Жоғалған Көл (Shangri-La шегінде)

1937 film by Frank Capra

Lost Horizon (re released in 1942 as The Lost Horizon of Shangri La) is a 1937 American adventure drama fantasy film directed by Frank Capra. The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the 1933 novel of the same name by James Hilton. The film exceeded its original budget by more than $776,000 and took five years to earn back its cost. The serious financial crisis it created for Columbia Pictures damaged the partnership between Capra and studio head Harry Cohn, as well as the friendship between Capra and Riskin. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

In 1935, a revolutionary uprising drives terrified Westerners to the airport in Baskul, China. The evacuation is organized by writer, soldier, and diplomat Robert Conway, before he is to return to the United Kingdom and become Foreign Secretary. He flies out with the last four evacuees, bound for Shanghai. Unbeknownst to the passengers — paleontologist Alexander Lovett; notorious swindler Henry Barnard; bitter, terminally ill Gloria Stone; and Conway's younger brother George — their pilot has been forcibly replaced and their aircraft hijacked. It eventually runs out of fuel and crashes deep in the Himalayas, killing their abductor. The group is rescued by Chang and his men and taken to Shangri La, an idyllic valley sheltered from the bitter cold. The contented inhabitants are led by the mysterious High Lama. Initially anxious to return to civilization, most of the newcomers grow to love Shangri La, including Gloria, who miraculously seems to be recovering. Conway is particularly enchanted, especially when he meets Sondra, a teacher who has grown up in Shangri La. However, George and Maria, another young woman living there, are determined to leave. Conway eventually has an audience with the High Lama and learns that he is a European Catholic priest, Father Perrault, who arrived in the area many years ago. The founder of Shangri La is said to be two hundred years old, preserved, like the other residents, by the magical properties of the paradise he has created, but is finally dying and needs someone wise in the ways of the modern world to keep it safe. Having read Conway's writings, Sondra believed he is the one; the Lama agreed with her and arranged for Conway's abduction. The old man names Conway his successor and then peacefully passes away. George refuses to believe the Lama's fantastic story, and that Maria is much older than the 20 she claims to be. Chang says Maria was brought to Shangri La in 1888 and was 20 at the time, which would make her 66 or 67. (Sondra claims to be 30.) Uncertain and torn between love and loyalty, Conway reluctantly agrees to accompany George and Maria with a group of porters returning to their homes. The porters gradually leave the trio behind, even shooting at them for their amusement. However, the shots trigger an avalanche that buries the natives. After more gruelling travel, Maria collapses in the snow. Conway picks her up and carries her to the shelter of a cave. There they see she is dead, her withered face revealing her true age. George loses his sanity and jumps to his death. Conway continues on, finally collapsing. He is found and taken to a Chinese mission, where a search party sent from Britain meets him. The ordeal has caused him to lose his memory of Shangri La. On the voyage back to the United Kingdom, he remembers everything; he tells his story and then jumps ship in Singapore. Searchers pursue him back to the Himalayas, but are unable to follow him any further. In the final scene, he reaches the pass leading to Shangri La.

Frank Capra had read the James Hilton novel while filming It Happened One Night, and he intended to make Lost Horizon his next project. When Ronald Colman, his first and only choice for the role of Robert Conway, proved to be unavailable, Capra decided to wait and made Mr. Deeds Goes to Town instead. Harry Cohn authorized a budget of $1.25 million for the film, the largest amount ever allocated to a project up to that time. In 1985, Capra Sr. said the decision to film in black and white was made because three strip Technicolor was new and fairly expensive, and the studio was unwilling to increase the film's budget so he could utilize it. An often repeated story concerns casting the part of the High Lama. After a screen test of 56 year old retired stage actor A. E. Anson, Capra decided that he was just right for the part. He made a call to the actor's home, and the housekeeper who answered the phone was told to relay the message to Anson that the part was his. Not long after, the housekeeper called back telling Capra that when Anson heard the news, he had a heart attack and died. Subsequently, Capra offered the part to 58 year old Henry B. Walthall. He died before shooting began. Finally, to play it safer age wise, Capra cast Sam Jaffe, who was just 45. This is disputed, however, by camera logs dating back to the production that indicate Anson never tested for the part. Film historian Kendall Miller surmises that this story originated as an effort to add drama to Jaffe's casting. From the beginning, Capra ran into difficulties that resulted in serious cost overruns. Principal photography began on March 23, 1936, and by the time it was completed on July 17, the director had spent $1.6 million. Contributing to the added expenses was the filming of snow scenes and aircraft interiors at the Los Angeles Ice and Cold Storage Warehouse, where the low temperature affected the equipment and caused lengthy delays. The Streamline Moderne sets representing Shangri La, designed by Stephen Goosson, had been constructed adjacent to Hollywood Way, a busy thoroughfare by day, which necessitated filming at night and heavily added to overtime expenses. Many exteriors were filmed on location in Palm Springs, Lucerne Valley, the Ojai Valley, the Mojave Desert, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and in what is now Westlake Village, adding the cost of transporting cast, crew, and equipment to the swelling budget. Capra also used multiple cameras to cover every scene from several angles, and by the time shooting ended, he had used 1.1 million feet of film. For one scene lasting four minutes, he shot 6,000 feet, the equivalent of one hour of screen time. He spent six days filming Sam Jaffe performing the High Lama's monologues, then reshot the scenes twice, once with Walter Connolly, because it was felt Jaffe's makeup was unconvincing and he looked too young for the role. A total of 40 minutes of footage featuring the High Lama eventually was trimmed to the 12 that appeared in the final cut. Filming took one hundred days, 34 more than scheduled. The film's final cost, including prints and promotional advertising, was $2,626,620, and it did not make a profit until it was reissued in 1942. The feedback was mostly negative, and Capra was so distraught, he fled to Lake Arrowhead and remained in seclusion there for several days. He later claimed he burned the first two reels of the film, an account disputed by Milford, who noted setting the nitrate film on fire would have created a devastating explosion. Following the disastrous preview, Capra made extensive cuts and, on January 12, 1937, reshot scenes involving the High Lama written by Sidney Buchman, who declined screen credit for his work. The new footage placed more emphasis on the growing desperation of the world situation at the time. A world premiere was held at the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach, Florida on February 18, 1937. Still unhappy with the film's length, Harry Cohn intervened and edited the film personally. When the edited version premiered in San Francisco on March 2, it was 132 minutes long. During the film's initial release in selected cities, it was a roadshow attraction,

In 1942, the film was re released as The Lost Horizon of Shangri La. A lengthy drunken speech delivered by Robert Conway, in which he cynically mocks war and diplomacy, had already been deleted in the general release version. Capra felt the film made no sense without the scene, They were restored years later. In 1952, a 92 minute version of the film was released. It aimed to play down features of the utopia that suggested communist ideals, a sensitive point after a civil war in China resulted in the ascension of Mao Zedong's Communist Party in that country in 1949. In 1973, the AFI initiated a restoration of the film. The project was undertaken by the UCLA Film and Television Archive (under the supervision of Robert Gitt) and Columbia Pictures and took 13 years to complete. Although all 132 minutes of the original soundtrack were recovered, only 125 minutes of film could be found, so the seven minutes of missing film footage were replaced with a combination of publicity photos of the actors in costume taken during filming and still frames depicting the missing scenes. Also in 1973, Columbia Pictures produced a modernized musical remake directed by Charles Jarrott and starring Peter Finch and Liv Ullmann. The film featured a score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was both a critical and financial disaster. and the July 24, 1948, broadcast of Favorite Story. In 1946, Ronald Colman also made a three record, 78 rpm album based on the film for American Decca Records. The score for the album was by Victor Young. Another radio adaptation starring Herbert Marshall was broadcast on December 30, 1948, on Hallmark Playhouse. A three part radio dramatisation was made by the BBC and released in September 1981. It featured Derek Jacobi as Hugh Conway. A stage musical called Shangri La was produced on Broadway in 1956, but closed after only 21 performances. It was staged for a 1960 Hallmark Hall of Fame television broadcast.

Lost Horizon on Lux Radio Theatre. September 15, 1941
Lost Horizon on Theater of Romance. February 6, 1945
Lost Horizon on Academy Award Theater. November 27, 1946
Lost Horizon on Favorite Story. July 24, 1948
Lost Horizon on Hallmark Playhouse. December 30, 1948
Lost Horizon on Theater of Romance. June 5, 1954