Lost Horizon (1937)

Plot: After a plane crash in Tibet, a  group of Westerners experience life in "Shangri-la".
Stars: Ronald Coleman, E. Everett Horton, Thomas Mitchell, H.B. Warner, Sam Jaffe, Jane Wyatt, Margo

Best Quotes: Gentlemen, I give you a toast. Here's my hope that Robert Conway will find his Shangri-La. Here's my hope that we all find our Shangri-La.

Although it's been said that it's one of my best pictures, I thought that the main part of the film - I should have done better, somehow. I got lost in architecture, in utopia, in the never-never-land, and it was only toward the end of the picture that I got back on track with human beings and individuals, where I began to feel that the story dealt with human beings again  -  The Great Frank Capra 

For some reason, I'd put off watching Lost Horizon even though it won some Academy Award nominations and still has a high IMDB rating of 7.7.  I thought it would be a dull yakkety-yak fest, but its not. It has a compelling story and mucho adventure.* And despite being filmed in SoCal, its feels like Tibet, and the (fake) Mountain Climbing scenes are incredible.  Its definitely one of Ronald Coleman better roles (love that diction!) and Thomas Mitchell and E.E. Horton standout as comic relief.  The only real stinker is Sam Jaffe as the 200 year old High Lama. Incredibly, Jaffe only got the part when Columbia couldn't find anyone better! 

Summary: A grand fantasy/adventure film, magnificently staged, beautifully photographed, and capitally played.  One of the best movies of the 1930's**. Its only real flaws? Some miscasting and its 12 minutes too long in the middle. 

Notes

* = it does get bogged down in the middle, and some of the "restored scenes" should have been left out.

** - Lost Horizon was/is a Rorschach test for the critics.  Surprisingly, James Agee gave it a positive review, while soulless snob Graham Greene hated it. Other, more Leftist critics, were made uneasy by a Utopia at variance with Marx and "The Party Line".  More recent critics, like Kael, were distressed at all the politeness/nobleness. They wanted a more vulgar Utopia -  like Marlon Brando and friends  having endless sex orgies.