I finally received my DVD-R of "Lost Horizon" from Warner Archives in yesterday afternoon's mail.
Nothing would do but that I put it into my BD player and see how it looked.
It looked pretty good, actually. And there is some very good storytelling going into the first 20 minutes or so. Of course, the payoff is what comes after the first 20 minutes and Boy, oh Boy! Is that a mixed bag!
The generous walk onto the Shangri-la (nee Camelot) set was lovely. It was a bit faux pretty, too. John Gielgud, at this stage of his career, could do no wrong in my book. Even when, in a later scene, wearing a ridiculous red cap (courtesy of Jean Louis??) while giving Peter Finch a walking tour of the city, he was the essence of a noble character. There are glimpses of non-musical scenes where it looks like a truly wonderful color remake of Capra's classic was in the offing, but then those glimpses fall apart with some mind-numbing musical number occurring that adds nothing to the narrative flow of the film. Mind you, I think some of those songs are really good and could have added greatly to the impact of the film had they been done correctly (paraphrasing BK's observations). Sally Kellerman fared well with "The Things I Will Not Miss", but "Reflections" did her no favors.
Everyone has some good moments and everyone has some bad moments. The film's main weakness is that it's treated as two different TYPES of film - a fantasy-drama and a light-hearted comedy - both musicalized. A uniform fantasy-drama approach is what it required.
The film could have used an actor's director, too. Finch has some appallingly awful moments in reaction shots. Seemingly, the Camelot set requires the male leads to mug mercilessly for comic effect. It didn't work for Harris and it didn't work for Finch whose first encounter with Liv Ullman seems like a high school encounter between two freshmen. And the reaction shots of Finch and Gielgud smiling -- BEAMINGLY -- at the end of "The World is a Circle" belies the truth that they were not watching what we had just seen...unless those smiles were intended to denote polite horror.
It was Bobby Van who was a revelation to me. He should have made more films at this point in his career. He was funny and appealing, if a bit schticky (which is what his role required). I am not a fan of the "Question Me An Answer" number because Van's dancing talents are poorly used throughout. Van was a phenomenal dancer and he was hardly at a point in his life when he could not dazzle us.
I think that, of all the actors, George Kennedy probably comes off best in the "fewest" bad moments category. Kellerman would be next, then Finch.
Michael York needed some restraints to keep him from chewing the scenery, IMO. I've always liked York, but he required a directorial tether to keep him from being too over-the-top. That includes his last scene in the film, which I considered a mercy from all that had gone before.
Bless her heart, Olivia Hussey was hardly a femme fatale, and I think one was needed in her role. She's not as awful as I remembered her being, however.
I loved all the music that accompanied the dramatic scenes, such as the processionals. Finch had one truly great song, IMO, that fared better as underscore than it did as a vocal -- If I Could Go Back. It's totally a Bacharach song...no mistaking its bones, but it's gorgeous. And he and Ullman share "I Might Frighten Her Away", which is also a very good number. Presentation might have been exquisite in the proper hands.
And that title song sung by Shawn Phillips....why is it that it really moves me?
