Gilda Radner was so funny, talented and beloved by 1978 (I had a poster of "Roseanna Roseannadanna" in my bedroom) that it was a shame that her post-SNL film career was lackluster at best.
It started with First Family, Buck Henry's 1980 flat satire of life in the White House. The excellent cast of Bob Newhart (president), Madeline Kahn (first lady), and Gilda as their Amy Carter-ish adolescent daughter flounder in this film. The trio travel to an African country where the First Daughter is kidnapped and white Americans are traded as slaves in exchange for some special animal dung that is able to accelerate plant growth. (Even the comedic talents of Harvey Korman and Fred Willard were wasted).
It was Buck Henry's first credit as the sole writer and director of a feature film. Four years passed before Henry's next screenplay, Protocol (1984), a disappointing Goldie Hawn vehicle with Capra-esque aspirations. While his screenwriting career waned, his career as a character actor thrived.
A lavish musical remake of Frank Capra's film about the discovery of Shangri La - where people never grow old, starring Peter Finch, George Kennedy, Bobby Van, Olivia Hussey, Michael York and Sally Kellerman -- with peppy tunes by Burt Bacharach and Hal David seemed like a sure fire hit, right? ummm not so much.
In 1973, this film was post CABARET. It was no longer fashionable for modern day characters to break into song in a musical, much less to be dubbed by other singers. LOST HORIZON was an easy target. The expectations for it were high, almost unreasonable.
Film critic Pauline Kael also questioned why the film's Shangri-La population had no black people?!
There were two targets to be hit, the producer, ROSS HUNTER and BURT BACHARACH and the critics were out to get them. Ross Hunter had enjoyed decades of success as a producer and LOST HORIZON was his follow up film to his 1970 blockbuster AIRPORT which was Universal's biggest moneymaker up to that time and triggered a decade of disaster films.
Lost Horizon tanked in the USA horribly, and proved to be a different kind of DISASTER FILM. It was nicknamed "Lost Investment."
The entire film can be found lovingly downloaded here : www.youtube.com/user/LostHorizonMov
production notes:
The plane crash survivors actually walk through Griffith Park's Bronson Cave (tunnel) when they leave snowy Tibet and arrive in lush Shangri-La at the other end.
The Shangri-La buildings on WB Burbank lot were refurbished left-over "Camelot" castle sets. After Lost Horizon, they were often used on TV's "Kung Fu".
The screenplay was written by gay civil rights legend, author/playwright Larry Kramer. He called it "the only thing in my life I'm ashamed of ".
Here is the complete library scene from Lost Horizon (1973) in which Sally Kellerman and Olivia Hussey perform "The things i will not miss".
Here is the same song performed delightfully by 2 guys named Moshe and Joost in Amsterdam. Now THIS is what YOU TUBE is for !! bravo!
