More of a bad idea than a particularly bad movie. Remaking the Frank Capra classic (based on the James Hilton novel) and adding some highly forgettable songs by none other than Burt Bacharach & Hal David just does not gel. The story is now legendary: a plane carrying a small group of people crashes in the mountains and the survivors are brought to a mythical land called Shangri-La. It's a place where nobody ages and there's no violence. Sounds like a dull place? Try sitting through this movie. Nothing comes together here and the addition of several ill-placed musical numbers are laughable rather than entertaining. The filmmakers further their many blunders by populating the film with the likes of Peter Finch, Liv Ullmann, Michael York, John Gielgud and George Kennedy, none of whom has any business appearing in anything even remotely approaching a movie musical. One time MGM song & dance man Bobby Van (the poor man's Donald O'Connor?) soft shoes through two numbers but adds very little. He's also saddled with performing the worst of the lousy songs...the highly idiotic "Question Me an Answer." Classy Charles Jarrott was brought in to direct and does so in a fairly straightforward manner. The direction is neither particularly imaginative nor particularly offensive. Additional wasted talent includes Jean Louis (costumes), Robert Surtees (cinematography) and Hermes Pan, who surely had his eyes closed concocting the silly choreography. The great Larry Kramer wrote the screenplay.
Review of Lost Horizon
