Lost Horizon (1937)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Robert Riskin (screenplay)
James Hilton (novel)

Release Date:

1 September 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery

Tagline:

Millions to make it ! . . . Two years in production ! . . . The best seller that set a new style in romance floods the screen with splendor and drama surpassing Frank Capra's greatest past achievements. "Mr Deeds" and "It Happened One Night".

Plot:

A plane crash delivers a group of people to the secluded land of Shangri-La -- but is it the miraculous utopia it appears to be?

Plot Keywords:

Shangri La | Diplomat | Illness | Love | Paradise

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 5 nominations

Cast

Ronald Colman	...	Robert Conway
Jane Wyatt	...	Sondra
Edward Everett Horton	...	Lovett
John Howard	...	George Conway
Thomas Mitchell	...	Barnard
Margo	...	Maria
Isabel Jewell	...	Gloria
H.B. Warner	...	Chang
Sam Jaffe	...	High Lama

Also Known As:

Lost Horizon of Shangri-La (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

132 min (original version) | USA:95 min (TV version) | USA:118 min (general release version) | West Germany:97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | West Germany:12 | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/12 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #2061) | Norway:7 (original rating) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The Lamasery set was, at the time, the largest single standing set in terms of square feet built for a motion picture of the sound era.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Conway is stumbling down the mountain and approaching the native village, his hair and clothing don't match in closeup and distant shots.

Quotes:

Robert Conway: I think I'm going to like it here.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Are You Being Served?: Closed Circuit (#8.6)" (1981)

Soundtrack:

Wiegenlied (Brahms' Lullaby), Op. 49, No. 4

Painstaking Restoration of a Rarely Seen Classic Reflects True Vision

One of my favorite books growing up was James Hilton's classic 1933 book, "Lost Horizon", and I believe it motivated a great deal of my current wanderlust. Even though I have had the misfortune of seeing the disastrous 1973 musical remake when I was young, the original 1937 film adaptation has been a film I have wanted to see for years, but for whatever reason, it was next to impossible to uncover. Apparently, bastardized versions have shown up on TV through the years. Now we are fortunate to have this 1999 restoration spearheaded by UCLA film archivist Robert Gitt to match as closely as possible to Frank Capra's original 132-minute running time.

Similar to what was done with George Cukor's "A Star Is Born", "Lost Horizon" is presented with its complete soundtrack, but missing footage had to be found through other sources, even 16-mm prints recorded from TV broadcasts, and in a few scenes, production stills were sadly the only option to fill in the gaps. Consequently, there is a variable quality to the print, but when one thinks that much of this footage could have been completely lost, the visual lapses are more than forgivable. Now that I have seen Capra's vision of the book, I can now understand why it's a cinematic classic though I have to concede not as timeless as one would hope.

The fanciful plot centers on Robert Conway, a top-level English diplomat about to become the Foreign Secretary, who helps refugees and assorted others from war-ravaged China. A motley crew of passengers led by Conway boards a plane that is skyjacked toward the Himalayas where it crash lands in a desolate spot of Tibet. They are eventually met by a sect of locals who takes them to a paradise called Shangri-La. The focus of the story then becomes how each of the plane survivors responds to this utopian existence. With his instantly recognizable mellifluous tone, Ronald Colman is perfectly cast as Conway, the only one who embraces this seemingly perfect haven from the outset. He captures the natural curiosity and open romanticism of his character with his trademark erudite manner.

The rest of the cast is a gallery of stock characters fleshed out by the variable quality of the performances. H.B. Warner plays Chang with the requisite serenity of his vague, mysterious character; and Jane Wyatt - two decades before playing the perfect suburban wife and mother in "Father Knows Best" - is surprisingly saucy as Sondra, the young schoolteacher who has Conway brought to Shangri-La. She even has a brief nude swimming scene. John Howard unfortunately overplays the thankless role of Conway's obstreperous brother George to the point where I groan every time he appears on screen. A similar feeling comes over me when I see Edward Everett Horton's overly pixilated and fey turn as Lovett and Sam Jaffe's bug-eyed, ethereal High Lama. Isabel Jewell and Thomas Mitchell fare better as a dying prostitute and a fugitive swindler, respectively.

The set designs for the Shangri-La lamasery by Stephen Goossón are intriguing in that they look like a post-modern tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie architecture, though one could argue that the exteriors also resemble a fancy Miami Beach resort hotel. I also imagine that the isolationist philosophy espoused by the High Lama may have been at odds with pre-WWII patriotic fervor, though the more lingering problem is the racism apparent in the casting (e.g., non-Asians like Warner playing inscrutable Asians) and the portrayal of the Tibetan porters as gun-toting derelicts. However, for all its flaws, the movie has some really stunning camera-work by Joseph Walker, surprisingly masterful special effects (for a near-poverty row studio like Columbia), Dmitri Tiomkin's stirring musical score and a powerful sense of mysticism that gives the film a genuine soul. It is no accident that Capra, the most idealistic of the master filmmakers, helmed this movie because a more cynical mindset could have easily sabotaged the entire venture.

The DVD is a wonderful package. First, there is a fascinating photo montage documentary with narration provided by film historian Kendall Miller, which gives a true feeling of how Capra approached the production. Gitt and film critic Charles Champlin provide audio commentary on an alternate track of the film with Gitt very informative about the exhaustive restoration process and Champlin more in awe of the result. There is even an alternative ending included that Columbia chief Harry Cohn insisted on filming and using upon release, but it had thankfully been dropped two weeks later. This is a genuine treat for cinemaphiles, as there are few films that make such a compelling case for seeking out one's personal utopia.