A TIMELESS MASTERPIECE STARRING RONALD COLMAN AND JANE WYATT IN THE LAVISHLY PRODUCED VISION OF SHANRI-LA. SPECIAL FEATURES: FULL SCREEN VERSION, MONO SOUND, SUBTITLES: ENGLISH, SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, CHINESE, KOREAN, THAI, PHOTO GALLERY WITH NARRATION, ALTERNATE ENDING, THREE DELETED SCENES AND MUCH MORE.James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon proposes a perfect hidden community within the uncharted Himalayas, a land where peace reigns and the inhabitants live for hundreds of years. So indelible is this mythical land that its name has entered the culture: Shangri-La. Director Frank Capra, riding high during his mid-’30s hot streak, spared no expense in creating Hilton’s paradise onscreen, taxing the coffers of Columbia Pictures and the patience of mogul Harry Cohn. The results, however, are magical: shimmering, seductive, and maybe a bit foolish, truly the creation of an idealist (understandably, the spectacular art direction won an Oscar). And Capra’s hero is an idealist, too. Ronald Colman, at his most marvelously elocutionary, plays a wise diplomat whose plane crashes in the snows of Tibet. He and the other survivors are guided to Shangri-La, where they wrestle with the invitation to stay. The young Jane Wyatt plays Colman’s love interest, but leaving a more lasting impression are H.B. Warner, as the benevolent Chang, and Sam Jaffe, in great old-age makeup, as the wizened High Lama. This version has been restored as closely as possible to Capra’s original cut; the film had circulated for many years in a trimmed form. Lost Horizon was remade, notoriously and hilariously, as a big-budget musical in 1973; it was a complete flop. –Robert Horton
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April 12, 2010
#1
This film should have been left to the ravages of age and studio neglect. Why anyone would want to restore this abortion of an adaptation is beyond me. Although the story line is largely intact, many of the characters have been changed. The Chinese girl … I don’t have the book before me so can’t remember the name … is replaced by a Hollywood nymphet with a supposedly nude bathing scene. I defy anyone to suspend disbelief when confronted with this sort of baggage in deepest Tibet or wherever. Another problem is the rather hysterical acting although some of the actors are credible and sympathetic.
This book has not fared well in Hollywood … this adaptation is the worse of any film I have seen … the later musical [!!] adaptation is the next worst.
April 12, 2010
#2
They can force folks at gunpoint to get there. Then once there so many blab about following your heart and such. The movie is uneven but still very good thanks to faultless performances and beautiful direction. Hard to believe a Sicilian born man directed these wasps.
April 12, 2010
#3
Saw the 1973 version when I was a child and have always thought of it as on of the greats. The colors are spectacular. Would like to own a VHS copy of my own. Anybody know where I can find one?
April 12, 2010
#4
Although the basic story line has been retained, almost nothing else about this film recommends it. The characters are changed. The characters are miscast. And we are treated to a Hollywood version of a Hollywood paradise with a Hollywood quota of Hollywood bathing beauties … with nude bathing scenes yet. None of the magic of the original story survives. Roald Coleman is cast as a dynamic, world famous diplomat whereas the original character has a more unassuming and less driven personality and is considered a failure doomed to serve in backwater locations. The main character’s colleague has become his brother. This role is played in an extermely hysterical and melodramatic way. An equally hysterical hooker replaces the original prim female missionary. The exquisite Chinese girl is replaced by the typical girl-next-door American bathing beauty. The American swindler survives and is perhaps the best played role but has very dated dialog. A new character, a nervous British archeologist is added, probably, for comic relief. Of course, everyone speaks the most amazing English, even the children. My recommendation is to read the book …
April 12, 2010
#5
Director: Frank Capra
Format: Black & White
Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios
Video Release Date: June 28, 1994
Cast:
Ronald Colman … Robert Conway
Jane Wyatt … Sondra
John Howard … George Conway
Margo … Maria
Thomas Mitchell … Henry Barnard
Edward Everett Horton … Alexander P. Lovett
Isabel Jewell … Gloria Stone
H.B. Warner … Chang
Sam Jaffe … High Lama
Dennis D’Auburn … Aviator (We Can’t Take More Than Seven)
Val Durand … Talu, Hijacking Pilot with Gun
Neil Fitzgerald … Radio Operator
Willie Fung … Bandit Leader at Fuel Stop-over
Lawrence Grant … First Man
Joe Herrera … Candle Maker
Boyd Irwin … Assistant Foreign Secretary
Noble Johnson … Leader of Porters (Return Journey)
Manual Kalili … Servant
Richard Loo … Shanghai Airport Official
Richard Master … Servant
John Miltern … Carstairs (Club)
Ray Mitchell
Henry Mowbray … Englishman
Leonard Mudie … Foreign Secretary with Prime Minister
John T. Murray … Meeker (Club)
Wedgwood Nowell … Englishman
Milton Owen … Fenner, Hijacked Pilot
Max Rabinowitz … Seiveking, Pianist with Sondra
Arthur Rankin … Passenger
Richard Robles … Porter
Chief John Big Tree … Porter
Alex Shoulder … Servant
Wyrley Birch … Missionary
James Smith … Porter
Norman Ainsley … Steward (Club)
Carl Stockdale … Missionary
John Tettener … Montaigne (Club)
David Torrence … Prime Minister
Eric Wilton … Englishman
Barry Winton … Englishman
Victor Wong … Bandit Leader
Ernesto Zambrano … Servant
Hugh Buckler … Lord Gainsford (Toast at St. George Club)
Sonny Bupp … Young Boy in Sondra’s Choir
John Burton … Wynant (Club)
Eli Casey … Porter
George Chan … Chinese Priest
Darby Clark … Radio Operator
David Clyde … Steward (Club)
Robert Cory … Englishman
Margaret McWade … Missionary
Ruth Robinson … Missionary
Beatrice Blinn … Passenger
Patricia Curtis … Passenger
Mary Lou Dix … Passenger
The story of Shangri-La is a fantasy tale. Robert Conway (Ronald Colman), his brother George (John Howard), Alexander Lovett (Ed Horton), Henry Barnard (Thomas Mitchell), Gloria Sone (Isabel Jewell) and their Tibetan pilot crash land in Tibet. The pilot dies. Then, their adventure begins.
They are taken to a monastery, where despite the winter weather, it is spring inside the valley. They are told that they were abducted, and that they will not leave.
The story goes on from there, with love interest and Colman’s realiztioon that he has met his destiny.
This is a good story, well acted. Well directed by Capra. Although released in video in 1994, it is an old black and white. Franklin Roosevelt, when asked where Doolittle’s Tokyo bombers came from, in 1942, said “Shangri-La.”
Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedom…their care and maintenance
and other books