By: Joe Caps (Member)
I produced the Pioneer Special Edition of lost Horizon. It was tough to do. I had seen the film when it opened in the uncut stereo version. the reveiws for the film and word of mouth were so bad that the film was cut within a few days and the film was changed from stereo prints to mono.
I wanted to restore the film because in spite of bad business, the film had gained a cult following over the years. Everyone seemed to have the soundtrack album which had three songs that were no longer in the film.
I found the missing songs from workprint which was not in good shape, but it was better than nothing. Columbia did not keep the stereo track, so I had to remix the film from scratch.
There were side benefits to this project. I got to know Miss Diana Lee. She is the dubber for Liv Ullman. Diana also dubbed for Samantha Egar in Doctor Dolittle.
Diana came from a very musical family. Both her mom and dad sang in hollywood films.
Dians da, Bill Lee is pobably the most famous of male dubbers. He sang for christopher Lee in sound of Music and for John Kerr in South Pacific.
I also got to know Aletha Finch, Peter Finch's widow, a woman of supreme sprit and love of life.
Two cut scenes I was not able to find - the fertility dance and a reprise of If I Could Go Back. I also found a recording of Peter Finch singin the song I Come to You, before he decided he should be dubbed. Peter listened to his own singing voice just once and decided he should be dubbed.
After Sound of Music had made a ton of money, all of the studios rushed to get big budget musicals out in the hope of making big money. Colubia thought with Lost Horizon they had a proven property, good songwriters and enough big names in the cast to make a sure hit.
so much so, they did not have one single test showing for audences or critis, theyh were so sure they had another Sound of Music.
When the laserdisc was released, it sold more than other musicals in theseries with the exception of 1776. When I told Sally Kellerman I was trying to restore scens to the film, she was appalled.
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/p ... &archive=0
bye
Rob
Lost horizon-Joe Caporiccio
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