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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Lost Horizon -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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Frank Capra's brilliant Lost Horizon, based upon the novel by James Hilton, is eighty years old.

Early on, the film's elements were subjected to re-cutting, both after previews, and for re-issue, and the search for missing footage has been an ongoing holy grail in the archival community.

UCLA's Robert Gitt, researched, and searched for elements a number of years ago, and presented a much longer version than had been seen in decades. Some footage was from 16mm, and some replaced by stills, but his work gave us a greater appreciation of what had previously existed.

The search continued, and for the film's 80th, Columbia has presented the latest and greatest on Blu-ray.

A bit more footage, better overall quality, and a superb Blu-ray release.

This one should be in every serious library, as an extraordinary addition to the ongoing series of Mr. Capra's works, as released in digi-book form by Columbia.

With The Bitter Tea of General Yen in release via Amazon, under license from Columbia, and the previously released It Happened One Night (1934) via Criterion, Lost Horizon follows Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take it with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) to our Blu-ray collections.

Image - 5 (from original elements) / extra footage n/a

Audio - 5 / extra n/a

4k Up-rez - 5 / n/a

Pass / Fail - Pass

Very Highly Recommended

RAH
 

Brian Kidd

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There was around a minute of a scene with the High Lama that was previously represented only by still pictures that was found. It wasn't in great shape, but it moves! The whole film overall, however, looks much better than the previous DVD release. If you like the film, you won't be disappointed.
 

PMF

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"Napoleon" (1927), "Lost Horizon" (1937), A Star is Born" (1954) and "Cleopatra" (1963).
These decades of ongoing searches for missing footage and elements are some of the most fascinating stories concerning restoration.
It's almost like returning every 7 years to Michael Apted's "Up" series to see how each of its subjects have fared or evolved.
I haven't seen "Lost Horizon" in more than 21 years; and, thankfully, it was in a theater.
For all of this time that has passed, I have no doubt that the 80th Anniversary Blu Ray will reveal leaps and bounds of differences.
Very excited to see and add this most welcomed addition of Mr. Crisps ongoing work to the Capra legacy and to my home library.
 
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Angelo Colombus

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Fritz Lang's Metropolis has a very interesting history on it's missing footage and it was nice to see the full length of The Devil & Daniel Webster (1941) released by Criterion on laserdisc & dvd.
 

Robert Harris

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"Napoleon" (1927), "Lost Horizon" (1937), A Star is Born" (1954) and "Cleopatra" (1963).
These decades of ongoing searches for missing footage and elements are some of the most fascinating stories concerning restoration.
It's almost like returning every 7 years to Michael Apted's "Up" series to see how each of its subjects have fared or evolved.
I haven't seen "Lost Horizon" in more than 21 years; and, thankfully, it was in a theater.
For all of this time that has passed, I have no doubt that the 80th Anniversary Blu Ray will reveal leaps and bounds of differences.
Very excited to see and add this most welcomed addition of Mr. Crisps ongoing work to the Capra legacy and to my home library.

Most major problem with Napoleon, is the ongoing search for the original tracks, which were recorded to 32” wax cylinders.
 

PMF

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Most major problem with Napoleon, is the ongoing search for the original tracks, which were recorded to 32” wax cylinders.
I would imagine, then, that the 32" wax cylinders have not been reported as being destroyed;
but, at the same time, are there confirmations that they still exist?

Meanwhile, are there more missing element searches concerning "Lost Horizon";
or is this 80th Anniversary edition now considered the definitive?
Either way, this is a no-brainer purchase.
 
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PMF

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What is the standard running time of a recorded 32" wax cylinder?

Meanwhile, I keep thinking about that padlocked door on the Capra estate where they found his personal print of "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town". Is it known if that discovery also included elements from "Lost Horizon", as well?
 
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PMF

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Holy Cow! The 80th Anniversary Digibook of "Lost Horizon" is going for $13.99 at Amazon.
 

battlebeast

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What is the standard running time of a recorded 32" wax cylinder?

Meanwhile, I keep thinking about that padlocked door on the Capra estate where they found his personal print of "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town". Is it known if that discovery also included elements from "Lost Horizon", as well?
What is the standard running time of a recorded 32" wax cylinder?

Meanwhile, I keep thinking about that padlocked door on the Capra estate where they found his personal print of "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town". Is it known if that discovery also included elements from "Lost Horizon", as well?
Yes. In the digi book for "Lost Hituzon" it mentions that Capra's personal print gave them some frames at the end of a couple scenes and one new scene.
 
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PMF

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PMF

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After watching "Lost Horizon", last night, I actually felt a first-time guilt over getting a BD for under $14.00.
What I further love about this disc is that the supplements and commentary track are solely devoted to the restoration.
As far as I know, this is the first disc that's ever done that..
Bittersweet to see a deleted scene that had come from the OCN. Just beautiful.
With "Lost Horizon", the annually consistent and magnificent work of Sony's Capra crew continues.
To be Frank, I hope that they go for the rest of what remains.
 
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PMF

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In the case of "It's a Wonderful Life", could there ever be the possibility of Sony and the current licensee coming to a collaboration agreement in order to produce a pristine BD? Do such things happen?
 

Nelson Au

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I just watched the blu ray of Lost Horizon. It was on a list of titles I wanted to see, but having recently seen Ronald Colman in The Talk of the Town with Cary Grant for the first time, and the Prisoner of Zenda, I was more interested in seeing him in Lost Horizon sooner. ( Zenda was interesting for the Get Smart connection.)

This is the very first time I’d seen Lost Horizon. I’d heard of it, read about the search for lost footage, and had a very vague notion of the concept of the story.

I had no idea who was in the cast and what their involvements were. I’d seen several films with Edward Everett Horton in a few other Cary Grant titles and I was more familiar with his voice from The Bullwinkle series. So it was interesting to have seen his early film works. I liked how his character changes once he spends some time in Shangri-La and wants to stay. He does provide a comic presence.

I really had never see anything with Jane Wyatt earlier then her Father Knows Best work. So this was interesting to watch. Some of her subtle physical mannerism I’m so familiar from her appearance on the original Star Trek were there. As the High Lama, I knew that had to be Sam Jaffe. Though the make-up obscured his face enough to make it hard to tell, it was his voice.

I thought Colman was great as the lead. He lended a solid knowing sense he knew what was happening and why they were sent to Shangri-La. You could really feel his conflict as he left and his joy after finding it again. Whether it was real or imagined.

It was nice the disc included all the additional unused footage. And I didn’t have any issues with the soundtrack running with stills in place of the missing footage during the film. It’s a shame the film had been so poorly treated early on with all the trims to the run time.

There was a lot of great work, I was impressed they went so far as to use a large ice making facility to film the cold sequences so we could see their breath. The aerial and action sequences were also pretty impressive. The production design for the main structure of Shangri-La was very much the modern style of the time, great stuff. Though some of the interiors didn’t quite match the exterior’s modern design, but it works. Glad I finally saw it.
 

Angelo Colombus

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Viewed the movie last night with the commentary with Robert Gitt and Charles Champlin and had a great time. Liked the discussion on what scenes were cut out and how they were able to find the missing footage.
 

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