History Film / LostHorizon

* PopStarComposer: Burt Bacharach and Hal David were sort of in this vein. While not pop stars themselves, they were household names for writing countless hit songs. Their experience in composing musicals was limited to just ''On the Flip Side'' (an obscure 1966 made-for-TV musical that's sometimes considered an early RockOpera) and ''Theatre/PromisesPromises'', however, and the failure of this film broke up the team.

* HurtingHero: Robert (or Richard) Conway, though he is professionally successful, admits to feeling a great emptiness in his life, and the fact that this comes through in his writing is what leads the higher-ups at Shangri-La to bring him there.

The novel was filmed again in 1973 as a spectacular [[TheMusical musical]], directed by Charles Jarrot and featuring an AllStarCast including Creator/LivUllmann, Peter Finch, Creator/MichaelYork, Creator/GeorgeKennedy, Creator/OliviaHussey, Creator/SallyKellerman, Creator/JohnGielgud, Creator/CharlesBoyer, and Creator/JamesShigeta. It [[BoxOfficeBomb flopped hard]].

British diplomat, soldier, adventurer, writer, and proto-Franchise/IndianaJones hero Robert Conway (Colman) is sent off into a remote part of China to rescue a group of westerners caught in a war zone. He and his brother George (John Howard) rescue a motley group that includes paleontologist Alexander Lovett (Edward Everett Horton), swindler Henry Barnard (Creator/ThomasMitchell), and Gloria (Isabel Jewell), a hooker with an IncurableCoughOfDeath. However, Conway and his charges soon discover that they have been hijacked by a person pretending to be their pilot. The plane runs out of fuel and crashes deep in the Himalayas along the border of China and Tibet. The dying pilot's last words indicate that there is a lamasery in the nearby valley of Shangri-La, and that they can find help there. Conway and the rest of the passengers go to the lamasery, where they uncover a mystery.

* AgeWithoutYouth: Averted - you live long and age proportionately in Shangri-La.

* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: George doesn't trust the people of Shangri-La at all, never warms up to the place's ways, and is desperate to get back to TheOutsideWorld, and Maria is also bored with her life there and makes the arrangements for them and the reluctant Robert to escape. For this, both George and Maria end up dead -- when she succumbs to RapidAging thanks to NoOntologicalInertia, he is DrivenToSuicide. Robert survives only to return to Shangri-La as soon as is possible.

* IceCreamKoan: Surprisingly averts this. The High Lama is philosophical but straightforward in his way of expressing things. Chang is very cagey but that's mainly because he knows that it takes a while for everyone to understand what's happening in Shangri-La.

* {{Determinator}}: When Conway is rescued, he is absolutely determined to return to Shangri-La, and in the film's pentultimate scene, Lord Gainsford tells the members of the Embassy Club in London the stories he has heard of Conway learning to fly and stealing an Army plane, making six attempts to cross a supposedly uncrossable mountain pass, fighting off six guards to escape from a Tibetan jail after being imprisoned for stealing food and clothing, and leading the local military on a wild goose chase through their own country.

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lost_Horizon_1124.png]]

''Lost Horizon'' is a 1937 film by Creator/FrankCapra, starring Creator/RonaldColman, based on [[Literature/LostHorizon the novel of the same name]] by British author James Hilton (of ''Literature/GoodbyeMrChips'' fame).

Soldier, adventurer, and proto-Franchise/IndianaJones hero Robert Conway (Colman) is sent off into a remote part of China to rescue a group of Americans caught in a war zone. He and his brother George (John Howard) rescue a motley group that includes paleontologist Alexander Lovett (Edward Everett Horton), swindler Henry Barnard (Creator/ThomasMitchell), and Gloria (Isabel Jewell), a hooker with an IncurableCoughOfDeath. However, Conway and his charges soon discover that they have been kidnapped by a person pretending to be their pilot. The plane crashes in the Himalayan mountain range along the border of China. The dying pilot's last words indicate there is a lamasery near by at Shangri-La and they will find help there. The passengers go to the lamasery and uncover a mystery.

The novel was filmed again in 1973 as a spectacular [[TheMusical musical]], with an AllStarCast (Creator/LivUllmann, Peter Finch, Creator/MichaelYork, Creator/GeorgeKennedy, Creator/OliviaHussey, Creator/SallyKellerman, Creator/JohnGielgud, Creator/CharlesBoyer, Creator/JamesShigeta). It [[BoxOfficeBomb flopped hard]].

The novel was filmed again in 1973 as a spectacular [[TheMusical musical]], with an AllStarCast (Creator/LivUllmann, Peter Finch, Creator/MichaelYork, Creator/GeorgeKennedy, Creator/OliviaHussey, Sally Kellerman, Creator/JohnGielgud, Creator/CharlesBoyer, Creator/JamesShigeta). It [[BoxOfficeBomb flopped hard]].

The novel was filmed again in 1973 as a spectacular [[TheMusical musical]], with an AllStarCast (Creator/LivUllmann, Peter Finch, Creator/MichaelYork, Creator/GeorgeKennedy, Creator/OliviaHussey, Sally Kellerman). It [[BoxOfficeBomb flopped hard]].

!!The 1937 film provides examples of:
* AdaptationalNationality: Father Perrault was from Luxembourg in the novel but it's changed to Belgium here. Also the novel's Lo-Tsen, who's Chinese, becomes the film's Maria, who's Russian.
* AdaptedOut: Miss Brinklow, a Christian missionary, is a member of the group who goes to Shangri-La in the book but doesn't appear here. Ross Hunter reportedly wanted to reinstate the character for the 1973 version with Creator/BarbaraStanwyck in the role, but she said no, so Brinklow didn't appear there either.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: One of the reasons that the film now exists in mostly complete form was due to the studio reissuing the film in periods where some elements would be considered controversial. The first re-release was in 1942, and the anti-war elements were toned down for WWII-era audiences. 10 years later, the film was reissued again, though since it was at the height of the RedScare, the studio eliminated anything that would give the illusion that the film was "pro-Communist."
* CanonForeigner: Lovett, Gloria and Sondra aren't in the book.

* DespairEventHorizon: George charges over it after seeing Maria age half a century and die in a matter of hours after leaving Shangri-La, and runs headlong over a cliff to his death.
* {{Determinator}}: When Conway is rescued, he is absolutely determined to return to Shangri-La, and in the film's pentultimate scene, Lord Gainsford tells the members of the Embassy Club in London the stories he has heard of Conway learning to fly and stealing an Army plane, making six attempts to cross a supposedly uncrossable mountain pass, fighting off six guards to escape from a Tibetan jail after being imprisoned for stealing food and clothing, and leading the local military on a wild goose chase through their own country.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Lovett and Barnard don't even know each other at the start of the film but quickly become VitriolicBestBuds and seem well on their way to becoming this.

* HurtingHero: Robert Conway, though he is professionally successful, admits to feeling a great emptiness in his life, and the fact that this comes through in his writing is what leads the higher-ups at Shangri-La to bring him there.

* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Subverted, in that Gloria's incurable cough of death actually is cured by the magic of Shangri-La.

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Conway's aide Mallinson from the book becomes his brother George here.

* {{Skinnydipping}}: Including a rather daring scene for 1937, in which Jane Wyatt's body double actually leaves the pool while nude. Shot from a considerable distance away, but still.
* StockFootage: A few shots of snowy mountain peaks from a documentary were used to make this film more realistic.

* AdaptationalJobChange: Sally Kellerman was a prostitute in the original. Here, she's a magazine journalist.

''Lost Horizon'' is a 1937 film by Creator/FrankCapra, starring Creator/RonaldColman, based on [[Literature/LostHorizon the novel of the same name]] by British author James Hilton (of ''Film/GoodbyeMrChips'' fame).

The novel was filmed again in 1973 as a spectacular star-studded musical flop.

* SecondaryAdaptation: While it's officially credited as an adaptation of the novel, it's self-evidently a musical remake of the 1937 film, including importing the [[CanonForeigner Canon Foreigners]] that were added to that film with some minor changes.

Soldier, adventurer, and proto-Franchise/IndianaJones hero Robert Conway (Colman) is sent off into a remote part of China to rescue a group of Americans caught in a war zone. He and his brother George rescue a motley group that includes paleontologist Alexander Lovett, swindler Henry Barnard (Creator/ThomasMitchell), and Gloria, a hooker with an IncurableCoughOfDeath. However, Conway and his charges soon discover that they have been kidnapped by a person pretending to be their pilot. The plane crashes in the Himalayan mountain range along the border of China. The dying pilot's last words indicate there is a lamasery near by at Shangri-La and they will find help there. The passengers go to the lamasery and uncover a mystery.

* HairTriggerAvalanche: Both versions have this in the final stretch as Richard, George and Maria try to return to TheOutsideWorld.

* MightyWhitey: Featuring a modern MightyWhitey in the 1930s, when the old-fashioned version was still in vogue. The mostly Chinese and Tibetan monks there prove themselves to be wise, intelligent, competent, and well-rounded characters. However, the white Conway turns out to be better at being a monk than the best of the Tibetans, and it turns out that the founder and leader of the monastery is a European who arrived in the 15th century. Unfortunately, the 1973 version keeps all of this.

* {{Yellowface}}: The very British H.B. Warner plays Chang, the #2 man at Shangri-La.

* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: George doesn't trust the people of Shangri-La at all, never warms up to the place's ways, and is desperate to get back to TheOutsideWorld, and Maria is also bored with her life there and makes the arrangements for them and the reluctant Richard to escape. For this, both George and Maria end up dead -- when she succumbs to RapidAging thanks to NoOntologicalInertia, he is DrivenToSuicide. Richard survives only to return to Shangri-La as soon as is possible.

* MightyWhitey: Featuring a modern MightyWhitey in the 1930s, when the old-fashioned version was still in vogue. The mostly Chinese and Tibetan monks there prove themselves to be wise, intelligent, competent, and well-rounded characters. However, the white Conway turns out to be better at being a monk than the best of the Tibetans, and it turns out that the founder and leader of the monastery is a European who arrived in the 15th century.

* TheChosenOne: Conway was specially selected to go to Shangri-La, and the other passengers were considered wonderful, accidental additions to the lamasery who all (excepting Conway's brother George) found reasons to be happy there.

* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: In fact, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(musical) second attempt]] at a ''Lost Horizon'' musical.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Sam isn't upfront about who he is to his fellow travelers. After some time in Shangri-La he admits to Sally that he was, once, a notorious corporate bigwig whose business dealings eventually collapsed around him. He's spent his life as a fugitive since his downfall, no longer having any purpose in his life except perhaps rebuilding his fortune. With Sally's encouragement and love, however, he turns his original talent for engineering towards improving life for the people of Shangri-La (he designs an irrigation system for their crops), and finds true fulfillment.

* MoodWhiplash: Basically the film's main problem, as we'll go from a scene that's an okay (if a bit slavish) modernization of the original film, then without much warning into a musical number patterned after ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' or ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'', totally breaking up the film's flow.

* PluckyComicRelief: Harry, an unsuccessful nightclub entertainer, serves as this among the five travelers. His happy ending is finding a receptive audience for his hijinks in Shangri-La's children.
* PopStarComposer: Burt Bacharach and Hal David were sort of in this vein. While not pop stars themselves, they were household names for writing countless hit songs. Their experience in composing musicals was limited to just ''On the Flip Side'' (an obscure 1966 made-for-TV musical that's sometimes considered an early RockOpera) and ''Theatre/PromisesPromises''.
* SecondaryAdaptation: While it's officially credited as an adaptation of the novel, it's self-evidently a musical remake of the 1937 film, including importing the [[CanonForeigner Canon Foreigners]] that were added to that film (with some minor changes).

* ShotForShotRemake: The first half-hour is a tight re-enactment of the opening scenes of the Capra film, right down to the way some specific shots are framed. Even after they get to Shangri-La and the musical numbers start up, it still doesn't stray all that much from the original.
* TitleThemeTune: The only song in the film's opening quarter, to boot.

Passengers aboard a small airplane discover that they have been kidnapped by someone posing as their assigned pilot. The plane crashes in the Himalayan mountain range along the border of China. The dying pilot's last words indicate there is a lamasery near by at Shangri-La and they will find help there. The passengers go to the lamasery and uncover a mystery.

* SecondaryAdaptation: While it's officially credited as an adaptation of the novel, it's self-evidently a musical remake of the 1937 film, right down to importing the [[CanonForeigner Canon Foreigners]] from there.