LOST HORIZON

   1) Film (1937). Columbia. Dir Frank Capra, starring Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Sam Jaffe, Edward Everett Horton, H.B. Warner. Screenplay Robert Riskin, based on Lost Horizon (1933) by James HILTON. 133 mins, cut to 118 mins, then to 109 mins; but full print now available. B/w.

   In this memorably sentimental, deft, trite, enormously popular UTOPIAN/ LOST-WORLD film set in the Himalayas, survivors of a plane crash find themselves in the mysterious, tranquil city of Shangri-La. It is ruled by the High Lama, a kindly old buffer, who tells them that war and disease do not exist here and that if they remain in the city they will live for ever. After some time the hero (Colman) leaves with his brother and a Shangri-La woman, who ages with appalling speed away from her home. After a brief return to civilization, Colman realizes that he has abandoned true happiness, and is last seen, hauntingly, struggling through the snow and in long shot, reaching the gate of the forbidden city as the bells ring out and the audience weeps.

   2) Film (1973). Columbia. Prod Ross Hunter. Dir Charles Jarrott, starring Peter Finch, Liv Ullman, Sally Kellerman, GeorgeKennedy, Charles Boyer, Michael York. Screenplay Larry Kramer. 150 mins, cut to 143 mins. Colour.

   Long, lush, sluggish remake with banal songs (by Hal David and Burt Bacharach) and much stilted dialogue in Hollywood's philosophical vein. The original piece of hokum was orchestrated by Capra with skill and conviction; this unmagical version was a box-office failure.

   JB/PN