I couldn't agree with you more. I have always loved this film, even in its truncated version, the only one I was familiar with for decades.
I'd also like to know if a more completely restored version exists.
As an aside: years ago, I was rummaging through an antique store in, of all places, Temecula, and found a folio-size promotional handout, hard-bound with a light blue cover but no title, which was an all-photo presentation of LOST HORIZON, complete with many photos of scenes later cut from the release print, including the duet between Jane Wyatt and Isabel Jewell, and several shots of the cut scenes from the ocean liner, when Colman recovers his memory. And it only cost me $16 ! I was aghast at my good fortune; I have it still, and have shown it to some few people.
Years before, I found a similar sort of thing for YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, though that was not hard-bound.
BTW, the BYU release of the complete tracks of LOST HORIZON is a must for any collector. It's certainly one of Tiomkin's best scores, and ranks among my top 10 favorite scores of all time.
This was my father's favorite movie. A few years before he died, I found a video of it for him. It really is a fine movie.
Joan,
Do get your hands on the DVD... it fills out the film the way it was suppose to be, albeit with some audio sequences accompanied by stills where the visual is still missing. It is a beautiful movie even today... to think the set for Shangrila is now a mere parking lot... but the fantasy continues (and I have always been happy with the reconstructed suite conducted by Charles G./no arguements please).
I am familiar with the 1980's re-construction and was wondering what other changes, if any , were made to this newer revision.
Bruce, the 1999 restoration is an "improvement" on the 1980's restoration. The greyscale on the first restoration was a bit weak. Also, they were able to stabilize some of the 16mm footage in the airplane that moved in the gate quite a bit in the original transfer.
No new footage has surfaced. However they have, as a bonus, reconstructed the original finale whereby Jane Wyatt is seen at the gates to Shangri-La. It's a bit preposterous and was well to be cut. Unfortunately, Tiomkin's music was cut with it. Here you have a chance to hear it as originally recorded.
There are also some stills from the deleted opening scene on the ocean liner (also heard is the Lux Radio Theater broadcast that DOES include this sequence).
What they do NOT have is an original 1937 trailer - only a reissue. Since the DVD was issued I managed to find an original 1937 trailer - albeit in French with the original style graphics in French. It's an amazing preview, though, lasting 5 minutes long.
Bruce, the 1999 restoration is an "improvement" on the 1980's restoration. The greyscale on the first restoration was a bit weak. Also, they were able to stabilize some of the 16mm footage in the airplane that moved in the gate quite a bit in the original transfer.
No new footage has surfaced. However they have, as a bonus, reconstructed the original finale whereby Jane Wyatt is seen at the gates to Shangri-La. It's a bit preposterous and was well to be cut. Unfortunately, Tiomkin's music was cut with it. Here you have a chance to hear it as originally recorded.
There are also some stills from the deleted opening scene on the ocean liner (also heard is the Lux Radio Theater broadcast that DOES include this sequence).
What they do NOT have is an original 1937 trailer - only a reissue. Since the DVD was issued I managed to find an original 1937 trailer - albeit in French with the original style graphics in French. It's an amazing preview, though, lasting 5 minutes long.
Nevertheless, the DVD is well worth getting.
Thanks Ray!
The info on the original finale is fascinating.
The ending of the film as is,is powerful and haunting. It is also, surprisingly abrupt. I say "surprisingly" because the temptation for most filmmakers would be to linger on Coleman's face, to draw out the finale to include a re-union etc.
Instead, it ends with Coleman's SIGHTING of Shangra-La, a brief shot of Coleman's beatific expression, a quick shot of Shangra-La, bells ringing , "THE END".
Just perfect!
Bruce Marshall
P.S. Isn't it strange that Capra's two greatest films, the other being IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, were both considered failures upon their intial release?!
.....P.S. Isn't it strange that Capra's two greatest films, the other being IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, were both considered failures upon their intial release?!.....
"Great" films are very hard to quantify.
Surely you're forgetting Capra's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (among others).....all very big successes on their original release.
The single shot of glasses raised in a toast to his journey back to Shangri-La is for me the all-time image of that kind of celebration...to be conjured in the mind's eye whenever there is a cause for celebration.
Ronald Colman was a wonderful, wonderful actor. He was alone in being able to express that heartbreaking look of self-doubt, such a contrast to his usual bravado exterior. Stewart Granger simply didn't have a chance when he took on Ronnie's role in THE PRISONER OF ZENDA.
A clue to Colman's wonderful personality can be found in the fact that he so delighted in being a regular guest star (with Benita) on THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM. No actor buffooned himself better than Colman did on those shows.
Capra, of course, always got 150% out of his actors - both starring and supporting - and Colman was no exception.
His crowning achievement, A DOUBLE LIFE, was truly a masterpiece in performance.
I've always loved Ronald Colman in anything he ever did; that poetic voice of his could make music of the telephone book! Once, in a second-hand bookstore in Phoenix, of all places, I found an autographed photo of him; I have it still.
At the time, LOST HORIZON was criticized for its "Art Moderne" sets, which I love, but actually, a lot of people said they weren't "Tibetan." Well, they had a point, although the Potala, the palace of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa, has an interestingly Moderne sweep to the line of its construction, and has always seemed vaguely Deco to me.
Many also criticized the mix of Hollywood-style, high-falutin' philosophy with down-home folksiness, viz. the reference in the opening titles to "that little chicken farm," or words to that effect, which still gets laughs from audiences.
But I never paid attention to any of that. Colman's presence was enough to transcend anything mundane. It has always fascinated me that Colman was able to inhabit his characters so much that he virtually became them. I can't imagine anyone with the urbanity or thoughtfulness he projected, while at the same time an underlying world-weariness.
And can anyone else ever present a Sydney Carton in A TALE OF TWO CITIES in the same way?
We shan't see his like again.
(Although I have always found it funny that, in contemporary Disney cartoons of the period, whenever Donald Duck gets the chance to speak clearly, he always ends up sounding like Ronald Colman! Hilarious.)
Ronald Colman was a wonderful, wonderful actor. He was alone in being able to express that heartbreaking look of self-doubt, such a contrast to his usual bravado exterior. Stewart Granger simply didn't have a chance when he took on Ronnie's role in THE PRISONER OF ZENDA.
A clue to Colman's wonderful personality can be found in the fact that he so delighted in being a regular guest star (with Benita) on THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM. No actor buffooned himself better than Colman did on those shows.
Capra, of course, always got 150% out of his actors - both starring and supporting - and Colman was no exception.
His crowning achievement, A DOUBLE LIFE, was truly a masterpiece in performance.
Those BENNY programs are a hoot!
Did you ever see the GET SMART eps where Dona Adams spoofed Coleman?
Next to Ronald Coleman, I think the finest actor was Charles Lawton. So versitile, so unique. Claud Raines simililarly had a very diverse carrer. He made every Warner Brother film shine with ditstinction. Too bad he never made a picture with Barbara Stanwick. Or did he? I KNOW he made a BUNCH with Owivia DeHaviwand!!!
What about Richard Birton, Clar Gable or Humphrey Bogarde? Not to forget Barbara Strighsand, of course.
And does anybody except me not have the original BYU issue, but the bugdet Greek one? You know, this strange label that also has other BYU titles (SHE etc.) and even some FSM titles?! (I'm not kidding here...)
.....P.S. Isn't it strange that Capra's two greatest films, the other being IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, were both considered failures upon their intial release?!.....
"Great" films are very hard to quantify.
Surely you're forgetting Capra's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (among others).....all very big successes on their original release.
MR SMITH would qualify as "great" except the ending, for me, was a cop-out & unbelieveable.
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT.. is pretty weak, in my book.
Capra is one of the all-time great directors. Any one who can't see that knows nothing about film making (are you listening David Thomson, you effete, pointy-headed, no-nothing snob?).
Wonderful classic movie that also put Dimitri Tiomkin on the map. God knows how many times I have seen it. It is a cinema addiction. A combination of the talents of Frank Capra , Ronald Colman, Sam Jaffe and Dimitri Tiomkin make LOST HORIZON a film not to be missed. The film was shortened over the years. There has been restoration work done over the years to correct the unfortunate editing. Where original scenes could not be found , photos of the scenes accompanied by original dialogue have now been added.
