Lost Horizon (1937 Classic Film Frank Capra)


Feb 17, 2010

“Since John Logie Baird invented the color television in 1944, I refuse to watch anything on TV in black and white.” Does this sound like something you would say? Please make an exception and watch this classic film starring Ronald Coleman and Jane Wyatt. A recent conversation with colleagues brought up the subject of Lost Horizon and Shangri-la and I remembered how much I had enjoyed re-runs of this movie on late night TV over 40 years ago. I don’t know how many times I watched it but I absolutely loved it. I found it on the shelf yesterday, took it home and my husband and I spent two and a quarter hours thoroughly enjoying a wonderful film. Even if you have never read the book nor seen the movie you have surely heard of Shangri-la. It is a mythical place of beauty. There is no crime, no war, no want nor need. There is only peace and love and enjoyment. People who live in Shangri-la are so much at peace with themselves, and their lives, that they never get sick and they age very slowly….the High Lama (Sam Jaffe) lived over 200 years and died quietly of old age. The story begins with British Foreign Secretary Robert Conway in war torn China in 1935. He has been assigned the task of evacuating 90 westerners from the city of Baskul. Many people are evacuated and Conway, along with 4 other people, board the last plane for England. They are unaware that their pilot has been replaced and their plane has been hijacked. Flying over the snow covered mountains in Tibet the planes’ engines die and the plane goes down. The pilot is killed but the 5 passengers survive. A native tribe finds them and leads them to Shangri-la. As time goes by all of the survivors fall in love with Shangri-la, except for Conway’s brother who insists on leaving this Garden of Eden as soon as possible. When he gets the opportunity to leave, he convinces Conway to go with him. Conway’s brother does not survive the trek but Conway does and he eventually finds his way back to his Shangri-la. “Here’s to the hope that we all find our Shangri-la.”

Reviewed by Library Staff