Lost Horizon: The Classic Tale Of Shangri-La

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It's a somewhat challenging book to review, and even to classify. With regard to the latter point, I finally settled on "science fiction" for its genre, though it's very unlike most American SF from that era. (Nor does it fit into the "lost race" tradition popular on both sides of the Atlantic before and between the World Wars.) But it does have a central speculative element to its plot: the idea of long extension of human life (though not actual immortality, nor anything like it) by purely natural means. This element is squarely in the "soft" SF tradition (more characteristic of the British than the American genre), a literary conceit employed to set up and serve the human social and philosophical questions the author wants to explore. (It isn't based on any serious study of the actual causes of aging, nor on extrapolation from any known technique or effect.) Reading this is like stepping slowly into a hot, fragrant bath while strains of your own audio preferences delight; lapping against your tired muscles as you immerse yourself deep within its hypnotic scent. Even silence has a melody. Ronald Colman reprised his screen role of "Robert Conway" a number of times for radio, including on the Lux Radio Theatre (15 September 1941), Academy Award (27 November 1946) and Favorite Story (24 July 1948). The novel was published in 1933. Hilton had just reached the age of call-up when World War I ended. His generation was deeply effected by the war and he had personal pacifist beliefs. Lost Horizon uses that message in a mild way. It can be enjoyed as a fantasy/utopian novel but you are always aware of the times in the world outside of Shangri-la, with Hitler and his ilk a threat.

I'm sure most people are familiar with the basic story of Lost Horizon, and of course everyone knows the concept of "Shangri-La," but I'm not sure how many people have actually read the book. I certainly hadn't, but was surprised that it still holds up fairly well, (and is far better than either the original 1937 film version of the execrable 1973 remake as a musical - although the latter did have a very nice theme song by the under-appreciated Shawn Phillips). It wasn't until I finished the story and read the Afterword that I realized that this book was written by the same guy who wrote Goodbye, Mr. Chips, another story I had pretty much put out of my mind. Much, I think, like I expect to happen with this one. Doesn¹t pound in your ears anymore. ♪♫♪But I did not know neither the words nor the melody of the 3rd to the 6th lines of each stanza. So, I went to www.lyrics.com and searched for this song. There is actually a 3rd stanza but I did not know how to sing it too. Do you know how the whole song goes? This is the 1937 theme song for the Frank Capra’s movie adaptation of James Hilton’s 1933 wondrous classic Lost Horizon and I only know the first two lines. Pity me. It’s very soulful and melodious as it creates images of peace and quiet, of being in harmony with nature, like going to a serene, restful place. United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt named the Presidential hideaway in Maryland, now called Camp David, after Shangri-La. [3] In 1942, to ensure the safety of returning U.S. forces, Roosevelt answered a reporter's question about the origin of the Doolittle Raid by saying it had been launched from " Shangri-La". The true details of the raid were revealed to the public a year later. [4] This inspired the naming of the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La (CV-38), commissioned in 1944. [5] [6] James Hilton’s bestselling adventure novel about a military man who stumbles on the world’s greatest hope for peace deep in Tibet: Shangri-La.

Not the best book I've read, but certainly one of the more magical ones. It does cast a spell. I was a bit surprised at the WW I element in "Lost Horizon." Hugh Conway, the emotionally damaged hero of the novel, is a part of the Lost Generation. Hilton's turning his Valley of the Blue Moon into a kind of post-War Brigadoon is a brilliant one, especially since he sandwiches events between the known war and the worse one Hilton foresees as coming. I'm sure others in 1933, when the novel was published, saw the clouds gathering, but to turn such popular anxieties into a darkly magical and successful novel is quite an accomplishment. Jie, Chen (24 October 2002). "Sacred Land Represented On Stage". China Daily. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014 . Retrieved 27 November 2012.

Herbert Marshall played "Conway" in Hallmark Playhouse's adaptation, broadcast on 30 December 1948.

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I will say that I enjoyed the ambiguity of what Shangri-La really was. That spoke to me. But not enough to really get into the story the way I had hoped. There's some adventure here, but the watered-down kind of adventure that people sometimes write wherein they don't want to be too exciting or offensive, so they just write really offensive and one-dimensional characters, like Asians and women.