bad films which provide hours of unintentional entertainment, Lost Horizon’s cluelessness is one of itsprimary charms. It's just so darn earnest! Fairly dripping with good intentions, EST seminar philosophizing, and MeGeneration navel-gazing; Lost Horizon intends to be moving and inspirational, but in never adequately landing on away of dramatizing its themes, the film talks about them instead (ad nauseum) and in turn feels needlessly preachy.For example: Lost Horizon never makes Shangri-La look particularly appealing. It's actually like a well-appointedrest-home. Seriously, the state of peace and enlightenment HAS to be livelier and more fun than this. With all thosemonks somnambulistically gliding about and everybody looking so gloomily content, the idea of an eternity spenthere sounds less like a dream and more like one of those ironic twist endings from a Twilight Zone episode.

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Along with an unflattering wardrobe, LivUllmann is saddled with a terrible dubbed

singing voice in Lost Horizon. To hear what herreal singing voice is like (metered shouting,

actually), check out this clip of Ullmannperforming in the 1979 Broadway musical I

Remember Mama

Trying to read smutty subtext into schoolteacher Liv Ullmann offering PeterFinch her melon is about as exciting as things get in Shangri-La

PERFORMANCESIf there’s such a thing as the opposite of “The Midas Touch” then the late Ross Hunter certainly had it when it cameto natural beauty. In Airport, Hunter’s old-fashioned notion of glamour turned 32 year-old stunner Jean Seberg into awell-preserved matron. And in Lost Horizon he works the same reverse alchemy on the luminous Liv Ullmann. Thestiff, desexed, schoolmarm Lost Horizon fashions her into bears no resemblance to the lovely, earthy actress in allthose Ingmar Bergman films.

Sally Kellerman, though ill-served by the terrible script and a few toomany giggle-worthy dance moments, is my personal favorite in LostHorizon. Perhaps it's the character arc that takes her from pill-poppingneurotic to loose-limbed free spirit, or the fact that when she sings she atleast sounds like herself (the soulless, antiseptic singing voices given toFinch and Ullman could have come out of a machine). Mostly it'sbecause there's a naturalness to her that I've always found veryappealing. Unlike some of her costars who look only embarrassed, onesenses that Kellerman liked her role, enjoys singing, and perhapsenvisioned herself appearing in a better musical than the one she'sactually in.

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Sally Kellerman and a very pregnant Olivia Hussey agree to disagree in "TheThings I Will Not Miss" number. A song one perceptive online critic described as a

New-Age version of the "Green Acres" theme. Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye tried their hand at it Here.

THE STUFF OF FANTASYThe Holy Grail of lost footage for those with an affinity for the awful has been the infamous "fertility dance" sequenceof the "Living Together, Growing Together" number. Legend has it that this sequence, highlighting greased-up maledancers in loincloths, caused so much audience laughter that it was removed from the film during it's opening week.The choreography in this number is hilarious, to be sure, but some of that laughter HAD to have been homosexualpanic. After all, there have been hundreds of films with equally atrocious harem-girl dance sequences shoehornedinto the plot for the sole purpose of displaying a little female pulchritude. But I guess a big screen filled with gyrating,muscular, semi-nude male dancers was just too much to ask of audiences in 1973. Both confounding andfascinating, it stands alone as the sole moment of an asserted homosexual sensibility in a strenuously heterosexual"family" entertainment created by a coterie of gay men (the aforementioned Hunter and co-producer Mapes; 63year-old choreographer Hermes Pan; and screenwriter Larry Kramer).

Stop! In the name of good taste

Too many rings around Rosie

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If they only wore skates, this would look like an "Ice Vanities" number from TheDonny & Marie Show

THE STUFF OF DREAMSWhen it comes to Lost Horizon, I think American audiences betrayed Ross Hunter by acting like theyexpected something other than vulgar schlock from him (after all, he had been feeding them just that for 20 years).But I also think Hunter betrayed American audiences by falling prey to that great Hollywood sickness: mistakingsuccess for talent.

The following year,, Finch & Ullmann reteamed in the film The Abdication

Airport was a wildly popular film, but, no offense to fans, just add a few Bacharach songs and lead-footed dancesand its every bit as awful as Lost Horizon. But since it was the biggest grosser of the year and garnered RossHunter his first and only Academy Award® nomination, it was inevitable that he wouldn't just see this as a case ofgiving the public what they wanted (like a fast food burger), but evidence of his talent. The thing that sinks LostHorizon is that it just takes itself too seriously and tries too hard to be an important film. When Hunter was content tomake glossy, easily-digestible, escapist fluff, he was perhaps the top of his craft. When he actually started to seehimself as a messenger of spiritual uplift...well, delusion crept in, held the door open for pretension, and they bothkicked Hunter in the pants.

East Meets WestJames Shigeta & John Gielgud portray residents of Shangri-La

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We film fans are susceptible to our own variation of this sickness. If we like a film, we flatter ourselves bythinking it's because it is an unequivocally good film. If we don't like a film, it obviously has to be because the movieis bad. Closer to the truth is that we each like what we like, then we try to attach objective value judgments to oursubjective opinions, This kind of thinking ignores the very real fact that some truly marvelous films are just not to ourtaste, and some real stinkers are dear to our hearts. Such is Lost Horizon to me. It's not a good film, but boy, was Iexcited when I learned that it was coming out on DVD!

Sally Kellerman refuses to let a dangerous trek through Himalayan Mountainsinterfere with her fashion sense; that fur hat MUST be cocked to the side!

THE AUTOGRAPH FILESBelow are autographs collected from Michael York and Ross Hunter in 1980. They were patrons at a book store Iused to work at on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles.

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Copyright © Ken Anderson

About Ken Anderson

LA-based writer and lifelong film enthusiast. You can read more of his essays on films of the ’60s & ‘70s at DreamsAre What Le Cinema Is For

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