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"Death
shall come on swift wings"
Lost Horizon
was recommended to me a good 7 or 8 years back and I rented
the VHS tape (remember those?) one day while I was home sick.
I had never heard of it and was very surprised when the box
indicated that the film was directed by the great Frank Capra.
I was even more surprised that I hadn't heard of it after
I got it home and watched it and discovered what terrific
little movie it is. Columbia's DVD of Frank Capra's Lost Horizon
has also really come in under the radar. Not only have movie
fans been largely unaware of the major (and by major I mean
25 years worth) restoration of this film, but this fine special
edition DVD itself has arrived without a lot of fanfare or
promotion.
Lost Horizon
was very nearly just that, lost! The opening of the DVD tells
us that the original running time of the film was 132 minutes,
and that over the years 25 minutes were cut for various shortened
versions that were reissued. By 1967 the original camera negative
was deteriorated and no full length copies were known to survive.
The restoration began in 1973(!) and continued to the release
of this DVD. Unfortunately, while the entire full-length soundtrack
was found, seven minutes of the film are lost forever. For
these sequences in the film the soundtrack plays over still
frame photos of the appropriate characters, so you always
know who's talking.
As a movie,
Lost Horizon is about a group of people who find what they
have been looking for (or did it find them?) in the most unlikely
of places, the mythical city of Shangri-La buried deep within
the mountains of Tibet. But Lost Horizon is not just about
finding one's own paradise, but recognizing it for what it
is when its in your grasp. This movie has much of the signature
charm of Capra's other classic films, even if the film's lead
Ronald Coleman is a bit stiffer and less accessible than Capra's
other famous leading men, Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart. The
film's pacing is a bit slow, but for those who can tolerate
the film's languid pace Lost Horizon is a rare and overlooked
gem in the pantheon of Capra's great films. Capra's films
have always portrayed an optimism that is infectious, and
this film is no exception. One walks away from Lost Horizon
believing that the idyll of Shangri-La is more a state of
mind than a place, and that if we look hard enough and want
it bad enough, each of us might find "our Shangri-La."
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Lost horizon
is black and white and is presented as it was shown theatrically
in 1937, in full frame. The picture quality is variable, but
this has nothing to do with the transfer itself as the elements
of this film have sustained heavy damage over the decades.
While many parts of the film look wonderful, with excellent
contrast, others simply were damaged beyond the technical
wizardry employed during the restoration. For some sequences
only 16mm elements could be located, which are very poor.
These sequences are more gray than black & white, and often
have noticeable scratches and other artifacts as well as being
blurry at times. Nevertheless, Columbia has done their usual
terrific work on the parts of the film that could be fixed,
and this film looks as good as it possibly can. Evidence to
support this is found in the supplements, which show some
shots before and after the restoration, but more on that later.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
As you can
imagine, 1937 was not a big year for home theater demo quality
surround soundtracks. Lost Horizon is presented in 2.0 mono
(the same signal in both speakers with no stereo separation.)
The key thing is that dialog is clean and intelligible, which
it is. The audio on the whole is not as variable in quality
as the video, making for a fine presentation.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? As indicated
earlier, Columbia has really snuck in a very nice special
edition. This DVD features a commentary track by Charles Champlin,
an LA film critic and historian, and Robert Gitt, who restored
the film. As you can imagine, much of the commentary focuses
on the restoration itself, and thus is a little dry, but interesting
nonetheless.
Another
special feature is a photo documentary narrated by film historian
Kendall Miller, which is terrific. It runs a full 30 minutes
and contains a lot of interesting anecdotal information about
the entire history of the film's production, including script
and editing changes. Most illuminating here is a sequence
of production photos and narration covering an entirely different
opening sequence for the film that deleted almost ten minutes
from the running time. In addition, there is an "alternative"
ending that was actually shown on the film for the first week
and a half of its theatrical run, apparently forced on director
Frank Capra by studio head Harry Cohn, and then subsequently
changed back to reflect Capra's vision. This sequence is narrated
by Robert Gitt, and shows each ending in its entirety for
comparison.
Also, there
is a very nice "Before and After" comparison of the restoration
on two levels: the first shows some interesting changes made
in the opening title sequence that changes the location of
the opening of the film from China to Japan for the film's
WWII re-release, in attempt to leverage the movie's value
as propaganda. The second piece shows clips of the film before
and after the actual restoration work done on the fil elements
themselves at the Sony Hi-Def Center. This gives an idea of
the scope of the restoration work that was done on this film,
which must have been rather monumental. Also
hidden in this feature are some clips restored from the only
surviving pieces of the film's original negative. Interestingly
much of what is shown of these elements are from scenes cut
from the film.
Also tucked
away in this piece of the supplements are three deleted scenes
for which the audio elements could not be found. They are
shown with Robert Gitt reading along with the scenes from
the script. As if all of this weren't enough, the original
theatrical trailer is presented as well.
Parting Thoughts
Columbia
has given Lost Horizon, its fans, and its creator Frank Capra
their due with this DVD. This restoration and the special
features on this DVD are clearly a labor of love for all involved
and it shows in their terrific work. Lost Horizon is a wonderful
addition to any movie fan's collection.
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