It took British author James Hilton six weeks to write his visionary novel Lost Horizon. It took director Frank Capra two years-and half of his home studio Columbia's annual budget-to bring it to the screen. After a lengthy preamble, inviting audiences to imagine their own ideas of Utopia, the film opens on a chaotic scene at a Chinese airfield. As hordes of bandits approach, hundreds of refugees scramble to board the last plane out. Only five people make it: Mildly disenchanted Far Eastern diplomat Robert Conway (Ronald ...
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It took British author James Hilton six weeks to write his visionary novel Lost Horizon. It took director Frank Capra two years-and half of his home studio Columbia's annual budget-to bring it to the screen. After a lengthy preamble, inviting audiences to imagine their own ideas of Utopia, the film opens on a chaotic scene at a Chinese airfield. As hordes of bandits approach, hundreds of refugees scramble to board the last plane out. Only five people make it: Mildly disenchanted Far Eastern diplomat Robert Conway (Ronald Colman), his hotheaded younger brother George (John Howard), embezzler Barnard (Thomas Mitchell), dithery fossil expert Lovett (Edward Everett Horton) and consumptive prostitute Gloria Stone (Isabel Jewell). As the plane flies off towards the Himalayas, Robert realizes that he and his fellow passengers are heading in the wrong direction. They are, in fact, being kidnapped-but why? And where to? The plane crash-lands in the snowy Tibetan interior. The pilot is killed, but the passengers are safe. By and by, a strange caravan approaches, led by an enigmatic Chinese named Chang (H. B. Warner). Joining the caravan, Conway and his party are led through a treacherous mountain pass and into a land of temperate weather and dazzling beauty. This is Shangri-La, the idyllic lamasery presided over by the aged, wizened High Lama (Sam Jaffe). In this fertile valley, people are not encumbered by such exigencies as crime, dictators and hatred; instead, everyone is devoted to the pursuit of wisdom and self-improvement-and best of all, the aging process has been slowed to a walk, allowing people to live well past the two-century mark. Though he still does not know why he was brought here, Conway is quicker to adapt to Shangri-La than his wary fellow passengers. He even falls in love with Sondra (Jane Wyatt), an attractive, intelligent young woman. Finally granted an audience with the High Lama, Conway discovers that the old man is actually Father Perrault, the Belgian missionary who founded Shangri-La-over two hundred years earlier. Dying, the High Lama has selected Conway, whose idealism and even-handedness is world famous, to succeed him-and hopefully spread the "love thy neighbor" edict of Shangri-La to the rest of the war-torn world. Conway is willing to assume leadership, but younger brother George, his mind poisoned by spiteful Shangri-La resident Maria (Margo), insists upon escaping to the outside world. The older Conway warns that, despite her youthful appearance, Maria is well past sixty and will surely perish once she leaves Shangri-La; but Maria retorts that the high lama is insane, and that everything he has told Conway is a lie. Disillusioned, Conway agrees to leave with Jack and Maria. The trek back to civilization is a grueling one, especially for Maria, who-true to Conway's prediction-shrivels from age and dies. Appalled that he has been misled, George kills himself. Weeks later, and amnesiac Conway stumbles into a Tibetan mission, where he is rescued and brought back to England. When his memory is restored, however, Conway runs back to Shangri-La, and into the arms of Sondra. When Lost Horizon was shown to preview audiences, it ran nearly three hours-and it was a disaster. In his autobiography, Capra claims to have rescued his pet project by merely burning the first two reels and opening the film with the evacuation scene; In fact, while Capra did remove the film's "flashback" framework, he made most of his cuts in the body of the picture. The release length of Lost Horizon was 132 minutes, pared down to 119 when it when into general distribution. When it was reissued in the 1940s and 1950s, it was rather clumsily pared down to anywhere from 95 to 100 minutes. Only in the mid-1980s was Lost Horizon restored to its original length, with stills used to illustrate certain scenes for which only the soundtrack existed. While not the enormous hit Capra and Columbia had hoped it would be, Lost Horizon was popular...
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Add this copy of Lost Horizon [Vhs] to cart. $2.59, good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Columbia/Tristar Studios.
Add this copy of Lost Horizon (1937) to cart. $2.80, good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Columbia/Tristar Studios.
Add this copy of Lost Horizon to cart. $2.97, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brooklyn Park, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by Columbia Pictures.
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Fair. Disc(s) and case show moderate signs of wear and tear. If applicable, digital code may not included. May be missing liner notes/booklet. If applicable, cardboard slipcover may not be included.
Add this copy of Lost Horizon [Vhs] to cart. $2.99, good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Columbia/Tristar Studios.
Add this copy of Lost Horizon [Vhs] to cart. $3.00, good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Columbia/Tristar Studios.
Add this copy of Lost Horizon (1937) to cart. $3.00, good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Columbia/Tristar Studios.
Add this copy of Lost Horizon [Vhs] to cart. $3.00, good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1990 by Columbia/Tristar Studios.
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Eli Casey, Sam Jaffe, H.B. Warner, Good. 1937 Connecting viewers with great movies since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Used discs may not include digital content. Customer service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Lost Horizon: the Classic Film Scores of Dimitri to cart. $3.00, fair condition, Sold by Bookmans rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tucson, AZ, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by SONY MASTERWORKS.
Add this copy of Lost Horizon to cart. $3.37, good condition, Sold by GW Spokane Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Spokane, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by Columbia Pictures.
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Condition: GOOD-Disc(s) used with some wear from use. May include minor surface scratches on disc(s), wear to case which could include cracks, scratches, or stickers. Hub and case locks may be broken. Digital codes NOT guaranteed/may be redeemed. All orders ship via UPS Mail Innovations-can take up to 14 business days from first scan to be delivered.
Add this copy of Lost Horizon to cart. $3.50, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
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David Torrence, Isabel Jewell, Ronald Colman, H.B. Warner, Thomas Mitchell, Margo, Jane Wyatt, Sam Jaffe, John Howard, Edward... Very good. 1937 Run time: 134. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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