Customer Reviews

Lost Horizon (1973)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The critics tore this movie apart. I was blown away by a musical
of this caliber in 1973. If you like Meet Me In St. Louis, Sound
Of Music, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Finnegan's Rainbow, South Pacific,
Annie Get Your Gun, Annie, Flower Drum Song, In The Good Old
Summertime, New York New York, Yentl, The Wizard Of OZ, Singing
In The Rain, Band Wagon, etc., you will like this musical. I have the original 1937 Lost Horizon, but I do not think many
would appreciate it now. I do, but I am also appreciate good
musicals. Lost Horizon (1973) is such a musical. It takes you
to a place you can get lost in for two and a half hours and hate
to leave. The music is composed by two giants in the industry
and to say they had a bad day just doesn't convince me! If you
like musicals (especially at such a high technical level) see
this one. There is no DVD, but I for one would get it without
hesitation. That is my analysis. Judge for yourself and don't
let someone like Ms. Parisi try to disassemble something that
was never made to impress the critics especially in the cynical and jaded 70's.

I saw this movie back in 1973, I have the LP of the musical sound track and the piano score. The songs were beautiful and had great meaning behind them for the young and old. The song "The World is a Circle" would be a great song for junior high school choirs. I would love to see this movie again and would love to own it.

Much has been said about the film already, so I will limit my thoughts to the DVD itself, which is a real treat.

SPECIAL FEATURES (as written on the packaging):

Original Song Demos by Burt Bacharach (with photo gallery)
Ross Hunter Short - a 36-minute film
Original Trailers and TV Spots
Ross Hunter on the way to Shangri-La - 10-minute featurette
Alternate Scene - "I Come To You."

The language is listed as English, Dolby Digital. No mention of a new 5.1 mix anywhere, so this was likely a mistake in the press release, sadly. The audio is actually 2.0 Mono, 48 khz, 192 kbps. Video is 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. Running time is listed as "approx." 149 minutes. Region 1.

Starting with the audio, even if it's not a new 5.1 mix, as an advance Sony press release (and subsequently many websites) indicated, it's a wonderfully robust mono soundtrack, fully restored. Crystal-clear high frequencies and rich full bass sounds. As for the video, the movie looks fantastic. It's 2.40:1 Anamorphic widescreen. Colors are saturated, skin tones are natural, and detail is incredible. I noticed things I'd never seen before in the set decoration, the costume fabrics, etc. The vibrant green for the interior of the airplane hull, the crimson of the monks' robes, the eye-popping hues of the flowers during "The World Is a Circle." Detail holds up really well in the shadows, too, during the darker scenes. Noise is kept to a minimum, but I see no obvious use of noise-reduction. This is just an incredibly good remastering job. Short of having the disc in HD, I don't think it could look any better. I'm thrilled that all of the cut footage has quite obviously been restored from the original negative as well, so there's no "jump" in quality between the wide release footage and the restored scenes, as there was with the Pioneer laser disc release in the '90s. It all looks and sounds equally great here.

A quick rundown of the extras:

The TV spots aren't restored, but look and sound fine. The Teaser and Theatrical Trailer are fully restored. I loved the full theatrical trailer, which is in widescreen and narrated on-screen by Ross Hunter! There is a "wavering hum" present in the audio of the full trailer, but it isn't too distracting.

The Bacharach demos: I noticed different lyrics on "Question Me An Answer," references to Greta Garbo and Don Ameche, etc. The video is an animated presentation of static photos sliding by the screen on a moving "film strip" background. Some GREAT behind-the-scenes shots, literally hundreds altogether that, after a while, repeat throughout the demos. There are QUITE a few song demos, too, almost the entire score, and all seem to be complete versions of the songs with Burt singing (and croaking a bit) and playing piano beautifully. The sound quality of these mono demos is excellent.

The 10-minute Ross Hunter short film is in widescreen as well. It's in very good shape, although it's not color-corrected, so it has a faded, vintage look (which I like). Ross shares some great behind-the-scenes info about making the film, too. On the packaging and in the advance press release, this is listed as a 36-minute Promo film, but because the clips from the actual movie have been excised, it really clocks in around ten minutes in length. I didn't miss seeing an extra 26 minutes of the movie again, especially right after watching it. I was more interested in what Mr. Hunter had to say about making the movie. So the leaner running time wasn't an issue with me ... although they should probably correct it on the packaging.

The 10-minute "Ross Hunter on the Way To Shangri-La" vintage featurette is excellent, with great behind-the-scenes footage and narrative. I'm so glad they included this on the DVD! It's a 4x3 presentation, not restored, but in fine shape regardless.

Lastly, the "alternate version" of "I Come To You" is taken from the Pioneer laser disc, with different staging than seen during the film on the DVD. It's not restored visually (if you remember the laser disc look), but the song is in stereo, since the producer of the laser disc did his own stereo mix of the film.

And one last note that has caused some minor confusion among the hardcore fans of the film: With the inclusion of previously cut scenes, the publicity release and packaging mention a never-before-seen reprise of "Living Together, Growing Together." After the Fertility Dance (which has not been seen in a home video release until this DVD and is quite exciting and wonderful), there is a very short reprise of the song "Living Together, Growing Together," which ends the "ceremonial" scene. However, there was also a (second) reprise of this song later in the film, sung by Sally Kellerman and George Kennedy while they are working on the new irrigation system. That reprise is still sadly missing. But the packaging notes are correct in saying a reprise of the song is included "for the first time" on this DVD.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has done themselves proud with this release. It comes as somewhat of a surprise to me, since almost all of the MOD (manufactured on demand) DVDs from Sony, Warner Archives, and MGM have been "bare bones" discs. Most haven't even been restored. With "Lost Horizon," they have treated it as a first-cleass "Special Edition" project, and fans of this film shouldn't hesitate for one second about buying it.

UPDATE: (November 14, 2011) The issue with the audio has been fixed! I received a replacement disc from Amazon today and tested it on my home theatre sound system. It's a fully-designed 5.1 audio mix. What a world of difference! It's now equally as impressive as the restored image. This is not just a stereo mix of the music fed to the back speakers. Sound effects, crowd noises, ambient sounds, etc., all fully designed in the discrete 5.1 channels. I'm so happy Sony fixed the problem and Amazon was quick to replace my disc. I would say, based on my experience that the problem is now solved, and I wouldn't hesitate to either order a copy or have your mono disc (if you received one) replaced. It was definitely worth the trouble!

I am looking for a DVD version for this movie - starring Peter Finch
Michael Yorke, George Kennedy, Sally Kellerman, Bobby Van & others by Ross Hunters productions.
The sound track for this movie is available but not the DVD & VHS version.
I do hope it will be available soon. This is a superb & fantastic movie which I had seen in the cinema ages ago. It is a great movie and I still prefer this movie than the 1937 version by Ronald Coleman.
Thank you for reading my request.

Critics can go suck eggs!

The number one rule of reviewing is: Take it for what it is, not for what you wish it was!

I saw the movie in the theater and have never seen it since. My father bought the soundtrack (I have no idea why. He never saw the movie) and I just about wore it out on my little, portable "monophonic record player", a cheap plastic thing I can't remember how I acquired.
I was just 13 and 14 around that time and was finding reasons to live hard to come by. No, this movie didn't save my life, but it pointed me in the right direction: faith, family, friends, community. And it warned me of the pitfalls: materialism, pride, arrogance, deception.

Heavy messages from a corny musical with clumsy lyrics and bad screenwriting, I know. But perhaps I should have said, take it for what it is for you; not for what you think it ought to be.

The fact is, the opening song spoke to my own despairing, angst-ridden teen-age heart. "Have you ever dreamed of a place far away from it all where the air you breath is soft and clean and children play in fields of green? And the sound of guns doesn't sound in your ears anymore? There's a lost horizon waiting to be found. There's a lost horizon where the sound of guns doesn't pound in your ears anymore."

Also, each character is facing a life in the world that does not satisfy their heart. Who can't relate to that? Sally Kellerman's character tries to kill herself! Bobby Van, a stereotypical unfunny comic discovers what he craves is not fame and fortune, but acceptance and loving recognition. George Kennedy finds fulfillment not in unearned wealth but in using his best gifts to make life better for his community (I know, I know! It's ridiculous to think a place could be paradise with apparent slave labor drawing water for crops. At least, that's what I thought I was seeing and figured the movie was going to take a cynical turn as we find out Shangri-la isn't a utopia after all, but more like a Greek nation-state with a slave class. Instead, they just hadn't gotten around to inventing modern irrigation. They must have been waiting for George Kennedy!)

And finally, Peter Finch, a few years before he melted down on national news television as Howard Beale, decides the world can go suck an egg, too! He's got a utopia to lead. Perhaps Howard Beale should have looked for Shangri-La.

It's sad if they never intend to release this on DVD. I've never seen it on television either.

Come on! It wasn't that bad. Hollywood has certainly released worse on the world. Who's holding up this release? Get over yourself. This movie deserves to be seen by everyone to whom it speaks.

Forget the pompous critics that are so full of themselves that they can't let this movies tunes play with their heart cords, which is what it does best. This is a wonderfull movie with great uplifting messages and songs that I heard once in my teens and touched my life forever. Talks about the magic that pure and real feelings can bring out of one's heart!
I want the DVD, but can't seem to find.

Much has been written about the musical drama of LOST HORIZON from 1973, so I'll concentrate on this DVD release from Sony/Columbia. I've been a fan of this film for many years since first viewing it on network television, and I'm not going to delve into the critical aspects of the film. I like it and am not persuaded by others' criticisms of it. Call it a guilty pleasure if you must.

I first learned of this title's availability just a few weeks ago as a fellow Bacharach fan mentioned it on a forum I frequent. Eagerly I ordered the disc from Amazon, and quickly received it. A number of online reviews were mentioning that though a press release promised a 5.1 surround soundtrack, the ones they received were 2.0 mono. That was also my experience. Nevertheless I sat back to enjoy the film anyway. I have the old LaserDisc version, so I was making comparisons between the two.

The picture quality on the DVD was far superior to the LaserDisc, but the sound was mildly disappointing, given that I'd heard it in stereo for all of the intervening years since the LaserDisc was released. Still, I enjoyed the experience. The restoration of the film elements to create a new longer version than had ever been released before was exciting. New sections in the film include a different take for "I Come To You" and the long-lost Fertility Dance sequence, and all restored elements look gorgeous, just like the main body of the wide-released film itself. The LaserDisc restoration of some of these songs was a welcome feature years ago, but the graininess and faded color of those sequences on the LaserDisc always managed to take you out of the movie. So this DVD was close to perfect - if only the soundtrack were in stereo...

A post on the Home Theater Forum revealed that in fact the disc's creators had fully intended a new Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, but that an error in the manufacturing of the MOD discs resulted in the wrong track - a mono one - being used instead. And this gentleman from Sony Pictures promised that the error had been fixed and that everyone should return their discs to their retailers for an exchange with a disc with the proper soundtrack.

I did just that. I contacted Amazon.com, and their gracious customer representative took the time to iron out the problem and engineer an exchange - and within 24 hours, I now have the corrected disc with the proper surround soundtrack.

Kudos to Sony Pictures for doing right by this film and correct their original mistake - to the Home Theater Forum for ferreting out the correct information from the proper source - and to Amazon.com for standing by their promise of customer satisfaction. Well done, all.

For those concerned about the dvd mix being in mono, here's a quote (and link) from an interview with Grover Crisp, Executive VP of Asset Management, Film Restoration & Digital Mastering at Sony Pictures.

Q - The new DVD was released mono, but the press release indicated a new 5.1. What happened?

A - Quite frankly, I still don't know how it happened, except that somewhere in the manufacturing chain there was a mix-up and the wrong audio file was encoded. An honest mistake, but one that is obviously embarrassing and for which we apologize. The problem has been rectified now and as of last week all new discs manufactured have the correct 5.1 and anyone who wants a replacement can exchange it at the point of sale. All sellers should be aware of this.

Hope this helps.

[...]

My eight year old nephew loves the music from this film. It has been fun introducing the next generation to some of things that we enjoyed in the 60's an 70's. The Monkees are pretty popular around here too. Was able to obtain the soundtrack on CD through Amazon,(much thanks). My nephew loves the song Question Me An Answer sung by the late Bobby Van and kids in the cast. The song by James Shigeta about making a family is timeless and beautiful sung in his rich voice. Olivia Hussey and Sally Kellerman's song about comparing their lives is fun and rings true even today. This is one of the CD's we take when we travel. Sure wished we could get a copy of the movie on DVD. It might not be eveyone's cup of tea but for good clean fun, and suspense, with music that stays with you this movie is awesome. It is not the best movie ever made I will concede, but the first review makes me wonder if said reviewer likes anything that does not have an R rating.

I saw this movie when it first came out and immediately bought the soundtrack and memorized many of the songs. I have lost the soundtrack and would love to get another copy on CD and would love to own the dvd of this if they ever make it. Kids would love this movie and adults that will let themselves be kids will also love it.