Lost Horizon (1937)

Frank Capra's Lost Horizon introduced the world to a place that everyone knows implicitly - Shangri La, the Edenic valley where everyone is happy, where there is no toil or strife, and where life goes on and on. Given the position of this place in our collective conscience, it seems odd that relatively few people have ever seen the movie that inspired it, and I am going to hazard a guess that no living person has ever viewed the movie in its entirety. That's because soon after its initial release, the film was chopped again and again from its original 180 minute running time down to 95 minutes. In recent years, though, the film has been restored to 134 minutes, thanks to dedicated film preservationists who literally scoured the earth for variant versions of the movie. But why such drastic editing in the first place? Partly to speed up the film; after all, not many people want to sit through a 3-hour movie. But the film was also cut because the it contained a considerable amount of isolationist philosophy. Unfortunately for Capra, it came out at a time when the world was plunging toward war and the governments of the US and England were pushing the philosophy of engagement. The last thing they wanted was a popular film encouraging people to resist involvement in the war effort. The war effort butchered Lost Horizon.

When I started this review, I was going to write a lengthy summary of the plot, but I decided to scrap all of that. A plot summary would give you very little information about this film. Suffice it to say that Lost Horizon tells the story of British diplomat Robert Conway, played by the incomparable Ronald Coleman, who crash lands - along with several other people - in Shangri La, where he learns some incredible secrets about life and living. But Lost Horizon is really a story of Paradise Regained. It's the Garden of Eden or the Fountain of Youth. It's the desire in all of us to find someplace in the world where we can be happy, where we can live out our lives in peace, free from want, from disease, from the thousand ills that beset us in this mortal existence. But since that is not attainable in this earthly life, Lost Horizon is really a story about finding heaven. And as such, it is a story about the redemption. For all but one of the characters are redeemed in the end, because their hearts are no longer set upon the things of this world.

Lost Horizon was shot largely on Columbia Ranch on a massive and truly gorgeous set inspired by the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. The detailed sets and lavish costumes and props all serve to testify of Capra's scrupulous attention to detail. He's fairly faithful to James Hilton's novel as well, unfolding the story carefully, offering little bits of information at a time to keep the audience's curiosity piqued all the way up to when the secret of Shangri La is finally revealed at the climax of the film. Lost Horizon is a wonderful film, even lacking the 46 minutes that have not yet been found. With luck, they someday will be, and we'll have this entire classic once again.

Lost Horizon is rated G. Picture quality varies throughout the film due to edited scenes being spliced back in. However, the preservationists have done an excellent job restoring this black and white film to its original luster.