Lost Horizon [VHS] Best Review
Ronald Colman, A Very Private PersonRonald Colman: Gentleman of the Cinema (McFarland Classics)The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 and 1952 Versions)Random HarvestA Tale of Two Cities (1935)The optimistic confidence that Capra expresses in his movies, such as "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" and "It's a Wonderful Life" are in display in this 1930's extravaganza re-telling of James Hilton's best-selling novel. Hilton and MGM weren't seeking to portray a realistic travelogue of the peoples of Tibet and lamasery life but rather to tell a wistful story of utopia. Yes, the movie has creaks and cracks to our modern eyes - it is strange to see Chinese portrayed by Westerners - but it is very much a product of its Depression era. Folks who lived in that period, who scraped and struggled to find work and keep their homes and their families intact, who had loved ones that fought and died in World War I, and who were aware of the growing militarism in Germany and Italy and what it might mean for the future - those folks would have walked out of the movie theatre wishing they too could find their Shangri-La. Only the most pedantic and socialist of those viewers would have focused on the inconsistency between the expressed utopian wish and the fact that the palatial lamasery and its inhabitants were supported by the Tibetan inhabitants of the Valley of the Blue Moon. Hey, people -this is a "feel good" escapist movie, not a political training film!
Those reviewers who state that Ronald Colman's (other reviewers please note this is the correct spelling of the actor's name!) performance of Foreign Consul Robert Conway was not his best should be advised that: 1) James Hilton wrote the character of Conway with Colman in mind and that 2) Colman's own daughter, Juliet Benita Colman, thought her father was playing himself. (Perhaps, therefore, those reviewers who found Mr Colman's performance not his best merely prefer the characters of Sydney Carton, Tony John, and/or Charles Rainier to the real English gentleman actor).
The opening sequence (of which I will not reveal the facts, so as not to place a spoiler in this review) was very realistic. The Chinese suffered horribly under the invasion of the Japanese in the mid-30s, a fact willingly ignored by many Westerners. Not so Robert Conway - listen to what he says to his brother after his statement regarding the saving of the Westerners in Bakul.
Parents who are concerned about the "nude" swimming scene of Jane Wyatt should know that the stand-in for the actress was filmed from the back, at a great distance, and in soft focus. The nude appearance is only for a second or two (the Hays Office would not have permitted more!).
In summary, I think this is a movie well-worth watching for its goals and its entertainment value. All this being said, I still want to strangle George Conway every time he appears on the screen. His character is so one-dimensional as to be a distraction every time he is before the camera.
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Lost Horizon [VHS] Overview
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
Customer Reviews
fantastic - D. Newman -
One of my favorite movies. Had a VHS copy but no VHS machine, anymore. Needed the dvd version
Wonderful film with a tangled history - Stellar Jay -
I only wish that one of the deleted scenes included in the "extras" on this DVD had made it into the final print. It is a scene between the two female characters who unfortunately don't have an exchange in the released film. It would have made a great film better.
Beautiful Vision of Paradise - Jeremy Richmond - Lakewood, CA USA
Lost Horizon is the most beautiful movie I have seen. It starts off with the characters boarding a plane to flee an uprising in China. Their pilot lands somewhere without their permission to provide supplies to some militants. They take off again and I can't remember what happens next but somehow their plane crashes in the Himalayas. At the crash site they are greeted by Tibetans and are led to a place high up in the mountains called Shangrila. Shangrila is a dreamlike paradise where people age extremely slowly and there is no disease or sickness. In Shangrila there is also no worries about being unemployed, people don't fret about their loved one cheating on them and there is no competition. It is so to say, the ideal society.
Lost Horizon is the most beautiful film I know of to come out of Hollywood. If they remade it these days they would probably do a bad job. They actually did remake the film in the 70s as a musical and it was a disaster.
A theme found in the film that is especially important is the fact that the brother of the main character wants to leave Shangrila with his female companion who also wants to leave. This is representative of how some people are. Hasn't there been tons of marriages made from heaven that ended because one person in the marriage was incapable of experiencing love and happiness. Some people crave the real world with its conflict and insecurity. Not me.
I think if humanity got its act together it could create a true Shangrila, and Lost Horizon would not be just a vision, but a reality.
Unfortunately we do not have the Lost Horizon film in its entirety. Parts of it were lost with only the audio track remaining. During these parts the film is played with the video replaced with still photographs of the characters and the audio track playing. Most of the film remains though and despite this it still holds up as a cinematic classic. In the special features is also included an audio track with stills from a scene that was put in the original version of the film where the main character relates a story of his stay in Shangrila to people on a cruise ship and plays a never before heard Chopin piano composition he had learned about there.
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