The many forms of James Hilton's Lost Horizon 1933

 

James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon was originally published in 1933. Since then it has remained in print and appeared in numerous editions around the world, and in numerous forms, including two popular film adaptations, plays and audio recordings. The word Shangri-La, coined by Hilton, is now part of everyday English. Though primarily available in complete and unabridged form, the novel can also be found in, for example, abridged and comic book adaptations. A list of the various published editions is presented in a separate blog posting here.

During 1937 the Frank Capra-directed Hollywood movie Lost Horizon was released, to much acclaim. Starring Ronald Coleman and Jane Wyatt, it remains a classic of the era, though the original, pristine black and white 35mm presentation has degraded over time and parts of the film as originally released are now lost. A new version of Lost Horizon was produced in 1973 as a technicolor musical starring Peter Finch and Liv Ullman. Upon release it had limited success and pales in comparison with the classic Frank Capra film.

As noted above, Hilton's original story has appeared as radio plays and, in one instance, a Broadway play. Various recordings of its soundtrack have been released and are listed below. They are also described in more detail at the Soundtrack Collectors website. A listing of the various non-published permutations of Lost Horizon is presented below, along with links to more recent online reviews and documentary programs featuring reference to James Hilton's original work. The use of the term Shangri-La - which originated with Lost Horizon - is now universally accepted in reference to a utopia on earth and, as such, is widely, and frequently, the subject of discussion. As a result, Hilton's original novel has attained a timeless quality and universal appeal due to the themes it addresses, despite its somewhat dated setting.
 
‐--------------------

Chronology

* 1933 - James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon is first published in the United Kingdom and the United States.

* 1937 - Lost Horizon, Frank Capra directed film version, black and white, 35 mm, released in the US by Columbia Pictures during March 1937, with a run time of 132 minutes. Starring Ronald Coleman and Jane Wyatt. Apart from the film itself, a number of trailers were also released during 1937.

* 1941 - Lux Radio Theatre presents Lost Horizon, Charlie Cat Productions, with narration by Ronald Coleman. Broadcast 15 September 1941. Duration: 79.39 minutes.
 
 
* 1941 - Lux Radio Theatre presents Lost Horizon, Charlie Cat Productions, with narration by Ronald Coleman. Broadcast 15 September 1941. Introduced by famous director Cecile B. DeMille, duration: 60 minutes.


* 1942 - Frank Capra's Lost Horizon is re-released in the United States with a newly edited opening, emphasising a conflict with Japan, rather than China, following on the attack at Pearl Harbour in 1941. It is therein titled The Lost Horizon of Shangri-La. Duration: 108 minutes - cut down from the original 132 minutes, due largely to Chinese references, as the Chinese were part of the Allies.

* 1944 - Lost Horizon, 3 x 78rpm discs, Decca Records DA29188. Recorded on 15 and 16 September 1944. Narration by Ronald Coleman. Musical accompaniment by the Victor Young Orchestra. Duration: 1 hour.


* 1946 - Dimitri Tiomkin, Lost Horizon, LP record, Decca Records, US, DA-402, 78 rpm. Excerpts from the original 1937 movie soundtrack / score by Tiomkin.
 
 
* 1948 - Frank Capra's Lost Horizon re-released in the US.

* 1950 - James Hilton, now resident in the United States, comments on the writing of Lost Horizon for the NBC University Theatre radio program, New York. Duration: 2.26.


* 1950 - Dimitri Tionkin, Lost Horizon, LP record, Decca US, DL-5154, 33 1/3 rpm. Released 1 June 1950. Re-release of the 1946 LP comprising excerpts from the original movie soundtrack.
 
 
* 1956 - Shangri-La, a Broadway musical presented at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York, June-July. Based on the original Lost Horizon book and film.

 
* 1956 - Frank Capra's Lost Horizon re-released in the US.

* 1959 - Frank Capra's Lost Horizon released to US television.

* 1960 - Shangri-La,  a television presentation of the 1956 Broadway musical, with a different cast, is broadcast on NBC. A Hallmark Hall of Fame production starring Richard Basehart and Claude Rains. A 7 minute clip exists on YouTube.


* 1972 - Frank Capra talks about Lost Horizon, The Dick Cavett Show, 21 January 1972. Duration: 5.28.


* 1973 - Lost Horizon, Charles Jarrott directed film version, colour, 35mm, released by Columbia Pictures in March 1973. Duration: 150 minutes. Starring Peter Finch and Liv Ullman.


* 1974 - Lost Horizon: The Classic Film Scores of Dimitri Tiomkin, LP, RCA Victor. Recorded December 1974 with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Charles Gerhardt. Duration: 23.06. Reissued on a number of occasions and remastered by BMG for CD release in 1989.
 
 
* 1997 - Lost Horizon: The Original Soundtrack by Dimitri Tiomkin, conducted by Max Steiner. Recorded 1936-7. CD, Tsunami, Europe. Duration: 59 minutes.
 
 
* 1999 - Lost Horizon: The Original Soundtrack by Dimitri Tiomkin, orchestra conducted by Max Steiner. Recorded 1936-7. CD, Bringham Young University Film Archives. Duration: 1.09.08.

* 2015 - Lost Horizon - review by Bookworm History. Duration: 9.14. 21 January 2015. Video review of the original book by James Hilton.


* 2017 - Lost Horizon - soundtrack. Original mono recording. Source: YouTube. Duration: 23.48. Released 17 April 2017.

* 2017 - Kendall Miller, Lost Horizon, 1937: Making of the movie [documentary]. Source: YouTube. Duration: 30.25. Released 29 June 2017. Made to accompany the video release.
 
 
* 2018 - Lost Horizon: A BBC Radio Classic Drama, BBC Radio 4, London. Duration: 2.32.29. Adaptation of Hilton's original text. Starring Derek Jacobi.


‐------------------
 

Last updated: 7 July 2023

Michael Organ, Australia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Publication history

Image
Lost Horizon: Posters and pictures | Publications | Formats & Versions | Tibet   1. "... a novel about Tibet" James Hilton's Lost Horizon is a classic work of utopian fantasy fiction first published in London and New York during 1933. Written the previous year, during the depth of the Depression, it is an uplifting story and has remained in print since then through numerous versions, including complete, abridged, illustrated, school text, play and comic forms. The story centres around a quasi-Buddhist lamasery and village known as Shangri-La located deep within the mountainous Himalayan regions of Tibet. A group of Westerners are kidnapped and brought there, with English diplomat Robert Conway marked to replace the aged High Lama [viz Dalai Lama] of the Shangri-La lamasery. The book's underlying message of peace and compassion came at a time when the horrors of the war on the Western Front were still raw in the minds of the British, and the possib
Read more

Posters and pictures

Image
Lost Horizon: Posters and pictures | Publications | Formats & Versions | Tibet Jock Hinchliffe, Lost Horizon , UK poster, 1937. Lost Horizon is a 1937 film directed by Frank Capra for Columbia Pictures, Hollywood. It was based on the 1933 novel by British author James Hilton. The story centres around a mythical lamasery and village located high up in the Himalayan mountains of Tibet. It was called by Hilton Shangri-La - a variant of the Tibetan Buddhist nirvana known as Shambala - and included the Valley of the Blue Moon wherein the village was located. An isolated outlier of Eastern and Western civilization, it is to Shangri-La that a disparate group of English and American travellers are brought - kidnapped - with one selected to carry on the work of the dying High Lama. The book has a philosophical basis with themes of impending apocalypse and eventual salvation amidst the peace and solitude of the utopian Shangri-La. It has been stated that Capra's film is an
Read more