The Frank Capra adapation of James Hilton's popular novel, Lost Horizon, was somewhat controversial in its day, not polticality but because of its length (several reels were removed after a disasterous preview),and its production design, which many critics found unattractive. Now, in its restored version, we can see the film pretty much as it looked when it came out. Scenes that have not been found are represented by still photographs over which we hear the original dialogue. This is therefore not exactly the movie that was released to the theatres, but a fairly close approximation of it.

The story concerns a planeload of passengers hijacked during a violent uprising in China who find themselves ultimately in Tibet, where the plane crashes, and are met by guides who lead them up a steep mountain to the valley of Shanri-La. In Shangri-La the weather is always perfect. There is no war or violence because the people's motto is 'be kind', and they live up to it. In other words, they are in paradise. The valley has a history, too complex to go into in any great depth, and the perfect climate enables its inhabitants to live very long lives.

As one might imagine, there is trouble in paradise, and some of the visitors decide to leave. Shangri-La does not automatically make people happy. One still has to work at it, albeit under extraordinarily favorable circumstances.

The movie is far from flawless, and the middle section, with the usual romantic stuff, is none too inspired; but it begins with a bang and very nearly ends with one, too. In the chaotic, early scenes there is a palpable sense of danger; and the generous budget enabled Capra to use large crowds, and he makes the most of them. Rarely, on screen, have large numbers of human beings, whether screaming, shooting or pushing, seemed so frightening. The airborne part of the film is likewise very satisfying. There's a good deal of exposition here, but it's so well done that one can scarcely find fault. The scenes of refueling in a remote village are eletrifying, and one isn't sure at first what's going on. Are they being attacked? No, but it takes a while to figure this out. The soaring over the clouds is mesmerizing in its simple beauty; while the crash-landing of the plane at what appears to be the foot of the mountain that leads eventually to Shangri La, is highly effective. And Capra, ever the master of film climate, offers us, briefly, a quite pretty and at the same time literally chilling sense of what it would be like to die, snowbound, in the Himalayas.

But Capra's greatest triumph is the scene of hero Conway's departure from the peaceful valley, with his brother and girl-friend in tow. Conway does not want to leave, but his younger brother is in love with a Russian girl, who is unhappy in paradise and talks aginst the locals. As Conway is discussing the matter with his brother, inside, we hear wordless chanting outside, in what sounds like a religious ceremony, as robed figures carrying candles form a long line that surrounds the building, then pass on. As the talk inside becomes more heated, the voices (and accompanying music) grow louder. By the time Conway has made his decision to leave, and is walking up the hill to the opening in the rocks that will lead him from the warm, friendly valley to the freezing tempratures of the outisde world, the music rises in intensity, to a kind of lugubrious, hynoptic crescendo, providing a perfect auditory counterpart to the journey Conway is embarking on, and his mixed feelings about it. The result is one of the single most moving and lovely scenes in movies, technically and emotionally devastatingly effective. Ronald Colman's heartbreak as he gazes back, with as soulful expression as has been seen in movies, is worth seeing the rest of the picture for, and one of the highlights of American film.

One of my favorite books growing up was James Hilton's classic 1933 book, "Lost Horizon", and I believe it motivated a great deal of my current wanderlust. Even though I have had the misfortune of seeing the disastrous 1973 musical remake when I was young, the original 1937 film adaptation has been a film I have wanted to see for years, but for whatever reason, it was next to impossible to uncover. Apparently, bastardized versions have shown up on TV through the years. Now we are fortunate to have this 1999 restoration spearheaded by UCLA film archivist Robert Gitt to match as closely as possible to Frank Capra's original 132-minute running time.

Similar to what was done with George Cukor's "A Star Is Born", "Lost Horizon" is presented with its complete soundtrack, but missing footage had to be found through other sources, even 16-mm prints recorded from TV broadcasts, and in a few scenes, production stills were sadly the only option to fill in the gaps. Consequently, there is a variable quality to the print, but when one thinks that much of this footage could have been completely lost, the visual lapses are more than forgivable. Now that I have seen Capra's vision of the book, I can now understand why it's a cinematic classic though I have to concede not as timeless as one would hope.

The fanciful plot centers on Robert Conway, a top-level English diplomat about to become the Foreign Secretary, who helps refugees and assorted others from war-ravaged China. A motley crew of passengers led by Conway boards a plane that is skyjacked toward the Himalayas where it crash lands in a desolate spot of Tibet. They are eventually met by a sect of locals who takes them to a paradise called Shangri-La. The focus of the story then becomes how each of the plane survivors responds to this utopian existence. With his instantly recognizable mellifluous tone, Ronald Colman is perfectly cast as Conway, the only one who embraces this seemingly perfect haven from the outset. He captures the natural curiosity and open romanticism of his character with his trademark erudite manner.

The rest of the cast is a gallery of stock characters fleshed out by the variable quality of the performances. H.B. Warner plays Chang with the requisite serenity of his vague, mysterious character; and Jane Wyatt - two decades before playing the perfect suburban wife and mother in "Father Knows Best" - is surprisingly saucy as Sondra, the young schoolteacher who has Conway brought to Shangri-La. She even has a brief nude swimming scene. John Howard unfortunately overplays the thankless role of Conway's obstreperous brother George to the point where I groan every time he appears on screen. A similar feeling comes over me when I see Edward Everett Horton's overly pixilated and fey turn as Lovett and Sam Jaffe's bug-eyed, ethereal High Lama. Isabel Jewell and Thomas Mitchell fare better as a dying prostitute and a fugitive swindler, respectively.

The set designs for the Shangri-La lamasery by Stephen Goossón are intriguing in that they look like a post-modern tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie architecture, though one could argue that the exteriors also resemble a fancy Miami Beach resort hotel. I also imagine that the isolationist philosophy espoused by the High Lama may have been at odds with pre-WWII patriotic fervor, though the more lingering problem is the racism apparent in the casting (e.g., non-Asians like Warner playing inscrutable Asians) and the portrayal of the Tibetan porters as gun-toting derelicts. However, for all its flaws, the movie has some really stunning camera-work by Joseph Walker, surprisingly masterful special effects (for a near-poverty row studio like Columbia),Dmitri Tiomkin's stirring musical score and a powerful sense of mysticism that gives the film a genuine soul. It is no accident that Capra, the most idealistic of the master filmmakers, helmed this movie because a more cynical mindset could have easily sabotaged the entire venture.

The DVD is a wonderful package. First, there is a fascinating photo montage documentary with narration provided by film historian Kendall Miller, which gives a true feeling of how Capra approached the production. Gitt and film critic Charles Champlin provide audio commentary on an alternate track of the film with Gitt very informative about the exhaustive restoration process and Champlin more in awe of the result. There is even an alternative ending included that Columbia chief Harry Cohn insisted on filming and using upon release, but it had thankfully been dropped two weeks later. This is a genuine treat for cinemaphiles, as there are few films that make such a compelling case for seeking out one's personal utopia.

Probably of all of Frank Capra's successes from the Thirties this is the most dated. Dated simply because we know so much more about Tibet than we did in 1933 when James Hilton's book came out. Hard to watch it now and realize that probably the Communist Chinese government has taken over Shangri-La and kicked out Ronald Colman, H.B. Warner and the rest of the cast, bag and baggage. They'd still be with us you know, if you accept the premise of longevity in the book.

Lost Horrizon was an enormously popular book in the Thirties. There was lots of strife at that time, economic and military. People liked to think there was some place we could just get away from it all. The same longing also sparked the success of Brigadoon in the immediate postwar years on Broadway.

The U.S. President commented obliquely on the enormous popularity of Lost Horrizon when he was asked where did James Doolittle's bombers come from? Where was the secret base? Franklin Roosevelt replied with a chuckle, "Shangri La."

James Hilton spent the last years of his life writing screenplays in Hollywood and I'm absolutely certain that he wrote this, Goodbye Mr. Chips and Random Harvest with the casting in mind. It's why I think Ronald Colman is so right for the part. A man of the British Empire with a secret longing for a better world than he's living in and dealing with.

Ronald Colman and a few others in a small passenger plane are highjacked during a revolutionary uprising and are transported to the mountains of Tibet. The kidnappers are the residents of a mystical valley where due to climate, the aging process has been dramatically slowed. Slowed but not halted. The aging High Lama, Sam Jaffe and his assistant H.B. Warner think that Colman is the kind of man they want to succeed Jaffe who has passed his 200 year.

Supporting Colman are Frank Capra regulars Edward Everett Horton and Thomas Mitchell. Additionally Jane Wyatt is in the cast for romance. Her character is not in Hilton's book. Capra gets good performances from his cast. One in particular I like is Isabell Jewell who was a passenger on the highjacked plane. She's a party girl who's excesses have made her seriously ill. Shangri La gives her hope and redemption, physically and morally.

As more and more of planet earth becomes known to us, novels like Lost Horrizon will be unable to be written. There are so few places on this planet that man hasn't trod his foot on. But even knowing so much more of Tibet, due in no small measure to it's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama's pleas for autonomy, Lost Horrizon is still a fascinating film to watch.

Question, do you think the Dalai Lama has ever read the book or seen this film?