The evacuation is organized by writer, soldier, and diplomat Robert Conway, before he is to return to the United Kingdom and become Foreign Secretary.

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.

Initially anxious to return to civilization, most of the newcomers grow to love Shangri-La, including Gloria, who miraculously seems to be recovering from her illness.

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.

Uncertain and torn between love and loyalty, Conway reluctantly agrees to accompany George and Maria with a group of porters returning to their homes.

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.

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.

Film historian Kendall Miller surmises that this story originated as an effort to add drama to Jaffe's casting.

[15] 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.

[16] 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.

[19] 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.

During the film's initial release in selected cities, it was a roadshow attraction,[17] with only two presentations per day and tickets sold on a reserved-seat basis.

A settlement was reached on November 27, 1937, with Capra collecting his money and being relieved of the obligation of making one of the five films required by his contract.

[23] When the movie premiered at the Radio City Music Hall, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times called it, "a grand adventure film, magnificently staged, beautifully photographed, and capitally played."

He continued, [T]here is no denying the opulence of the production, the impressiveness of the sets, the richness of the costuming, the satisfying attention to large and small detail which makes Hollywood at its best such a generous entertainer.

We can deride the screen in its lesser moods, but when the West Coast impresarios decide to shoot the works the resulting pyrotechnics bathe us in a warm and cheerful glow.

"[10] John Mosher of The New Yorker praised the "beautiful flying scenes" and the "wild and terrifying bits of struggle on mountain peaks and crags", but found the adaptation in general to be "somewhat longish and wearisome on the screen.

Nothing reveals men's characters more than their Utopias ... this Utopia closely resembles a film star's luxurious estate on Beverly Hills: flirtatious pursuits through grape arbours, splashings and divings in blossomy pools under improbable waterfalls, and rich and enormous meals ... something incurably American: a kind of aerated idealism, ('We have one simple rule, Kindness') and of course, a girl (Miss Jane Wyatt, one of the dumber stars), who has read all the best books (this one included) and has the coy comradely manner of a not too advanced schoolmistress.

He also regretted the film's missed opportunities: "If the long, dull ethical sequences had been cut to the bone there would have been plenty of room for the real story: the shock of Western crudity and injustice on a man returned from a more gentle and beautiful way of life".

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.

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.

[17][37] Also in 1973, Columbia Pictures produced a modernized musical remake directed by Charles Jarrott and starring Peter Finch and Liv Ullmann.

In 1946, Ronald Colman also made a three-record, 78 rpm album based on the film for American Decca Records.