Starring Peter Finch, Bobby Van, George Kennedy, and Sally Kellerman
Directed by Charles Jarrott
Music by Burt Bacharach; Lyrics by Hal David
Inspired by the massive success of The Sound of Music, producers increasingly hedged their bets on epic musicals often made on location with popular stars and directors of the time. They debuted as "roadshow" attractions, complete with intermissions, programs, and stage shows, moving from city to city on a limited-release basis before going out to the general public. Lost Horizon was the last musical to receive a roadshow release. Producer Ross Hunter and songwriters Bacharach and David had high hopes for it...but well...why don't we begin during a revolution in Asia and see where the problems lay...
The Story: Richard (Finch) and George (Michael York) Conway manage to get a small group of people out of the country before the revolution gets worse. Their plane is hijacked shortly after they leave and crashes in the Himalayas. They're rescued by Chang (Sir John Gielgud) and his people, who lead them to a lamastary in the mystical land of Shangri-La. Surrounded on all sides by mountains, Shangri-La is an isolated paradise. People live for centuries and enjoy abundant health, it's always sunny, and greed is unknown.
Everyone loves it there but George, who is suspicious of Chang's motives and desperately wants to leave with his brother. He convinces the lovely dancer Maria (Olivia Hussey) that the outside world is worth seeing. His brother isn't sure, especially after he falls for the teacher Catherine (Liv Ullman) and the High Lama (Charles Boyer) wants him to be his successor. George, however, discovers Chang's true motives...but even after he leaves and discovers the truth about Shangri-La, Richard can never forget it.
The Song and Dance: At least the production is beautiful. The color blazes in every shade of the rainbow once they get to Shangri-La, and the costumes and sets add a note of vague Tibetan that the casting unfortunately lacks. Finch and Kennedy are at least trying a little, and Van looks like he enjoys his numbers with the kids.
Favorite Number: Maria performs the willowy welcome "Share the Joy" on the night of the refugees' arrival with two other dancers. Catherine and Harry have fun teaching the kids that "The World Is a Circle" as they frolic with them on wooden playground equipment. Sally and Maria discuss why one wants to stay so badly and the other truly wants to leave in "The Things I Will Not Miss." Van also teaches the kids to "Question Me an Answer" a bit later, ending with him tapping into the creek.
Trivia: This isn't the first time Lost Horizon became a flop musical. The stage version Shangri-La also went over badly in 1956, barely running 20 performances despite a cast that included Dennis King and Jack Cassidy. Its Hallmark Hall of Fame TV adaptation in 1960 doesn't seem to have been well-regarded either.
Three numbers, "If I Could Go Back," "Where Knowledge Ends (Faith Begins)," and "I Come to You," as well as a reprise of "Living Together, Growing Together," were cut after the initial roadshow engagement. Though they were restored in 2011, most copies of the movie seen online are of the shorter regular release version.
"Living Together, Growing Together" was the final top 5 song for the The 5th Dimension.
Bert Bacharach and Hal David had so many problems working together during this film, they ended their profitable partnership.
What I Don't Like: Let's start with the dated story. Frank Capra couldn't make it work in 1937, and it comes off even worse here. On one hand, Shangri-La is so beautiful and seemingly serene, I can kind of understand why some folks wanted to stay...but like the similar Brigadoon, the idea of a utopia that no one can leave and nothing changes comes off as being pretty creepy. Some people may find it uncomfortably close to being more like a cult than a utopia.
The casting is a major problem, too. The only person with even the slightest musical talent is Bobby Van, and his character is annoying, obnoxious, and completely unnecessary. Everyone else looks bored when they aren't trying to sing and dance. York has nothing to do besides complain, and Ullman is totally out of place as the sweet teacher. There's also the racial casting - obviously, Gielgud, Massey, and Boyer are hardly Tibetan.
Hermes Pan may have done choreography for movies since the 1930's, but he's at sea with a Tibetan-set epic. His "Living Together, Growing Together" fertility ritual dance looks utterly ridiculous, with its dancers whirling about in bright red loincloths. The song is too slow and laid-back to suggest a passionate ritual and doesn't really fit with the routine. There's also the fact that Finch, Hussey, and Ullman were dubbed, and badly, with their lips frequently out of synch with the voices.
The Big Finale: Despite its failure, it's recently picked up a small fandom of folks who enjoy the inherent camp value and some of the songs. Really, it's more dull and weird than it is campy or fun. Only come here if you're a huge fan of Bacharach and David, the cast, or cult films.
Home Media: This movie was such a tremendous failure, it never came out on video and wasn't released on DVD until 2011 and Blu-Ray until 2012. With both of those discs out of print and expensive online, your best bet if you absolutely must see this is streaming. It can actually be found for free on a few sites right now, including Tubi and Pluto TV.
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