FILMS… Lost Horizon (1973)

#1970s #All Posts

 

You’d think someone couldn’t make it up. Well, someone did in this 1970s guilty pleasure amalgam of film genres…

 

An all-star cast in a Ross Hunter production and their (sadly, mostly) unsung fantasy, adventure, war, aeroplane disaster, book adaptation and feel good musical.

 

Lost Horizon (1973)

The official theatrical trailer for LOST HORIZON in HD, Vince Connor

 

It’s a Friday night, and the love of my life  – for the then last nearly 15 years, now it’s approaching 16  – told me they have found the perfect movie for my viewing that evening. Part of me felt a wee bit apprehensive after all this was the man who has introduced me to some really, really bad movies (and to Falcon Crest (1981-90), where the jury is still out, after the first episode, but it’s still years later).

Darlin Husband continues to wax lyrical about this as yet unnamed film… “It’s a 1970s movie, a disaster film and a musical!” he exclaims. He knows that I love these film genres and in that order. Then he adds – more than a wee bit over enthusiastically – those 5 magic words (which always work for me no matter how bad the movie), “It’s got an all-star cast”. He lists Peter Finch, George Kennedy, Sally Kellerman, John Gielgud, Olivia Hussey and Michael York. For starters…

One of the last times he was this excited about our movie night, I remember then watching Michael York in Seven Nights in Japan (1977)… where York played a British Prince who went AWOL and then met, fell in love with and then the disaster occured as he sang a love song really, really badly to a young, hot Japanese Tour Guide. Otherwise, it wasn’t that bad for a Charles Gray movie.

But the thought of George Kennedy et al doing song and dance numbers in this to be reviewed a 1970s disaster movie is too good to miss. Clinching the deal, Darlin Husband tells me it has a musical soundtrack from one of my favourites, Bert Bacharach (and here with Hal David). Then he knows he’s convinced me to watch the film that Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel agreed to hate, Lost Horizon (1973).

So read on for the review of the nostalgia fest for those who love those big scale, big star song and dance routines in immersive musicals, George Kennedy’s Airport disaster movies and men wearing lurid wee orange towel kilt things around their waists and waving similarly coloured ribbons in the air (just because). This orange themed attire reminds you of that “sexy” scene in The Towering Inferno (1974) where Paul Newman wore something vaguely similar around his waist but didn’t sing or dance in that bedroom, off his architect’s office before the fiery moments of that Irwin Allen movie.

Many of Lost Horizon‘s all-star cast’s songs, music and accompanying choreography – especially Sally Kellerman’s show stopping show stealing moments throughout the film – remind you of musicals from an earlier age such as The King and I (1956). Here these scenes are surprisingly not jarring for this 1970s set movie. The action all takes place on a restyled film set from Camelot (1967), which was last spotted in my review for this McMillan and Wife (1973) post. But it was then masquerading as a Scottish castle, now it’s a Tibetan monastery.

This musical is also (sadly) the one where most of the cast’s apparent singing talents, are not their own… or in the case of George Kennedy and Michael York. Don’t. Happen. At. All. Although to be fair to George Kennedy, he was apparently musically trained by Bararach himself, but Kennedy’s voice or song wasn’t used in the final script. But when those acting names who do really sing, sing they put everything into it… But the others have plenty of emoting or dancing to do while they “sing” and for the most part, this is convincing…

Now for the plot… The film is based on James Hilton’s book of the same name. The action begins at Baskula Airport, in Asia. We see and hear explosions, and then it’s more explosions and gunfire. There are deadly looking men with guns, and en masse, they are like an angry mob as they shoot their guns or shake their fists in the air.

The two British Conway brothers, a Peace Envoy, Richard (Peter Finch) and his younger newspaper reporter brother, George (Michael York) are trying to charter planes to save Western refugees from this war-torn Asian country. These two British men (miraculously) find a jeep with the keys still in it  – that weirdly none of the natives found – and drive away from the chaos. Richard rigs up an explosion (for no apparent reason, seeing as he’s a Peace Envoy). Cue a huge explosion and more mayhem.

The two then find their plane boss, the plane. On getting onto the plane, they believe this plane to be flown by a friend to Hong Kong. But we viewers know that this friend has been knocked out, and this literally happened when Richard’s back was turned. Next thing you know it’s still a disaster film as it’s now a hijacker in charge of the controls as these two men join three (all-star) passengers.

There is George Kennedy as Joe Patroni – fresh into his 1970 disaster movie career – as Sam Cornelius, an enigmatic American with a bit of a crush on our damsel in distress. This damsel is Sally Hughes (Sally Kellerman), a pill popping and over anxious American war photographer. Finally, there is the resident comedian for the flight (and sadly the film), Bobby Van as Harry Lovett. He is returning after a three week stand up stint. But his infantile jokes make Joe Patroni (also George Kennedy), the pilot in The Concorde: Airport 1979 (1979) / Airport ’80: The Concorde (1980) look like the wittiest guy on the planet.

Sometime after these introductions to those characters, Harry realises that their plane has been hijacked as he notices the plane is going in the wrong direction. Richard calmly gets all of them to chill, and then they notice the plane is landing in the desert. This is in what looks like a film set where they are filming an Attila the Hun biopic, but in a Roger Corman time travel movie where they have guns. Yet weirdly these passengers aren’t allowed off the plane, as it’s actually a petrol stop. I kid you not…

After the plane takes off again, Richard advises everyone to remain calm rather than storm the cockpit (and they trust this soft spoken Englishman). Then it’s snowing heavily as they fly over the Himalayas (read real life America) as they sleep, and the hijacker appears to check that Richard is still there. Which he is.

After they wake up, Sam offers the jumpy Sally, a cigarette as she gets really hysterical. The annoying Harry is now tap dancing, to help him chill (and winding up everyone else). Then an engine blows, and simultaneously oxygen masks and the emergency position are needed as the plane loses height. All the passengers, seem to follow Richard’s advice to keep calm (again) and then they all copy what George Kennedy is doing. (Kennedy is a natural as he’s literally just starred in the Airport (1970) movie alongside Lost Horizon’s producer Ross Hunter).

After the plane appears to crash into a snowy mountain, only the pilot is killed and the five all-star cast members escape unscathed. They are then saved from the cold and food rationing by Chang, an English speaking lama (John Gielgud) –  he claims to have learnt English at Oxford University as an undergraduate student – and his fellow lamas appear from the snowstorm and give them warm clothes and food.

Then it’s adventure movie time, as Chang then leads these people through the snow, over mountain passes and man made bridges to a cave (in what feels like real time). There they enter a tunnel where… da dah, it’s time for the fantasy elements of the plot… At the end of this tunnel is Shangri-La, a snow free, lusciously green place surrounded by green mountains and (what looks like a picture of) that pimped up Camelot castle now as a ye olde oriental monastery.

Once they are in Shangri-La itself, they are surrounded by flowers and pools. It’s populated by monks in red gowns, smiley children and happy adults of every age and race. Richard learns through Chang that Shangri-La is so idyllic no one gets ill and people live for a very long time. Everyone is nice and smiley, and everywhere is quiet and peaceful. And in Richard’s case, it’s the vision of a mysterious blonde, in a love at first sight moment for him and her.

It is governed by the Head Lama (Charles Boyer) who later tells Richard his story and implies he was born in 1747 and it’s only now he’s dying. He is hoping the peace loving, Richard will agree to succeed him in his role, as he knows he’s a good man after following Richard’s career. Richard feels he has come home to this dream, and is now madly in love with the orphaned-as-a-child, teacher, Catherine (Liv Ullmann). Catherine’s parents died looking for Shangri-La and then Chang rescued her when she was a baby.

Meanwhile, his brother is also in love, but with Maria, a dancing girl and he is keen to leave for civilisation as soon as possible. He wants to take the young, nubile, and besotted Maria (Olivia Hussey) with him. She wants to go with him as she can’t live without him and is keen to see the real world that he talks about…

But the only way of leaving is with the help of the porters who visit this place randomly with them expected in the vague future… Meanwhile, Maria is a hot slave girl who believes she’s as young as she looks (think 1970s Olivia Hussey), and she is the only thing George likes about the place, but it’s only now kind of hinted by Chang to Richard she’s older than she looks.

Sally is not a happy woman and is suicidal, and she hates her job as a war photographer, hypocrisy and her life in New York. She gets emotional support from Chang and fellow lama, To-Lenn (James Shigeta). Sam obviously quite fancies Sally and invites her to play cards, possibly in a bid to avoid Harry’s constant joking (and I don’t blame him).

In time, Sally is happier and at peace with her new stress free life away from the rat race. Sam finds gold, gold, gold (but sadly he doesn’t sing about it). He shares his life story with Sally and takes advice from Sally’s impromptu song, Reflections (as after the first 40 minutes, this film became a musical with more about these songs soon), and he helps the community instead in an engineering role, creating a dam for the villagers.

Meanwhile, Harry finds his calling as a school teacher… This is after Richard and Catherine leave him a class of children to teach while she goes for a picnic with him after bunking off work- These kids even laugh at Harry’s jokes and who would have guessed he’d find an audience. He seems as amazed as we are.

After George finds out they were all brought there on purpose, and the porters have been there for a few days, he throws a fit and says he’s leaving and he’s taking Maria with him… But will the others go or stay as they are now happier and finding purpose in their lives? And why should Maria stay…?

The on-screen fantasy scenes relating to the journey to Shangri La tell that Lost Horizon was not filmed in Tibet. The locations are written about in the Afj Catalog HERE, which reveals those scenes in the film were filmed,

According to Filmfacts, the picture was shot in Oregon, Washington, Arizona and California. Studio production notes specify that Mt. Hood in Oregon was used to simulate the Tibet mountains. A commemorative book about the film reported that some of the snow sequences were shot on location in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State. It also reported that the evacuation sequence was shot in Tucson, AZ, the refueling sequence in Victorville, CA and that closeups of the trek to Shangri-La were shot at Bronson Canyon in Los Angeles, with simulated snow.

This location however was admittedly more convincing as the Tibetan Himalayas than the location swap when California became London. This was also with an artist’s backdrop and a newly red painted double decker bus. These props were seen in all their glory in an episode of Murder She Wrote (1984-96). Darlin Husband even spotted a palm tree in this Season 2, Episode 5 episode with two Angela Lansbury roles and one a Mockney one, and coincidentally starring Olivia Hussey. This episode is called Sing a Song of Murder and is as painful as that sounds.

The DC3 plane footage was much more credible than that double decker bus. Darlin Husband suggested it was Lao Che Air Freight from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). But bizarrely, I discovered he was close to the truth as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) used footage of this same plane and used scenes from this 1973 film in the Indiana Jones movie.

Now for my thoughts on those tunes and songs written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David…

The songs all kick off with Lost Horizon, as the titular bombastic opening track and it kind of explains the forthcoming plot… it’s also a great immersive, wistful and inviting tune. But like the other tracks it feels out of place, yet weirdly fits in as an apt song for this nostalgic 1970s film. The song echoes Richard’s thoughts of staying in Shangri-La, where he feels like he is in his dream life with no guns, happy children and greenery. And with his dream woman, Catherine.

Cue more songs after 40 minutes of film time – here outlined in no particular order – which I guarantee will be in your head for days, if not weeks after. These by design or coincidence, are sung and danced in Shangri-La and are not heard in those bookend parts of the film set elsewhere.

The “singing” and dancing Maria (a voice synching Olivia Hussey) entertains the men over supper in Share the Joy. Her acrobatics in this dancing is impressive once you learn Hussey was pregnant at the time.

Later in the film, after Maria is keen to leave Shangri-La after George has told her about his world, she and a happier Sally sing about “swapping lives” in The Things I Will Not Miss. This song beautifully encapsulates the differences between the world of Shangri La and the world outside.

I was in awe of Sally Kellerman’s fabulous singing and her performance in this song, Olivia’s character Maria’s more tentative performance reflects her indecision about which world she wants to live in. It appears she has only experienced Shangri La, unlike Sally who has seen and experienced both.

Sally Kellerman is one of the few all-star cast members who sing in the film (the others are James Shigeta (with those orange clad kilted men) and Bobby Vee). Her boundless infectious happiness and her performance were delivered with gusto in both song and dance.

After initially being irked by his character, Bobby Van later impressed me with his comic delivery of the way too catchy, Answer Me A Question. This song was sung with lots of smiley, dancing children of all ages who had previously joined Liv Ullmann in her (musical) dance number earlier on.

I’d like to think Van beat Tom Jones to this role after Van secured the role showing his additional dance skills. This was also as Tom Jones was possibly at this point in his career licking his wounds after the dire, The Special London Bridge Special (1972). And yes that does come with Special in the title two times…

Sadly, there is no film footage of George Kennedy singing, or of Michael York. (Not) Peter Finch as Richard sings about how he fancies Catherine (Liv Ullmann) and a dubbed Ullmann sings about how she wants him in their dubbed duet in I Might Frighten Her Away. Both their characters’ lyrics are heard as their thoughts, as they make meaningful romantic looks at each other during this song. They don’t make a move on their repressed romantic feelings in this scene while they share a picnic and she suggestively cuts him a melon. Yet they seem to be a couple after this song, it’s all in the telepathy I guess.

Ullmann’s singing replacement also shines in another song with happy, smiley children in the all singing and dancing The World is a Circle. This performance is complete with Bobby Van, a wooden roundabout and that Windmill wooden thing which I last spotted in the snowy Finnish scenes in The Billion Dollar Brain (1967). And I still don’t know what it’s called…

Instead, I’ll leave you with this question, with the answer to the question in the title of the first song of the soundtrack.

Have you ever dreamed of a place
Far away from it all
Where the air you breathe is soft and clean
And children play in fields of green
And the sound of guns
Doesn’t pound in your ears (anymore)

And, if you haven’t…

There’s a lost horizon (film from 1973) waiting to be found…

 

Weeper Rating: 😦 😦 /10

Handsqueeze Rating: 🙂 🙂 🙂  🙂 🙂 🙂 /10

Hulk Rating: ‎ ‎ ‎ /10

 

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The Seventh Broadway Bound  Blogathon  2024, No 15. 

This review was added to Taking Up Room‘s Seventh Broadway Bound  Blogathon. Other reviews with this cast include,

• Bobby Van in Wonder Woman and The Love Boat.
• George Kennedy in his tribute HERE, Dallas, Airport 75, Airport 77 and more.
• John Gielgud in Murder on the Orient Express, Tales of the Unexpected, Appointment with Death and more.
• Michael York in Seven Nights in Japan, Fedora and more.
• Olivia Hussey in Murder She Wrote, Death on the Nile and more.
  
• Peter Finch in Network.
• Sally Kellerman in Columbo, Diagnosis Murder, The Ray Bradbury Theatre and more.
• James Shigeta in Die Hard, The Streets of San Francisco, Fantasy Island and more.

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