LOST HORIZON [1937 / 2017] [80th Anniversary Limited Edition DigiBook] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
The Immortal Story of Shargri-La!
Celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the lavishly-produced Frank Capra classic, ‘LOST HORIZON,’ based on the best-selling novel by James Hilton. Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt star in this unique journey to the enchanted paradise of Shangri-La, where time stands still. Now restored in 4K and featuring an additional minute of footage long missing from the film. ‘LOST HORIZON’ is a sumptuous experience for lifelong fans and newcomers alike.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1938 Academy Awards®: Win: Best Art Direction for Stephen Goosson. Win: Best Film Editing for Gene Havlick and Gene Milford. Nomination: Best Picture for Columbia Pictures. Nomination: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for H.B. Warner. Nomination: Best Sound Recording for John P. Livadary. Nomination: Best Assistant Director for Charles C. Coleman. Nomination: Best Music Score for Morris Stoloff (head of department) and Dimitri Tiomkin. 2016 National Film Preservation Board, USA: Win: National Film Preservation Board.
FILM FACT No.2: The film exceeded its original budget by more than $776,000 and took five years to earn back its cost. The serious financial crisis it created for Columbia Pictures damaged the partnership between Frank Capra and studio head Harry Cohn, as well as the friendship between Frank Capra and Robert Riskin. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Frank Capra had read the James Hilton novel while filming ‘It Happened One Night,’ and he intended to make ‘LOST HORIZON’ his next project. When Ronald Colman, his first and only choice for the role of Robert Conway, proved to be unavailable, Frank Capra decided to wait and made ‘Mr. Deeds Goes to Town’ (1936) instead. In 1942, the film was re-released as The Lost Horizon of Shangri-La. A lengthy drunken speech delivered by Robert Conway, in which he cynically mocks war and diplomacy, had already been deleted in the general release version. Frank Capra felt the film made no sense without the scene, and in later years film critic Leslie Halliwell described the missing 12 minutes as "vital." They were restored years later. In 1952, a 92-minute version of the film was released. It aimed to downplay features of the utopia that suggested Communist ideals, a sensitive point after a Civil War in China resulted in the ascension of Mao Zedong's Communist Party in that country in 1949.
Cast: Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Margo, Isabel Jewell, H.B. Warner, Sam Jaffe, Norman Ainsley (uncredited), Chief John Big Tree (uncredited), Wyrley Birch (uncredited), Hugh Buckler (uncredited), Sonny Bupp (uncredited), John Burton (uncredited), Matthew Carlton (uncredited), David Cavendish (uncredited), George Chan (uncredited), Darby Clark (uncredited), David Clyde (uncredited), Robert Cory (uncredited), Jack Deery (uncredited), White Dove (uncredited), Val Duran (uncredited), Neil Fitzgerald (uncredited), Willie Fung (uncredited), Joe Herrera (uncredited), Boyd Irwin (uncredited), Noble Johnson (uncredited), Richard Loo (uncredited), Margaret McWade (uncredited), John Miltern (uncredited), Henry Mowbray (uncredited), Leonard Mudie (uncredited), John T. Murray (uncredited), Wedgwood Nowell (uncredited), Milton Owen (uncredited), Carl Stockdale (uncredited), John Tettener (uncredited), David Torrence (uncredited), Eric Wilton (uncredited), Barry Winton (uncredited), Victor Wong (uncredited) and Ernesto Zambrano (uncredited)
Director: Frank Capra
Producers: Frank Capra (uncredited) and Harry Cohn (uncredited)
Screenplay: Sidney Buchman (contributor to screenplay) (uncredited), Robert Riskin (screenplay) and James Hilton (novel)
Musical Score: Dimitri Tiomkin
Musical Director: Max Steiner
Cinematography: Joseph Walker, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Stereo Audio
French [Paris]: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
German: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Italian: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Spanish: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Arabic, Chinese [Traditional], Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Português [Brazilian], Português [Classic], Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish
Running Time: 133 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Long before Frank Capra presented us with the film ‘Wonderful Life’ and he decided to show us a paradise on earth, and made Shangri-La a household word with his film version of ‘LOST HORIZON’ [1937]. This film version is a faithful adaptation of James Hilton's enormously popular novel of the same name; and ‘LOST HORIZON’ begins with the rescue of a motley group of refugees from a Chinese revolution.
Together, with suave adventurer Robert Conway [Ronald Colman], his brother, George Conway [John Howard], swindler Henry Barnard [Thomas Mitchell], terminally-ill Gloria Stone [Isabel Jewell], and including palaeontologist Alexander P. Lovett [Edward Everett Horton], take off in a small plane that is secretly bound for the Tibetan Himalayas. When the plane crashes, the survivors find themselves stranded in the snow-capped mountains. Fortunately, they are rescued by a band of strangers led by an ancient Chinese man, Chang [H.B. Warner], and his men and taken to Shangri-La, an idyllic valley sheltered from the bitter cold. The contented inhabitants are led by the mysterious High Lama [Sam Jaffe] and Maria [Margo Albert], another beautiful young woman they find there, but the main group are determined to leave, as they feel they are being held against their will.
In the film ‘LOST HORIZON’ the acting is solid, but the performances that stand out are the same as the characters that stand out. Edward Everett Horton is very memorable and of course Ronald Colman is very likable in the role of the protagonist and gave a very good performance. ‘LOST HORIZON’ is an epic in every sense of the word. It was expensive to make and took a long time to shoot. It tells a wonderful story filled with adventure and majesty and it surely ranks among the greatest movies ever to come out of Hollywood’s Golden Age and this restored version is an absolute must see!
After a bad first screening, Frank Capra cut the first two reels of the film completely, which made the audience more receptive. Still, at 3 hours and 30 seconds long, Harry Cohn knew it wouldn't work, and he took control of the editing away from Frank Capra completely. Though Frank Capra never admitted that Harry Cohn re-cut the film, and Variety reported that it was one of the main reasons Frank Capra later brought suit against Columbia Pictures as part of a grievance over his pay. When all was said and done, much like Robert Conway [Ronald Colman] and his struggle to return to Shangri-La, Frank Capra found out that sometimes you have to make great sacrifices in your search for paradise.
As a final tribute to director Frank Capra and his classic film, we are informed the following information about the release of this brilliant Blu-ray disc and reads as follows:
When Frank Capra’s ‘LOST HORIZON’ was first shown in March, 1937, it had a running time of 132 minutes. Over the years nearly 25 minutes of the film were removed, and various shortened versions were reissued. By 1967 the original nitrate camera negative had deteriorated, and no copies of the full length film were known to survive.
The restoration of ‘LOST HORIZON’ began in 1973 when The American Film Institute conducted an exhaustive survey of archives around the world to identify all surviving versions of the film. As a result of the AFI’s efforts, a complete 132 minutes soundtrack was located, and all but seven minutes of the picture. The technical quality of the newly found material ranged from excellent to poor.
For the current restoration, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has completed an all-digital restoration, starting from film elements restored in collaboration with UCLA Film and Television Archive in 1999, utilising additional elements and incorporating one minute of newly footage. Because the picture is still six minutes shorter than the soundtrack, the missing scenes have been filled in with freeze farm images from the film and with a selection of surviving production still photographs.
LOST HORIZON MUSIC TRACK LIST
WIEGENLIED (Brahms' Lullaby), Op. 49, No.4 (1868) (uncredited) (Music and Lyrics by Johannes Brahms) (English translator unknown) [Sung a cappella by children at Shangri-La]
HERE WE GO GATHERING NUTS IN MAY (uncredited) (Traditional children's song) [Sung a cappella by Edward Everett Horton]
Blu-ray Image Quality – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment brings you once again something truly special with this ultimate 1080p Black-and-White crisp sharp encoded image quality that really looks good in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio presentation. As it stands on this release, there is a lot to admire, given the 4K restoration and incorporation of 16mm elements and other more recently found footage that really gives you excellent detail levels can be seen, especially given the scope the production. Thanks to the clever use of visual effects of the time, there are layered qualities to the sets and environments that allow for a proper level of depth to appear on this Blu-ray disc. Black levels are quite sharp and the contrast has been handled very well for this Black-and-White feature film where the detail level is strong. Some close-ups yield surprisingly clear results and are a very clear presentation. So all in all, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has done some amazing work on restoring this classic film.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has also brought us an equally clear solid audio presentation. I noted the complete soundtrack has been found for this film and it is surprising good to hear such a fine presentation for a film of this calibre released in 1937. You get to hear some dramatic soundscapes like the howling wind, rumbling jet engines, footsteps in the snow, and bursts of gunfire are all well rendered, and all the dialogue is nicely positioned with the centre speakers. We also get to hear the wide dynamic scale handles all the highs and lows without a hint of distortion, and solid hi-fidelity bolsters the impact of Dimitri Tiomkin’s memorable Oscar-nominated music film score, so much so the you get a wonderful all-encompassing audio track that does justice to the film music score, dialogue, and other sound elements which is very clear and clean throughout the whole film experience. Once again, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has done a really good job in remastering this audio experience with making the sound even better when the film was release in the cinema.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Restoration Audio Commentary with Charles Champlin [Los Angeles Times film critic] and Robert Gitt [UCLA Film Preservation Officer]: Here with this 1999 personal audio commentary, we have Charles Champlin and Robert Gitt introducing themselves and are here to discuss and also focuses on the previous video restoration of the film ‘LOST HORIZON,’ as well as its production history and subsequent shortened and altered versions of the film. For most part of their comments, Robert Gitt tends to be the most vocal about what we are viewing, and informs us that the film had a troubled history and chequered history, as the film was budgeted for well over $1Million and the most expensive film for Columbia Pictures at that time in history, but by the time the film was released the budget had doubled and they nearly went bankrupt. We also hear explained in great detail why it was cut so dramatically by Harry Cohn after its initial cinema release and also slightly altered for its reissue during World War II. Robert Gitt also goes into great detail about certain scenes that have been restored, especially at the start of the film when we see all of the Chinese people are trying to escape and also discusses in great detail about the casting, especially saying that all the hundreds of extras were hired from China Town in Hollywood and this particular scenes in this film was copied from a World War II release print that ran for only 108 minutes, because the negative was so badly deteriorate. They also talk in great detail about censorship issues of that period in 1937, and talk about the long process about the preservation of this classic Frank Capra film, which they praise the unsung hero named Laurence Carr, who was the archivist at the American Film Institute during the 1970s with his project to find lost copies of the film ‘LOST HORIZON,’ who started the film’s restoration. They talk a great deal about how the film was first being shown at a Gala Premiere at the Four Star Theatre on the 19th February, 1936 in Los Angeles, but the real Film Premiere was held on the 2nd March, 1937 at the Garry Theatre in San Francisco, but at the same time were showing the film at the Lincoln Theatre in Miami Beach in Florida. When you see the plane crash in the snow and the actors climb out of the plane, this was actually filmed at the Los Angeles Ice and Cold Storage Warehouse that has been providing public frozen food warehouse services since 1895, which has 13,000 square feet of space, but at the same time had a lot of technical problems in such cold conditions, as the temperature has to be 20 to 24 degrees Fahrenheit, especially causing static electricity on the film being shot and had to do lots of re-takes, and in doing so, had to spend several weeks shooting in this very cold warehouse. When you see Ronald Coleman riding his horse and chasing after Jane Wyatt, the waterfall we see is Tahquitz Falls in Palm Springs, California. When you view Jane Wyatt at the top of the waterfall, they had to use a block and tackle to winch and lift the horse to the top of the waterfall. When you see Jane Wyatt swimming naked, it is in Lake Malibu, which is a small reservoir surrounded by a community in the Santa Monica Mountains near Agoura Hills, California. When Ronal Colman meets Sam Jaffe the High Lama, Harry Cohen wanted the actor Walter Connolly to play the part, but when they did the screen test for both actors, they found Sam Jaffe was perfect and of course Frank Capra was proved right. When you see the devastating avalanche and all the Sherpas are swept away, this was in fact cornflakes and ice crystals. Charles Champlin gives great praise and massive amount of compliments towards Robert Gitt on his work on the long process of the restoration of the film ‘LOST HORIZON’ and also comments that it was well worth the wait, because it look even better than when it was first released in 1937 and tells Robert Gitt it is the best restoration job he has ever contemplated and I also agree 100%, and it was also a joy to listen to these two commentators, especially with all the very fascinating facts and information on the restoration of this brilliant classic film ‘LOST HORIZON’ and is also helped to have the brilliant director Frank Capra fulfil his dreams to make this film and is well worth a listen.
Special Feature: Photo Documentary [1999] [1080p] [1.37:1] [30:27] Historian Kendall Miller provides some very interesting information on the production while seeing various photos and clips from the film with this retrospective documentary. We also get to view very rare behind-the-scene images relating to the film ‘LOST HORIZON.’ Kendall Miller also at the same time gives a nice audio narration about the technological challenges that the director Frank Capra experienced, especially chronicles the shooting of several key sequences which he explains how the special effects were created, and describes the film’s original opening and deleted scenes and also touches upon other subjects like the set design and retakes. Kendall Miller also talks about the myths and anecdotes surrounding the so called disagreements between Frank Capra and Columbia studio chief Harry Cohn. If you want to see a nice special feature, with lots of nice anecdotes, well this one is a must view. Narrated by Kendall Miller.
Special Feature: Restoration Featurette: Three Deleted Scenes [1999] [1080p] [1.37:1] [8:35] Here we take a look at three deleted. One is simply unused footage taken from the film’s original camera negative, while the other two were likely edited from the print after the film ‘LOST HORIZON’ had its first preview. Because no audio soundtrack exists for scenes we view, the narrator reads the dialogue from the shooting script over the corresponding images. Narrated by Robert Gitt.
Special Feature: Opening Credits Comparison [1999] [1080p] [1.37:1] [1:25] Here we take a look at how the main titles were changed when the film received its release during World War II. Narrated by Robert Gitt.
Special Feature: Alternate Ending [1999] [1080p] [1.37:1] [2:43] Despite the fact that Harry Cohn gave so much support to Frank Capra, the studio head forced the director to alter the end of the film and Harry Cohn approved the ending that was viewed for only the first ten days of the initial run in Hollywood. Frank Capra then replaced it with the ending he wanted the public to view, which has now been in place for the ensuing years and here we can compare the two endings. Narrated by Robert Gitt.
Special Feature: Before and After Comparison [1999] [1080i] [1.37:1] [0:59] Here we take a brief look at how good and bad this print looked. It also shows us how a digital tear was repaired and how an unsteady 16 mm blow-up shot was digitally stabilized. Narrated by Robert Gitt.
Theatrical Trailers: Here we get to view five different Theatrical Trailers of the film ‘LOST HORIZON’ and they are as follows: Theatrical Teaser 1 [1937] [1080p] [1.37:1] [0:33]; Theatrical Teaser 2 [1937] [1080p] [1.37:1] [0:49]; Re-Issue Trailer [1937] [1080p] [1.37:1] [1:58]; Theatrical Trailer [French] [1937] [480i] [1.37:1] [4:33] and Theatrical Trailer [Spanish] [1937] [480i] [1.37:1] [3:16].
BONUS: This stunning beautiful 28 page DigiBook contains special articles, which are the following: The Making of ‘LOST HORIZEN’ by Jeremy Arnold. RONALD COLEMAN Key Credit List. JAYNE WYATT Key Credit List. FRANK CAPRA Key Credit List. RESTORING SHANGRI-LA by Rita Belda. We also get a plethora of stunning Black-and-White publicity images, especially on the film sets.
Finally, the ‘LOST HORIZON’ film is a story that is essentially about hope for a utopia and the ultimate classic story of survival and finding oneself in place we all wish we could visit, which is helped via the brilliant Frank Capra and is definitely one of my all-time favourite directors, as all his films bring something fresh to the screen. ‘LOST HORIZON’ is also one of the great classic film that you should seek out and view, if you have not already done so, then what better way to do so than with this ultimate restored Blu-ray edition. The presentation is great and something a real cinephile enthusiast are sure to enjoy experiencing, especially if they are a person who is fond of the cinema, especially of this era. It would have been great to get some new extra special features to go along with this beautiful Blu-ray release, but there is still enough here to help you to enjoy this package. It’s great to get these classic Frank Capra films especially with this brilliant Blu-ray package and the ‘LOST HORIZON’ film is another one of those great Hollywood Classic film for sure to have added to your Frank Capra Blu-ray Collection. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
