Lost Horizon (1937)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

James Hilton (novel)
Robert Riskin (screenplay)

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:

Prostitute | Lamasery | Professor | Aging | Revolution

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 5 nominations

Cast

Ronald Colman	...	Robert 'Bob' Conway
Jane Wyatt	...	Sondra Bizet
Edward Everett Horton	...	Alexander P. 'Lovey' Lovett
John Howard	...	George Conway
Thomas Mitchell	...	Henry Barnard
Margo	...	Maria
Isabel Jewell	...	Gloria Stone
H.B. Warner	...	Chang
Sam Jaffe	...	High Lama
Hall Johnson Choir	...	Choir

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

West Germany:97 min | 132 min (original version) | Finland:128 min (restored version) | USA:95 min (TV version) | USA:118 min (general release version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-16 | Germany:6 | Portugal:M/12 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | 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 film took 10 months to make in total, though in between gaps in filming Capra's crew managed to squeeze in Richard Boleslawski's Theodora Goes Wild (1936).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Bob is entering Shangri-La, he is going down a mountain "upon which no man has ever set foot" but there are footprints in the snow in the foreground of the shot.

Quotes:

High Lama: It is the entire meaning and purpose of Shangri-La. It came to me in a vision, long, long ago. I saw all the nations strengthening, not in wisdom, but in the vulgar passions and the will to destroy. I saw the machine power multiplying, until a single weaponed man might match a whole army...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Justino, un asesino de la tercera edad (1994)

`Lost Horizon' is indeed a remnant from the golden age of cinema.

There is an aura that seems to surround classic films made before the days of computer generated visual effects and intense marketing campaigns. It was a time when motion pictures depended on grand stories, superb performances, and great direction to catapult their success. This was exactly the case of `Lost Horizon,' a film from director Frank Copra (`It's A Wonderful Life'). With elaborate set designs, excellent performances by Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell, and Edward Everett Horton, `Lost Horizon' is a story of survival and ultimately finding a way home, that cannot be forgotten. `Lost Horizon' is a tale of five castaways who inadvertently find themselves in Shangri-La after their plane crashes in the mountains of Tibet. They are lead into the place of eternal youth, natural beauty, and free from strife by members of the region. They are treated as guests, and although they want to leave and find their way back to the world as they know it, porters are hard to find. It all leads to a notion that none of them want to admit; that they were meant to be in Shangri-La. Out of the thousands of movies that have been produced in the past 100 years, only a few afford of the privilege of remembrance. What's more, only a few seem to survive due to the nature of celluloid prints breaking down over time. A similar problem plagued `Lost Horizon,' in that after decades of worthy theatrical re-issues, the prints depreciated, with many withering away. As such, a preservation program was set in place to save copies of the film. Thanks to the works of countless individuals, this classic has been restored, to a certain degree, with some of the footage missing, replaced by still shots of the actors and recorded dialogue. From a critical standpoint, `Lost Horizon' has stood the test of time to be one of the greatest adventure classics ever produced by Hollywood. What is astonishing about this film is the attention to detail. As the film begins, a battle is taking place somewhere in China where we meet our protagonist, Bob Conway (Coleman). As the film continues, the scene changes to a scene on an airplane where our characters are trying to leave the war torn region. At one point, the crew is at a high altitude where the temperature is very cold. As such, we can see their breath in the shot as they speak. Normally, this kind of feature is ignored as the scene is short, but it adds a touch of realism that can't be denied. Incredible detail went into the creation of Shangri-La. With its large sets, beautiful costume design, the film takes on an epic proportion only rivaled by the grand designs of such Biblical epics as `Ben-Hur,' and `The Ten Commandments.' Truly, director Capra wanted to create an image that audiences would be astounded by…and he truly succeeded.

One can't help but admire the characters-they are all a bit naïve, but all intriguing in their own ways. Conway (Coleman) is a British diplomat and explorer whose fame is well deserved. His brother, George (Howard) presents a great deal of fear for the unknown Shangri-La. The characters of Henry Barnard (Mitchell) and Alexander P. Lovett (Horton) add a real sense of humor to the film. There are some minor inconsistencies in the story and various tasks that the characters try to pull off, but it's hardly worth complaining about because the film is such a treasure among other films. After 66 years, `Lost Horizon' remains far better than most of the adventure films that play in cinemas nowadays. One can only wish that they could have been present to see this in a theater during its original run. How amazing it would have been to see this epic tale of survival and the human struggle against itself back in 1937. `Lost Horizon' is indeed a remnant from the golden age of cinema. ***1/2