re: MOVIE ABOUT "LOST HORIZON"

[DARIO DARII]

oN THE FEB 21ST 2004 ISSUE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, WHOSE COVER IS MEL GIBSON WITH A CROWN OF THORNS ...A certain David Marc Fisher had a big WISH...in fact
more of a DEMAND to DVD makers....and OURS too,

that now is the time to re-release the --in his own words--We're Dyin' For---of the movie Lost Horizon.

He also voiced out a lot of other things, including the bonus featurettes that DVD may contain. Sort of a wish list. Wish List that I only thought,but may be tickled pink if it sortA happen. Sort of Like an early X'mas wish...Like:

The reason for the debacle. Personal Testimonials from the people involved into the making of the film. Personalities like BB and HD of course, the avowed gay and writer..Larry Kramer, the miscasting of Michael York and Sally Kellerman, the writer from MAD magazine to renamed the movie, Least Horizon. The director.
plus the music video of the 5th Dimension as lifted from the musical special of Burt Bacharach, and if possible the WHOLE music special if clip is too limiting. After three decades how does the Lost Survivors will faced up the flashback of their own work....This is a lot juicier than I ever have imagined . We will definitely keep our fingers crossed.= DD

[hereiam]

[...This is a lot juicier than I ever have imagined . We will definitely keep our fingers crossed

A cheesy movie but a wonderful soundtrack.
How i rushed to the shop to get the casette (could
not afford a record player in those days) and
listened to it over and over in that summer.

I wished there were more songs on it.
The female singers who sang "the world is
is a circle" and "friendly doors open wide"
sang so well.

[mark]

I wonder if enough time has passed for Burt and Hal to discuss "Lost Horizon" on a commentary track objectively and with a sense of humor? We've heard snippets in interviews about the difficulty of working with non-singers (although only Sally Kellerman, James Sigheta and Bobby Van provided their own vocals), but it would be great to hear him talk about the experience unapologetically, so to speak. In most of the interviews I've seen, he still appears to be quite sensitive about the whole thing, even while acknowledging that the music wasn't bad.

I'm not as big a fan of Lost Horizon as some people, but I thought it was terribly insulting that the liner notes to Razor and Tie's reissue of the soundtrack a few years ago treated the music as if it were kitsch, a collection of so-bad-it's-good songs along the lines of "Golden Throats."

[vincent.cole]

Mark;

In some ways, I think Burt might have soften his view. What I means is, that during his concert medleys, he does play, "The World Is A Circle".
Every concert that I have been at, when Burt plays this song, the audience Claps! So Burt does care about his music, even though the movie was a flop!

In addition, I have seen the special where Burt has a group of kids in a studio doing, "The World Is A Circle". This might have been before the movie 'Lost Horizon' came out. It seems like Burt enjoyed that session.

About Hal David, I don't know. Hal seems like a very private person.

Mark, what if you can get in touch with Burt's people to see if they can contact Hal on this subject.

On the A & E Special about Burt, Hal indicated that Paramont was just in love with the music!


P.S. Mark how about a cut & paste for the website. Spell Check would also be a plus for me!

[Andrew]

Just now I can't rememmber if it was Burt or Hal, but during the second part of the BBC Radio2 documentary last week one of them stated that he still thought the songs were actually good songs (I agree wholheartedly!) and it was just the bad film that let the music down. I think the 'song & dance man' who sang Question Me An Answer was awful - a case of really bad casting.

[Mark Y]

Lost Horizon is a great score, even with some sub-par vocals. I've loved it since I came across the original LP on the Bell label. I agree that the CD liner notes were insulting

[Guest]

Yes, very insulting. And it made me angry because you only find out you are giving money to that kind of people when it's too late. It's like a trap. I wish I could have just transferred form the LP to a CD.

[Steve Owen]

ok,i guess i will jump in here as well....i was around at Columbia at the time the picture was being made...and Burt was working very hard to do this film...
Looking back and thinking bout the intital concept of "Lost Horizon" as a musical...hmmmm....it was an interesting concept, but one which mixed drama and music...heavier drama than usual..for a musical -perhaps this was one of
the things that was a bit hard to do...
And when i finally saw the movie on the tube,I thot to myself...geez...this
is cheezy...couldn't Ross Hunter have seen what this thing looked like on
the movieola machine?
I think it COULD have been good...but the intermixing of heavy drama
with the way they did the musical numbers was questionable...yet Burt's music is fantastic!..just not with the picture!

[warbachavid]

I think it's a load of non-sense about the real reason for the split, Lost Horizon often gets the blame, Burt and Hal had already-like everyone else- experienced failures, not everything they touched became gold.
Lost Horizon was a decent film. It's just an easy answer for all three parties I guess. Maybe one day the real story will be told

[Steve Schenck]

I was in a unique position when LH came out; I was working in a boarding school in the midwest and was unable to get to Chicago, the only city remotely near, which was playing the movie. But I did get hold of the cast album. From the beginning I loved it. This is sophisticated stuff. Both words and music to tracks like "Where Knowledge Ends" and "If I Could Go Back" are terrific. "The World Is A Circle" is quintessential Bacharach. When you listen to the music without seeing the film, you get all kinds of ideas about how it might have been used. Sadly, when you see the actual flick, you realize how disappointing it must have been for Burt and Hal, and most likely everyone else involved with it. I saw Burt in concert in '75, and he was still talking about it. As I recall, he objected to the violence in the non-Shangrila segments of the film. I think it was nearly 10 years or more before I finally saw the film by way of a late night rerun on TV. I don't think I stayed up to watch the whole thing. Once I saw how poorly put together it was, I didn't need to. I had that fabulous music, and really prefer to listen to it without thinking of the movie.