Diva is more reserved in these older reviews, quieter and more hopeless. She's not used to visitors down in Musical Hell yet. As we become her regular visitors down there, she loosens up, becoming more animated and conversational. Character development!
Yeah, Diva was still in development at that point. I think I had something like GLaDOS in mind: impersonal but sarcastic. It wasn't working with me or what I wanted to do so I loosened her up and made her more actively frustrated by her job.
Just to play (ahem) devil's advocate as to why there are no songs for the first forty-five minutes...it could be that the makers of this movie did that on purpose. That is to say...the characters only sang once they entered Shangri-La as another indication of the magical quality of life there. The "real" world outside Shangri-La's borders has no music. If that were the case, it'd be the same principle as the reason Maria in West Side Story never sings before she meets Tony, and only manages half a line of music after he dies. Her final speech is a speech, not a song, because Tony WAS her music.
Jennifer Schillig that’s a pretty great justification. Even if we ignore how terrible the songs are; I’m not a singer, let alone a musical guy in general, but I know good singing from bad singing and good musicals are the ones that organically infuse the music whereas bad musicals blindside you with music. In good musicals, you aren’t questioning why the songs are here or feel organic to the universe, but bad musicals, like this one, have their songs integrated about as organically as a commercial break.
I CAN AGREE! BUT "MARIA'S DEATH LOVE SONG TO TONY" LENNY COULDN'T COME UP WITH A MELODY FOR IT. I KNOW FOR SONDHEIM COULD HAVE COME UP WITH LYRICS! AND MARIA'S DIALOGUE WAS ARTHUR'S LEAD IN TI THE SONG THAT NEVER GOT WRITTEN! BUT I DO LOVE YOUR REASONING FOR IT! 🤗!
18:01 -- Yep, it is surprising that the people of Shangri-La wouldn't know about irrigation, considering the stellar education provided by Catherine. Did you know that the world is a circle that never ends? "Liv--could you try maybe swinging your arms this time?"
So this movie is where Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom got the plot from. Think about it, some guys crashing their plane on land that leads them to a cult
To be honest, the way the set up Shangri-la and the way you described it as a cult would honestly seem like a great plot line in a much darker movie. At first the main characters are lured into Shangri-la by it’s supposedly appealing attributes, such as culture, wealth, philosophy, but one of the characters begins to see through the glamor and realise just how transparent as to how cult-like their way of life really is. Then, when the characters learn that they are not here by accident, they try to leave, only for the denizens to stop them, revealing their true nature, and a different, more malevolent side to the supposed paradise of Shangri-la.
The book had the same vibe. The first time I read it, it felt like easy reading escapism, and Mallison was the annoying character that just wanted to be miserable and drag everyone down into the dumps with him. The second time through I picked up on the cultish theme and Mallison became the character I felt like the reader was supposed to identify with. It makes me wonder how the author originally intended readers to see these characters.
Interesting fact: there is really a city named Shangri-La today in Yunnan province near the border of Tibet, China. After looking it up, it seems that they named it after the mythical city in the book that this musical was based on.
I expected everyone in the comments to be angry that you acknowledged racism, but it turns out they're focusing on the fact that you called shangri-la a cult, which is actually a topic worth debate, because the original claim has the possibility of being incorrect and harmful Why are all the smart people either making the small-time videos or watching the small-time videos?
I love your reviews, especially of this dry, overstuffed turkey. I have to say, I really like your theory that Maria knew she'd instantly die of old age if she left Shangri-La, because it not only illustrates the inherently unappealing quality of Shangri-La, but it makes Maria look like less of an idiot.
I remember watching this movie on TV when I was around 8 years old. I think that was the first time I experienced the "embarrassed for somebody else" feeling (AKA cringe) ( for the actors in that bizarre shirtless dance scene.
Believe it or not, Lost Horizon was a huge success in Brazil, running for a whole year in big cinema theaters in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The soundtrack was as well as popular, selling records by a thousands. During a time, back in the 80's, the atrocity was a regular feature on TV. It still has a legion of fans that probably have the DVD and watch it at least once a year. Funny but it's true.
This movie is what happens if you assume you've written a paradise that anyone would want to live forever in, no questions asked, and forget to check whether or not you have.
Fun Fact: This was written by Larry Kramer. Yes. "The Normal Heart" Larry Kramer. The one upside is that he publicly acknowledged he didn't like this screenplay, and only did it so he could use the money as a nest egg so he wouldn't have to worry about money for the rest of his life.
OK, I like this musical in a "It's better not to think about it" kind of way, and I think your review of it is funny, insightful and hilarious. (The "Zardoz Rhythm Gymnastics Troupe" line is a keeper!) However, while I disagree with some of the observations, they're not exactly arrows to my heart. That's what the commenters' deal is: They're confusing someone's opinion with a personal attack.
This could have turned into an awesome movie simply by having him return only to find the plane full of dead bodies, it was all a fantasy and he's condemned himself to death on the mountain as he continued to search for Shangri- La!!
It's so sad to see so much wasted talent in this film. Gielgud, Finch, Ullmann, Michael York, and even George "Cool Hand Luke" Kennedy and top-notch performers hopefully were paid truckloads of money for their appearances. Bobby Van has a long history of great movie musical performances, including KISS ME, KATE!, SMALL TOWN GIRL (where he does the hopping dance), and THE AFFAIRS OF DOBIE GILLIS (also featuring a very young Bob Fosse). Hermes Pan has a stunning list of choreographic credits on his resume, including plenty with Fred Astaire.
You know what could be great? If someone combined mighty whitey tropes with the twist from the game Jade Empire sometime. *MASSIVE JADE EMPIRE SPOILERS BELOW.* Jade Empire is set in a fantasy world heavily inspired by Chinese legends and Wuxia cinema, and your character is the apprentice of a wise, reclusive martial arts master who consistently calls you his best student and tells you all about the super special destiny you have, he tries to teach you patience, humility and kindness - you've seen this trope before if you're at all familiar with martial arts stories. When the forces of the evil Emperor attack your hometown and seemingly kill your master, you set off on a quest to defeat the Emperor and save the Empire. It's very clichéd Hero's Journey stuff. You defeat the Emperor, the day is seemingly saved... ...Then your master reappears, alive, and kills you. Turns out he was evil all along, and he set you up to depose the Emperor (his brother) so he could seize power. He specifically trained you to be good enough to defeat the Emperor, but *not* good enough to defeat him (he intentionally trained slight flaws into your fighting style that he could exploit), convinced you that you were special and amazingly powerful, deliberately engineered your tragic backstory by faking his own death so you would be motivated to avenge him, and then he killed you when your usefulness ran out. It'd be pretty cathartic if someone did something similar with a mighty whitey story, where the white guy is allowed to *think* he's become the best martial artist in the setting because he's a useful idiot, but he really hasn't.
I saw this movie on TV when I was 9 or 10...and it was the first time I realized I was watching a bad movie. _Not_ a movie too grown-up for me to enjoy...just a _bad_ one. Also that songs could be so bad that even _I_ felt I could write better ones.
What I am disappointed with are the costumes, they were UGLY and designed by master costume designer Jean Louis. I can only assume the execs made him come up with such hideous outfits.
I was a kid when Lost Horizon came out and really liked the movie. I had no idea what a "bad" musical was. The cable TV company in Goleta California had one of the first pay movie channels in 1973-4 and they played it a lot. My parents bought me the Bell soundtrack album, which introduced me to Burt Bachrach's music. Keep up the great reviews!
Even in the novel, Shangri-La was a myth; a place where war and suffering didn't exist amid a world of war and suffering that did exist. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as Paradise; the Fascist and Communist dictators were telling us back when he wrote the novel, (1933) that THEIR societies were Paradises, and we know what lies those were. This flight from reasonable reality conditioned our inability to thwart the dictators before the need for WWII became inevitable. Now, the themes of the novel and the movies made from them just seem like advertisements for dystopian cultist dictatorship. It's how North Korea presents itself, in a strange way. The idea for the movie was flawed from its inception. It's another version of 'Springtime for Hitler' as an ideological musical statement.
Once again, I had nearly forgotten everything that I had previously learned about "Lost Horizon". There's no way that I'm *ever* watching this trainwreck by myself! 😆
The amount of talent that went to waste in this film. Olivia Hussey (Juliet is quite a long way from Verona), John Geilgud(I think he was better off sticking to Shakespeare), Michael York (He tripped after Cabaret), Peter Finch (He should probably go back to Audrey Hepburn's convent or vibe with Murray Head), Miko Taka (Wait wasn't she in Sayanora!?) etc. I just wanted to watch the movies they were actually good in. I hope they all fired their agents after this abomination
Speaking of actors embarrassing themselves, after " triumphing" in this movie, Liv Ullman starred on Broadway a few years later in Richard Rodgers' last musical, "I Remember Mama", a genuine bomb.
I very much doubt that Gielgud would have accepted so silly a direction if it was given. Remember that he was by this time one of the triumvirate of most regarded British stage actors, the other two being Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, and had been for several decades. He was also of an age in which his age was quite obvious and did nothing to hide that reality. I had the joy of seeing him together with Richardson on stage in London in 1969, and Olivier separately. What a thrill for a teenage American that was! As on stage, so in film; he simply played the part, full stop. How many years after the over the top Lost Horizons was it that he stole the film in the even worse caricature ridden Arthur by simply playing the only believable role? As for Lost Horizons the musical, it never should have been made at all. In focusing on big production numbers, they lost the story altogether.
According to "The 50 Worst Films of All Time" by Harry and Michael Medved, the producers of Lost Horizon initially offered the role of Chaing to Japanese actor Tishiro Mifune but he turned down the role. But you are right, casting whites as Asian characters almost never work.
All of the movies that were featured before "Lost Horizon" ended up being covered in later episodes. They weren't nearly *as* bad as this movie! A couple of them came pretty close though. 😅
They crashed because the pilot died -- something he knew would happen in much the same way as Maria did. It's made clear that the pilot was a volunteer, in full knowledge of his fate, and was deemed a hero for bringing Richard to the valley more or less safely.
+snarkus63 There's always a few diamonds in the rough. The 80s were a pretty dour era for live-action musicals too, but Little Shop of Horrors came out then.
Oh it exists alright, and something tells me that the Kroffts were somewhat ashamed of it, as the D.V.D. was rushed to release and only contains the movie and its theatrical trailer. Now, for a show whose final episode was a clip-show episode, you'd think that the movie would act as a finale, a way to wrap up the various characters and their relationships, and maybe cut Jimmy a break and allow him to get home. But no, the movie doesn't do this, instead opting to tell the story of how Jimmy got to Living Island, i.e. something which the show itself did in its title sequence and the first episode.
Musical Hell Also, Why From Justin To Kelly? I mean, it looks bad, but not so bad it's horrible. With more consistent writing and a decent amount of score-tweaking ( maybe get someone like Sondheim or Cander and Eb on board to do the music) it could work, so why do you consider it the worst?
The sole positive contribution from this Turkey movie? The script and its fee, by Larry Kramer, has a history central to the battle against HIV and AIDS! Kramer, the writer of the script, after the Hilton novel, got his agent, his brother, to negotiate a huge fee for creating the script. Kramer bought a beautiful home with that money, freeing him to become central to the fight against AIDS, including the founding of ACT-UP! Otherwise, this film is awful.
Thanks for the trip down "Memories SLAIN!" I'd forgotten exactly HOW bad this was, until now. And it is SO bad, it's made me forget the sins of SGT. PEPPER! And I even have the vinyl version of the LOST HORIZON soundtrack, which I recall picking up for a cool $1.99!
My parents took me to this when I was a young lad. I knew it was bad because I fell asleep as soon as the gang was rescued from the DC3 and didn't wake up until the flick was over. I still burst out into inappropriate laughter when Michael York goes screaming off the cliff at the end after Olivia Hussey pulls a "Leech Woman".
Okay, as a young gay boy I LOVED this movie. I made my parents buy me the soundtrack and I drove the entire family crazy by singing all the songs non stop... "Let the sun comfort you..." as I wrapped myself in an old curtain and made grand hand gestures. Man o man my family had patience!
Hi. A minor detail about Olivia Hussey you might find interesting. Just after she'd been cast, she discovered that she was pregnant. Oops. She was married to Dino Martin. Rather than back out, or be released from her contract, her scenes were scheduled so that the costumes went from still slender fitting, to more exotically relaxed (read more loosely fitted,) to cover the body in any way to hide the son she was carrying. Good costume designer, yes? In recent years, she has laughingly recalled having to rush to the loo after each take to throw up. Ah, the joys of morning sickness, which in reality is more like 24/7, in full costume and makeup. Now she's a grandmother. So, the movie flopped, but in real life she has a real life. Peace
I watched this with my father when I was about 13 and it is special to me. I enjoy "The World is a Circle" and "Living Together". They are both well-known Burt Bacharach songs. I don't know how it compares to the 1937 movie because I haven't seen it or read the book the movies are based on but two things stuck out for me: 1) That there is a secret paradise somewhere hidden from the world that few ever find. 2) The girl aging suddenly.
"Lost Horizon" - A Ross Hunter Production, Columbia (1973-1974); Warner Bros. (1990-present). Released on Thursday, August 16, 1973 and re-issued on Tuesday, October 9, 1990. This film was rated G. The remake of Frank Capra's Academy Award winning family classic has now becoming an cult following that touched our hearts and minds for generations to come.
Considering "Earthquake" and all the "Airport" movies George Kennedy did, it's weird that this was his worst disaster movie. Still, this makes a perfect prequel in the Michael York double feature with Logan's Run. A supposed utopia he can't wait to get out of. Black pants and turtlenecks. Putting on a lot of furs and escaping through an ice cave. Extensive exteriors at the Malibu Creek movie ranches. Old Man... Logan's HoRizUN. "You don't have to die at thirty! You can live! LIVE!"
The old woman who would lose her young looking body was used used somewhat in the pilot of the original Star Trek series only instead of an old woman losing s young looking body it was a disfigured woman looking a perfect body
I think Spider-Man: Man Turn Off The Dark was a try too hard musical experience, maybe someday it’ll deserve to be forgotten and know nothing as the most infamous punchline than a cultural classic.
I've only just seen this in its entirety a couple of months ago, so it was...um....interesting to see the film I'd heard so much about over the years. It is really, really bad. Apparently the producers asked Bacharach and Davis, considered the golden duo of songwriting at the time, to do the songs without realising that they were at the end of their relationship and subsequently turned out the dross that's in the film. The number of non-singers and non-dancers in the film also seriously undermines the whole thing (as Bette Midler famously said, "I never miss a Liv Ullman musical") leaving Bobby Van, who I feel really bad for. He was an extremely talented man but was continually called on to play obnoxiously unfunny comic relief. I can't help thinking it looks like they filmed the whole thing at a Polynesian themed restaurant and bar.
There's also an earlier Broadway stage musical adaptation of "Lost Horizon" entitled "Shangri-La", book & lyrics by original playwright James Hilton with Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee, and music by Harry Warren. It too was a flop.
I first read about this film in "The 50 Worst Films of All Time" by Harry and Michael Medved. The book revealed that the role of Chaing was originally offered to Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, but he turned down the role. Also, the film's belly flop at the box office led to the dissolution of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's partnership. I do like some of their songs like "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and "The Look of Love" especially if they have a good singer performing them like Dionne Warwick.
If the woman at the end reverts back to her normal age then why didn’t the people in the opening? Does that mean they were recently saved as well? If only I cared enough to find an answer. The writers didn’t.
Honestly and i truly cannot articulate why but this one has a soft spot in my heart. I watched and liked it as a kid. Its one ill rewatch every now and then but i acknowledge it has lots of issues
At least most of the cast went on to do better things after this: Peter Finch got his Oscar win for Network, Michael York did some successful films afterwards, and Olivia Hussey went on to do Black Christmas.
I think I vaguely remember this. It really......REALLY sucks. I must've seen it as a kid, when it was first released. Just now found it on TH-cam......and tried to sit thru it as a 65 year old. Some type of Kum-Bai-Yaa crap that ranks down there with 'Cats'.,
I love your channel!! Basically like Nostalgia Critic for (movie) musicals. I love NC and I LOVE LOVE LOVE musicals!! Can't wait to watch all of your videos
Also, I do find it a little irritating that there are a lot of good arguments in these comments for why Shangri-La isn't a cult, but you haven't acknowledged to any of them.
ehem..."Reflections" and "The Things I will Not Miss" are really rather good songs - interesting rhythmic structure and chord progression, though admittedly not Hal David's shiniest moments as a lyricist.
Good and amusing review! But much of the criticism should be aimed at the original source - which is James Hilton's novel which is also called "Lost Horizon"! The musical reflects the original ideas quite accurately! The lousy music and the ridiculous casting just aggravates them! Unfortunately James Hilton's novel is still very popular, and the Chinese even named a location in Yunnan Shangri-La in order to attract tourists! To be fair - the area ist really beautiful and well worth visiting.
@@pauldunn108 The first time I saw her was in Zefferelli's "Romeo and Juliet." I fairly swooned. Her eyes, her lips, her teeth, her nose, her hair - all absolutely perfect. It pained me, deeply, to think she would never have the opportunity to meet me and develop as much of a crush on me as I had on her. Even now, whenever I see pictures of her, I breathe a sigh of melancholy over what could never have been. Seriously, I don't think any "silver screen crush" has ever hit me/stuck with me like the one I had on Olivia. (It helped that I found the name "Olivia" so enchanting, as well.)
The lazy choreography by the much celebrated Hermes Pan who was responsible for many Fred Astaire dances! Bacharach & David terminated their lucrative partnership over this mess!
Lost Horizon. One of my favorite terrible movies of all time. I hope one day you take us on a decent into movie musical hell with Song Of Norway! It’s jaw-dropping dreadful.
The 1937 version of 'Lost Horizon', as much as I am in awe of Ronald Colman, is overly long, verbose and stodgy. Now, the story by James Hilton, even though its a fantasy, is severely flawed (The plane was hijacked, apparently being flown to some unknown location, and crashed on the mountain. How, then, did the High Llama know of their misfortune?). Another point is this....If Shangri-La was situated at such a high altitude that all four sides were shielded, how was oxygen supposed to have entered the village, and why didn't snow (or rain) enter? BUT, the 1973 musical version (with the exception of Bobby Van and the ridiculous lyrics to "Question Me An Answer") is absolutely delightful. The film held my attention from beginning to end, and I am very difficult to please. A script, adapted from the flawed story, might have some rough edges, but I still give it a 95 out of 100.
Diva is more reserved in these older reviews, quieter and more hopeless. She's not used to visitors down in Musical Hell yet. As we become her regular visitors down there, she loosens up, becoming more animated and conversational. Character development!
Yeah, Diva was still in development at that point. I think I had something like GLaDOS in mind: impersonal but sarcastic. It wasn't working with me or what I wanted to do so I loosened her up and made her more actively frustrated by her job.
@@MusicalHellIt has GlaDOS vibes indeed!
Just to play (ahem) devil's advocate as to why there are no songs for the first forty-five minutes...it could be that the makers of this movie did that on purpose. That is to say...the characters only sang once they entered Shangri-La as another indication of the magical quality of life there. The "real" world outside Shangri-La's borders has no music. If that were the case, it'd be the same principle as the reason Maria in West Side Story never sings before she meets Tony, and only manages half a line of music after he dies. Her final speech is a speech, not a song, because Tony WAS her music.
Jennifer Schillig that’s a pretty great justification. Even if we ignore how terrible the songs are; I’m not a singer, let alone a musical guy in general, but I know good singing from bad singing and good musicals are the ones that organically infuse the music whereas bad musicals blindside you with music. In good musicals, you aren’t questioning why the songs are here or feel organic to the universe, but bad musicals, like this one, have their songs integrated about as organically as a commercial break.
The real problem is that the pre-Shangri-La sequence is way too long.
Charles Jarrott directed a lot of turkeys.
I CAN AGREE!
BUT "MARIA'S DEATH LOVE SONG TO TONY" LENNY COULDN'T COME UP WITH A MELODY FOR IT. I KNOW FOR SONDHEIM COULD HAVE COME UP WITH LYRICS! AND MARIA'S DIALOGUE WAS ARTHUR'S LEAD IN TI THE SONG THAT NEVER GOT WRITTEN! BUT I DO LOVE YOUR REASONING FOR IT! 🤗!
What could they sing beforehand?
"Oh we're trudging through the ice
and it's not very nice
CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH
Has anyone brought some lunch?..."
Omg. I never realized that about WSS! That changes a lot!!
Also yeah I agree with this point as to why we didn't get songs for that long
"I'm bored as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
I can think of sooo many other musicals this could also apply to.
When Bette Midler was asked her opinion on this movie, she said : " I never miss a Liv Ullman musical".
18:01 -- Yep, it is surprising that the people of Shangri-La wouldn't know about irrigation, considering the stellar education provided by Catherine. Did you know that the world is a circle that never ends? "Liv--could you try maybe swinging your arms this time?"
So this movie is where Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom got the plot from. Think about it, some guys crashing their plane on land that leads them to a cult
Also that episode of disney's talespin "Pan-da-la.."
To be honest, the way the set up Shangri-la and the way you described it as a cult would honestly seem like a great plot line in a much darker movie. At first the main characters are lured into Shangri-la by it’s supposedly appealing attributes, such as culture, wealth, philosophy, but one of the characters begins to see through the glamor and realise just how transparent as to how cult-like their way of life really is. Then, when the characters learn that they are not here by accident, they try to leave, only for the denizens to stop them, revealing their true nature, and a different, more malevolent side to the supposed paradise of Shangri-la.
Coming from a fan of the '68 Romeo and Juliet, It's surreal as fuck to see Tybalt and Juliet making out in this film.
Was that really her singing voice? Not half bad.
She was dubbed, sadly. :(
Fun fact: she was also Bill's wife in the miniseries for Stephen King's It.
Ha HA! 😆 That never occurred to me.
14:44 - The guy singing Living Together, Growing Together is James Shigeta, who voiced Shang's father in Disney's Mulan.
He was also in Flower Drum Song as a swinging 60s San Franciscan dealing with generational issues
The book had the same vibe. The first time I read it, it felt like easy reading escapism, and Mallison was the annoying character that just wanted to be miserable and drag everyone down into the dumps with him. The second time through I picked up on the cultish theme and Mallison became the character I felt like the reader was supposed to identify with. It makes me wonder how the author originally intended readers to see these characters.
Interesting fact: there is really a city named Shangri-La today in Yunnan province near the border of Tibet, China. After looking it up, it seems that they named it after the mythical city in the book that this musical was based on.
I expected everyone in the comments to be angry that you acknowledged racism, but it turns out they're focusing on the fact that you called shangri-la a cult, which is actually a topic worth debate, because the original claim has the possibility of being incorrect and harmful
Why are all the smart people either making the small-time videos or watching the small-time videos?
+QuikVidGuy Because the idiots and sheep are running everything else.
I love your reviews, especially of this dry, overstuffed turkey. I have to say, I really like your theory that Maria knew she'd instantly die of old age if she left Shangri-La, because it not only illustrates the inherently unappealing quality of Shangri-La, but it makes Maria look like less of an idiot.
I remember watching this movie on TV when I was around 8 years old. I think that was the first time I experienced the "embarrassed for somebody else" feeling (AKA cringe) ( for the actors in that bizarre shirtless dance scene.
Janaka Goonasekera: OMG, I just wrote a similar story! I was 9 or 10, and this was the first time I realized movies could be *bad*.
Poor Michael York, he fell into this after Cabaret
the word you"re looking for is Fremdschämen, and oh boy I feel ya this movie sucks
HERMES PAN did this? The man who worked with Astaire and Rogers in their 1930s RKO classics? God, how the mighty did fall.
Believe it or not, Lost Horizon was a huge success in Brazil, running for a whole year in big cinema theaters in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The soundtrack was as well as popular, selling records by a thousands. During a time, back in the 80's, the atrocity was a regular feature on TV. It still has a legion of fans that probably have the DVD and watch it at least once a year. Funny but it's true.
Simple people
What can one expect from a country that gave the world Xuxa and Gisele Bündchen
This movie is what happens if you assume you've written a paradise that anyone would want to live forever in, no questions asked, and forget to check whether or not you have.
Fun Fact: This was written by Larry Kramer. Yes. "The Normal Heart" Larry Kramer. The one upside is that he publicly acknowledged he didn't like this screenplay, and only did it so he could use the money as a nest egg so he wouldn't have to worry about money for the rest of his life.
Kramer's brother really did invest his money wisely as the character in "The Normal Heart" did.
I actually read The Normal Heart script in the first days of quarantine. Never would have guessed Kramer wrote this song and dance turd.
OK, I like this musical in a "It's better not to think about it" kind of way, and I think your review of it is funny, insightful and hilarious. (The "Zardoz Rhythm Gymnastics Troupe" line is a keeper!) However, while I disagree with some of the observations, they're not exactly arrows to my heart. That's what the commenters' deal is: They're confusing someone's opinion with a personal attack.
AngryKid2008 Glad you enjoyed!
AngryKid2008 Nice to see a sane person in this comments section.
RIP Sally Kellerman. May she be remembered for far better work than this turkey.
This could have turned into an awesome movie simply by having him return only to find the plane full of dead bodies, it was all a fantasy and he's condemned himself to death on the mountain as he continued to search for Shangri- La!!
That would actually be a pretty good movie.
Shangri-La sounds like hell to a citizen of hell
It's so sad to see so much wasted talent in this film. Gielgud, Finch, Ullmann, Michael York, and even George "Cool Hand Luke" Kennedy and top-notch performers hopefully were paid truckloads of money for their appearances. Bobby Van has a long history of great movie musical performances, including KISS ME, KATE!, SMALL TOWN GIRL (where he does the hopping dance), and THE AFFAIRS OF DOBIE GILLIS (also featuring a very young Bob Fosse). Hermes Pan has a stunning list of choreographic credits on his resume, including plenty with Fred Astaire.
Honestly they should've listened to Micheal York's character. He knows a thing or two about cults.
You know what could be great? If someone combined mighty whitey tropes with the twist from the game Jade Empire sometime.
*MASSIVE JADE EMPIRE SPOILERS BELOW.*
Jade Empire is set in a fantasy world heavily inspired by Chinese legends and Wuxia cinema, and your character is the apprentice of a wise, reclusive martial arts master who consistently calls you his best student and tells you all about the super special destiny you have, he tries to teach you patience, humility and kindness - you've seen this trope before if you're at all familiar with martial arts stories. When the forces of the evil Emperor attack your hometown and seemingly kill your master, you set off on a quest to defeat the Emperor and save the Empire. It's very clichéd Hero's Journey stuff. You defeat the Emperor, the day is seemingly saved...
...Then your master reappears, alive, and kills you. Turns out he was evil all along, and he set you up to depose the Emperor (his brother) so he could seize power. He specifically trained you to be good enough to defeat the Emperor, but *not* good enough to defeat him (he intentionally trained slight flaws into your fighting style that he could exploit), convinced you that you were special and amazingly powerful, deliberately engineered your tragic backstory by faking his own death so you would be motivated to avenge him, and then he killed you when your usefulness ran out.
It'd be pretty cathartic if someone did something similar with a mighty whitey story, where the white guy is allowed to *think* he's become the best martial artist in the setting because he's a useful idiot, but he really hasn't.
That is an insanely good plot twist.
I forgot that Michael York; who played Brian in the film version of "Cabaret"; was in this film lmao
Not only that, but he did this just after Cabaret. Talk about a step backwards.
I saw this movie on TV when I was 9 or 10...and it was the first time I realized I was watching a bad movie. _Not_ a movie too grown-up for me to enjoy...just a _bad_ one. Also that songs could be so bad that even _I_ felt I could write better ones.
What I am disappointed with are the costumes, they were UGLY and designed by master costume designer Jean Louis. I can only assume the execs made him come up with such hideous outfits.
Woody Allen said if he could live his entire life over, he wouldn't change a thing except he wouldn't have seen this movie.
....The fact that Woody Allen can reflect on his existence and think this was the only place where he screwed up just makes me hate him even more.
@@MusicalHell Also, Michael York (George) and Olivia Hussey (Maria) co-starred in the 1968 Romeo and Juliet as Tybalt and Juliet.
@@MusicalHell Diva, may I just say it's a privilege to get a response from one of my favorite TH-camrs.
I was a kid when Lost Horizon came out and really liked the movie. I had no idea what a "bad" musical was. The cable TV company in Goleta California had one of the first pay movie channels in 1973-4 and they played it a lot. My parents bought me the Bell soundtrack album, which introduced me to Burt Bachrach's music. Keep up the great reviews!
Even in the novel, Shangri-La was a myth; a place where war and suffering didn't exist amid a world of war and suffering that did exist. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as Paradise; the Fascist and Communist dictators were telling us back when he wrote the novel, (1933) that THEIR societies were Paradises, and we know what lies those were. This flight from reasonable reality conditioned our inability to thwart the dictators before the need for WWII became inevitable. Now, the themes of the novel and the movies made from them just seem like advertisements for dystopian cultist dictatorship. It's how North Korea presents itself, in a strange way. The idea for the movie was flawed from its inception. It's another version of 'Springtime for Hitler' as an ideological musical statement.
John Gielgud once said he was bribed into starring in this movie.
I've always wanted to visit Civilunrestistan, but there's always been too much civil unrest.
Troodude: Tell me you didn’t spend much time coming up with that one or shooting your load.
Once again, I had nearly forgotten everything that I had previously learned about "Lost Horizon". There's no way that I'm *ever* watching this trainwreck by myself! 😆
The amount of talent that went to waste in this film. Olivia Hussey (Juliet is quite a long way from Verona), John Geilgud(I think he was better off sticking to Shakespeare), Michael York (He tripped after Cabaret), Peter Finch (He should probably go back to Audrey Hepburn's convent or vibe with Murray Head), Miko Taka (Wait wasn't she in Sayanora!?) etc. I just wanted to watch the movies they were actually good in. I hope they all fired their agents after this abomination
Speaking of actors embarrassing themselves, after " triumphing" in this movie, Liv Ullman starred on Broadway a few years later in Richard Rodgers' last musical, "I Remember Mama", a genuine bomb.
IRM is pretty dreadful - I have the cd ;-)
I wouldn't exactly watch the film from start to finish, but I think the "Share the Joy" and "World is a Circle" sequences are great.
John Gielgud looks more like Mr. Magoo than an Asian
I very much doubt that Gielgud would have accepted so silly a direction if it was given. Remember that he was by this time one of the triumvirate of most regarded British stage actors, the other two being Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, and had been for several decades. He was also of an age in which his age was quite obvious and did nothing to hide that reality. I had the joy of seeing him together with Richardson on stage in London in 1969, and Olivier separately. What a thrill for a teenage American that was! As on stage, so in film; he simply played the part, full stop. How many years after the over the top Lost Horizons was it that he stole the film in the even worse caricature ridden Arthur by simply playing the only believable role? As for Lost Horizons the musical, it never should have been made at all. In focusing on big production numbers, they lost the story altogether.
According to "The 50 Worst Films of All Time" by Harry and Michael Medved, the producers of Lost Horizon initially offered the role of Chaing to Japanese actor Tishiro Mifune but he turned down the role. But you are right, casting whites as Asian characters almost never work.
😆
@@susieguglielmino4625 that's a very long winded sycophantic way of saying he doesn't look like Mr. Magoo when I can see he does.
@@susieguglielmino4625 I'm green with envy reading about how you saw those three onstage.
All of the movies that were featured before "Lost Horizon" ended up being covered in later episodes. They weren't nearly *as* bad as this movie! A couple of them came pretty close though. 😅
3:20 ROFLMAO ... that is too funny!! :D
"what do we want, I don't know, when do we want it, erh when everrrr"
:D
The high llama is a murderer, since the pilot died in the crash
They crashed because the pilot died -- something he knew would happen in much the same way as Maria did. It's made clear that the pilot was a volunteer, in full knowledge of his fate, and was deemed a hero for bringing Richard to the valley more or less safely.
NEVER get on a plane with George Kennedy...
When you realize Juliet and her cousin, Tybalt, were in this movie.
Ah,yes,the 1970s...definitely the down years of the movie musical.
(and yet,*The Rocky Horror Picture Show* came out of this decade)
+snarkus63 There's always a few diamonds in the rough. The 80s were a pretty dour era for live-action musicals too, but Little Shop of Horrors came out then.
+Musical Hell Out of curiosity, what's the worst movie you've covered on your show?Also, have you considered reviewing the H. R. Pufnstuf movie?
Worst movie would have to be "From Justin to Kelly." Haven't even heard of the H. R. Pufnstuf movie.
Oh it exists alright, and something tells me that the Kroffts were somewhat ashamed of it, as the D.V.D. was rushed to release and only contains the movie and its theatrical trailer. Now, for a show whose final episode was a clip-show episode, you'd think that the movie would act as a finale, a way to wrap up the various characters and their relationships, and maybe cut Jimmy a break and allow him to get home. But no, the movie doesn't do this, instead opting to tell the story of how Jimmy got to Living Island, i.e. something which the show itself did in its title sequence and the first episode.
Musical Hell Also, Why From Justin To Kelly? I mean, it looks bad, but not so bad it's horrible. With more consistent writing and a decent amount of score-tweaking ( maybe get someone like Sondheim or Cander and Eb on board to do the music) it could work, so why do you consider it the worst?
The sole positive contribution from this Turkey movie? The script and its fee, by Larry Kramer, has a history central to the battle against HIV and AIDS! Kramer, the writer of the script, after the Hilton novel, got his agent, his brother, to negotiate a huge fee for creating the script. Kramer bought a beautiful home with that money, freeing him to become central to the fight against AIDS, including the founding of ACT-UP! Otherwise, this film is awful.
5:38 Is that the guy from Logan's Run?
Yes. Michael York.
Thanks for the trip down "Memories SLAIN!" I'd forgotten exactly HOW bad this was, until now. And it is SO bad, it's made me forget the sins of SGT. PEPPER! And I even have the vinyl version of the LOST HORIZON soundtrack, which I recall picking up for a cool $1.99!
We can pretend this is a hilariously bad horror movie in disguise
Oh hell yeah, because it sure feels like one!!
"Comm wiz me tu Shangri-La"-Oh, wait, Boyer never said that!
Alright Hotshot. Three words: "Song of Norway." Let's see if you got the GUTS.
Who wouldn't want to watch a movie featuring Florence Henderson, Robert Morley, AND Edward G Robinson?
@@jamesryan6008 S'all I'm sayin'
Wait a minute, surely "Song of Norway" isn't THAT bad? It was made by the Stones, so at least it has that as a plus point?
@@robertwilloughby8050 Wrong Stones!
Don't you guys just love how pointless that escape from Shangri-La was?
We don’t, that’s for sure!!
"We Hope you all enjoyed 'No Moral Theatre'!! "
My parents took me to this when I was a young lad. I knew it was bad because I fell asleep as soon as the gang was rescued from the DC3 and didn't wake up until the flick was over.
I still burst out into inappropriate laughter when Michael York goes screaming off the cliff at the end after Olivia Hussey pulls a "Leech Woman".
Burt's songs are great..if you listen to them without the movie.....
"Brace youselves" ...dude climbs on the back of a seat...
Hermes Pan? Hermes Pan!?! That can't possibly be a real name.
13:50 Wait... Is that Michael York, who played Basil Exposition from the Austin Powers movies? (One google search later) Holy crap it is.
He also played Pterano in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire.
Okay, as a young gay boy I LOVED this movie. I made my parents buy me the soundtrack and I drove the entire family crazy by singing all the songs non stop... "Let the sun comfort you..." as I wrapped myself in an old curtain and made grand hand gestures. Man o man my family had patience!
Fun fact: the script for the movie was originally for manos the musical, and was repurposed after angry critics nearly destroyed it in a fire.
wait is that Basel exposition and you say Burt Bacharach provided music for it, what weird things to have in common with Austin Powers...
Yes, that's Michael York, who also played Basil Exposition.
No reference to a certain m. knight shaymalan movie with yellowface casting?
This is like making a musical out of The Eiger Sanction.
You could DO it...but WHY
Bacharach/David: a recipe for boredom. The reason I saw this at all in the 70s was for Olivia Hussey and Michael York. I don't remember a frame of it.
Hi. A minor detail about Olivia Hussey you might find interesting. Just after she'd been cast, she discovered that she was pregnant. Oops. She was married to Dino Martin. Rather than back out, or be released from her contract, her scenes were scheduled so that the costumes went from still slender fitting, to more exotically relaxed (read more loosely fitted,) to cover the body in any way to hide the son she was carrying. Good costume designer, yes? In recent years, she has laughingly recalled having to rush to the loo after each take to throw up. Ah, the joys of morning sickness, which in reality is more like 24/7, in full costume and makeup. Now she's a grandmother. So, the movie flopped, but in real life she has a real life. Peace
I watched this with my father when I was about 13 and it is special to me. I enjoy "The World is a Circle" and "Living Together". They are both well-known Burt Bacharach songs. I don't know how it compares to the 1937 movie because I haven't seen it or read the book the movies are based on but two things stuck out for me:
1) That there is a secret paradise somewhere hidden from the world that few ever find.
2) The girl aging suddenly.
Even though Hermes Pan was 68 years old at the time of this gem, that is no excuse for his, ahem, "choreography".
"Lost Horizon" - A Ross Hunter Production, Columbia (1973-1974); Warner Bros. (1990-present). Released on
Thursday, August 16, 1973 and re-issued on Tuesday, October 9, 1990. This film was rated G. The remake of Frank Capra's Academy Award winning family classic has now becoming an cult following that touched our hearts and minds for generations to come.
Considering "Earthquake" and all the "Airport" movies George Kennedy did, it's weird that this was his worst disaster movie.
Still, this makes a perfect prequel in the Michael York double feature with Logan's Run. A supposed utopia he can't wait to get out of. Black pants and turtlenecks. Putting on a lot of furs and escaping through an ice cave. Extensive exteriors at the Malibu Creek movie ranches. Old Man...
Logan's HoRizUN. "You don't have to die at thirty! You can live! LIVE!"
The High Lama who wants a replacement also seems like Legion in Red Dwarf!
The old woman who would lose her young looking body was used used somewhat in the pilot of the original Star Trek series only instead of an old woman losing s young looking body it was a disfigured woman looking a perfect body
I think Spider-Man: Man Turn Off The Dark was a try too hard musical experience, maybe someday it’ll deserve to be forgotten and know nothing as the most infamous punchline than a cultural classic.
Although I'm no fan of Capra's version (just not up to his other stuff), it's vastly superior to this.
Lama temple.
Yako, Wako and Dot ''We have a qustion''
I never realized till now that Austin Powers was making fun of "Living Together, Growing Together" male bikini dancer scene.
So that was it what inspired Orlando Corrandi to create Tentaclino.
I've only just seen this in its entirety a couple of months ago, so it was...um....interesting to see the film I'd heard so much about over the years. It is really, really bad. Apparently the producers asked Bacharach and Davis, considered the golden duo of songwriting at the time, to do the songs without realising that they were at the end of their relationship and subsequently turned out the dross that's in the film. The number of non-singers and non-dancers in the film also seriously undermines the whole thing (as Bette Midler famously said, "I never miss a Liv Ullman musical") leaving Bobby Van, who I feel really bad for. He was an extremely talented man but was continually called on to play obnoxiously unfunny comic relief.
I can't help thinking it looks like they filmed the whole thing at a Polynesian themed restaurant and bar.
Let me get this right, you assemble a cast of mostly non-singers to act and sing in a musical?
There's also an earlier Broadway stage musical adaptation of "Lost Horizon" entitled "Shangri-La", book & lyrics by original playwright James Hilton with Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee, and music by Harry Warren. It too was a flop.
At least that version had performers that could sing.
+MusicalHell So would it make the movie better if it was not a musical and if it was actually based on the 1972 Andes flight disaster?
It would be better if it were the 1937 version directed by Frank Capra, but they already made that one!
Who's that guy at 2:24?
Wasn't a big fan of the book, which I was forced to read in class. Now I know not even another medium could save it from boring.
I first read about this film in "The 50 Worst Films of All Time" by Harry and Michael Medved. The book revealed that the role of Chaing was originally offered to Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, but he turned down the role. Also, the film's belly flop at the box office led to the dissolution of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's partnership. I do like some of their songs like "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and "The Look of Love" especially if they have a good singer performing them like Dionne Warwick.
If the woman at the end reverts back to her normal age then why didn’t the people in the opening? Does that mean they were recently saved as well? If only I cared enough to find an answer. The writers didn’t.
Honestly and i truly cannot articulate why but this one has a soft spot in my heart. I watched and liked it as a kid. Its one ill rewatch every now and then but i acknowledge it has lots of issues
Tbh this is one of my favourite musicals, it has problems but it’s harmless.......
At least most of the cast went on to do better things after this: Peter Finch got his Oscar win for Network, Michael York did some successful films afterwards, and Olivia Hussey went on to do Black Christmas.
I think I vaguely remember this. It really......REALLY sucks. I must've seen it as a kid, when it was first released. Just now found it on TH-cam......and tried to sit thru it as a 65 year old. Some type of Kum-Bai-Yaa crap that ranks down there with 'Cats'.,
I love your channel!! Basically like Nostalgia Critic for (movie) musicals. I love NC and I LOVE LOVE LOVE musicals!! Can't wait to watch all of your videos
Oh dear, this comment has not aged well. XD
Wait, is the actor playing George the guy from Logan's Run?!
The Very Man, Michael York.
It's Peter Finch not Peter Ustinov
I'm so glad someone else noticed!
Is your opinion on the book basically the same?
AND CAN ANYBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHY PEOPLE HATE ZIGGY SO MUCH???? Seriously,
I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't think it's a bad comic strip.
Also, I do find it a little irritating that there are a lot of good arguments in these comments for why Shangri-La isn't a cult, but you haven't acknowledged to any of them.
ehem..."Reflections" and "The Things I will Not Miss" are really rather good songs - interesting rhythmic structure and chord progression, though admittedly not Hal David's shiniest moments as a lyricist.
Good and amusing review! But much of the criticism should be aimed at the original source - which is James Hilton's novel which is also called "Lost Horizon"! The musical reflects the original ideas quite accurately! The lousy music and the ridiculous casting just aggravates them! Unfortunately James Hilton's novel is still very popular, and the Chinese even named a location in Yunnan Shangri-La in order to attract tourists! To be fair - the area ist really beautiful and well worth visiting.
Just curious, and I mean nothing by it: What's your opinion of Frank Capra's version of it?
When I was a youngling, I had a major crush on Olivia Hussey.
Tell us more
@@pauldunn108 The first time I saw her was in Zefferelli's "Romeo and Juliet." I fairly swooned. Her eyes, her lips, her teeth, her nose, her hair - all absolutely perfect. It pained me, deeply, to think she would never have the opportunity to meet me and develop as much of a crush on me as I had on her. Even now, whenever I see pictures of her, I breathe a sigh of melancholy over what could never have been.
Seriously, I don't think any "silver screen crush" has ever hit me/stuck with me like the one I had on Olivia. (It helped that I found the name "Olivia" so enchanting, as well.)
@@hortondlfn1994 I see where you're coming from.
I was quite fond of the young Olivia Newton-John, if it's any consolation
What's 1:32 from?
No mention of Charles Boyer's appearance. What a shame.
@15:47
This makes The Apple (1980) look like freaking Citizen Kane in comparison!
This is brilliant--and hilarious! And I'm a fan of this film (yeah, I know it's corny, etc.). I'll have to check out some other MH videos!
The lazy choreography by the much celebrated Hermes Pan who was responsible for many Fred Astaire dances! Bacharach & David terminated their lucrative partnership over this mess!
Lost Horizon. One of my favorite terrible movies of all time. I hope one day you take us on a decent into movie musical hell with Song Of Norway! It’s jaw-dropping dreadful.
I actually really like Burt's music, in spite of Hal's lyrics, but all your other complaints seem valid.
The 1937 version of 'Lost Horizon', as much as I am in awe of Ronald Colman, is overly long, verbose and stodgy. Now, the story by James Hilton, even though its a fantasy, is severely flawed (The plane was hijacked, apparently being flown to some unknown location, and crashed on the mountain. How, then, did the High Llama know of their misfortune?). Another point is this....If Shangri-La was situated at such a high altitude that all four sides were shielded, how was oxygen supposed to have entered the village, and why didn't snow (or rain) enter? BUT, the 1973 musical version (with the exception of Bobby Van and the ridiculous lyrics to "Question Me An Answer") is absolutely delightful. The film held my attention from beginning to end, and I am very difficult to please. A script, adapted from the flawed story, might have some rough edges, but I still give it a 95 out of 100.