History Trivia / LostHorizon

* AllStarCast: No real A-list names, but a combination of prominent veteran actors (Creator/CharlesBoyer, Creator/JohnGielgud) and familiar faces from big films in the years leading up to this film (Peter Finch, Creator/GeorgeKennedy, Creator/MichaelYork, Creator/LivUllmann, Sally Kellerman, Creator/OliviaHussey, Creator/JamesShigeta).

* TheRedStapler:

* BigNameFan: Creator/JDSalinger named this as his favourite film.

* AllStarCast: No real A-list names, but a combination of prominent veteran actors (Creator/CharlesBoyer, Creator/JohnGielgud) and familiar faces from big films in the years leading up to this film (Peter Finch, Creator/GeorgeKennedy, Creator/MichaelYork, Creator/LivUllmann, Sally Kellerman, Creator/OliviaHussey).

* NonSingingVoice: Everyone was dubbed except Sally Kellerman and Bobby Van.

* AllStarCast: No real A-list names, but a combination of prominent veteran actors (Charles Boyer, Creator/JohnGielgud) and familiar faces from big films in the years leading up to this film (Peter Finch, George Kennedy, Michael York, Liv Ullmann, Sally Kellerman, Olivia Hussey).

* AllStarCast: No real A-list names, but a combination of prominent veteran actors (Charles Boyer, John Gielgud) and familiar faces from big films in the years leading up to this film (Peter Finch, George Kennedy, Michael York, Liv Ullmann, Sally Kellerman, Olivia Hussey).

* HideYourPregnancy: Olivia Hussey tried to do this, but it's still quite obvious.

** Creator/Rita Hayworth tested for Maria and Creator/DavidNiven tested for George Conway.
** Creator/JeanArthur and Creator/BarnaraStanwyck turned down the role of Sondra Bizet.

** Producer Ross Hunter offered the role of Chang to Creator/ToshiroMifune, but he turned it down.

* BoxOfficeBomb: An iconic flop of its era. Despite a $12 million budget and a massive amount of hype, it only raked in $3 million, leading to the industry nickname ''Lost Investment''.

* StarDerailingRole: Downplayed for Liv Ullman; Ross Hunter intended to launch her as a major star in American films with this one, but it spectacularly failed. However, her international success continued unabated.

* BreakawayPopHit: "Living Together, Growing Together".

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: For a long time the only easy way to see it was via late night TV airings, since it was never released on VHS and the only home video release was on {{UsefulNotes/LaserDisc}} in TheNineties. Finally it reached DVD in 2011 and Blu-Ray a year after that.

** Creator/JulieAndrews, Creator/JeanArthur, and Creator/BarbaraStanwyck turned down the role of teacher.

* DeletedScene[=/=]MissingEpisode: Originally there was an opening prologue in which a weary Creator/RonaldColman on a cruise ship is prompted to tell his amazing story of the land of Shangri-La. Although alluded to in the closing passages of the film, no footage of this prologue has ever been found. Frank Capra claimed he burned it.

* MissingEpisode: Originally there was an opening prologue in which a weary Robert Conway on a cruise ship is prompted to tell his amazing story of the land of Shangri-La. Although alluded to in the closing passages of the film, no footage of this prologue has ever been found. Creator/FrankCapra claimed he burned it.

* UnderageCasting: Charles Boyer was in his 70s, so he was closer to the mark as the High Lama than Sam Jaffe.

* BigNameFan: Creator/JDSaligner named this as his favourite film.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: One of the reasons that Creator/FrankCapra's 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."

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Capra wanted to do the film in color, but it was deemed too expensive.

* UnderageCasting: Obviously, anyone playing the High Lama is going to be about a century-and-a-half or so too young for the role, but in the 1937 version Sam Jaffe was only in his 40s and required heavy makeup. Frank Capra tried to cast two different older actors, but they both died before filming.

* CreatorKiller: After a successful run in the previous two decades, producer Ross Hunter never made another feature film after this, and spent the last few years of his career in TV.

* HeAlsoDid: The screenplay was by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Kramer Larry Kramer]]. The same Larry Kramer who became a prominent playwright and LGBT activist. Since he got paid upfront for the film before it flopped, he made a huge amount of money and became financially secure enough to pursue his other interests.

* BreakawayPopHit: "Living Together, Growing Together" from the 1973 musical.

* NonSingingVoice: The 1973 musical version remake has everyone dubbed, except Sally Kellerman and Bobby Van.

* TroubledProduction: The 1937 version was a notable early example. At just over a million dollars, it was the most expensive film Columbia had produced up to that point. Exercising his power as one of the first recipients of the AuteurLicense, Frank Capra put the film overbudget and overschedule, with lots of location filming (a rarity at the time) and multiple cameras running. His initial cut was six hours (with early talk of splitting it into two parts), then a three-and-a-half-hour cut was previewed but bombed horribly with the audience. Capra shot new scenes and did further cutting, but the studio took it away and did the final cut themselves. The film needed several years to recoup its budget, and this isn't even getting into the later cuts and restorations.
* UnderageCasting: Obviously, anyone playing the High Lama is going to be about a century-and-a-half or so too young for the role, but in the 1937 version Sam Jaffe was only in his 40s. Frank Capra tried to cast two different older actors, but they both died before filming. By contrast, septuagenarian Charles Boyer was closer to the mark in the 1973 remake.

* TheRedStapler: Shangri-La and what it represents — longing for a faraway place of beauty, spiritual replenishment, and supernatural longevity — stuck around. When Tibet realized that heavy logging of their old-growth forests was causing disastrous floods, they turned to tourism, found that it paid really well, and renovated a village, renaming it Shangri-La.

* TroubledProduction: The 1937 version was a notable early example. At just over a million dollars, it was the most expensice film Columbia had produced up to that point. Exercising his power as one of the first recipients of the AuteurLicense, Frank Capra put the film overbudget and overschedule, with lots of location filming (a rarity at the time) and multiple cameras running. His initial cut was six hours (with early talk of splitting it into two parts), then a three-and-a-half-hour cut was previewed but bombed horribly with the audience. Capra shot new scenes and did further cutting, but the studio took it away and did the final cut themselves. The film needed several years to recoup its budget, and this isn't even getting into the later cuts and restorations.

* FakeBrit: Ohio-born John Howard doesn't even really attempt an acc

* TheRedStapler: Shangri-La and what it represents — longing for a faraway place of beauty, spiritual replenishment, and supernatural longevity — stuck around. When Tibet realized that heavy logging of their old-growth forests was causing disastrous floods, they turned to tourism, found that it paid really well, and renovated a village, renaming it Shangri-La.

* Main/{{Bowdlerize}}: One of the reasons that Capra's 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."