If you're looking for an excellent classic movie to watch, I highly recommend the 1937
original version of "The Lost Horizon" with Ronald Colman and Sam Jaffe. There have
been remakes, but this nearly 80-year old restored version is the one to watch. Even
though several minutes of film have been lost due to decomposition, (...this is a perfect
time to interject "entropy", unless of course you thought of it first!...) the 13-year
restoration process has rendered a sparkling and beautiful rendition that would rival any
high budget, over-the-top, special effects driven spectacle offered today.
Ordinarily, I'd hate to scoop the plots and outcomes, but there is so much substance to be
taken away from the James Hilton novel-turned-movie, a little discussion won't ruin it for
you purists. The protagonist, brilliantly portrayed by Ronald Colman, is British Foreign
Secretary Conway, whose flight from a rescue mission in China, crash lands in the
Himalayan Mountains. Conway and the other evacuees are carried to safety, but not to
any place that was known to anyone in their "outside" world. Shangri-La was a
fantastical remote land governed by the High Lama (Sam Jaffe), a society that was free
of the cares and pre-war strife in which people everywhere else were embroiled. Once
the Foreign Secretary had met with the High Lama, he became torn between his sworn
duties at home and the peaceful yet mystical dreamworld in which he found himself. The
conflicted protagonist is forced to make the life and death decision to return home or to
remain in Shangri-La. Whatever choice he would make, however, would forever be
influenced by the simple message he received from the High Lama: "Be kind".
Since we are the only species with the Human(e) Brain, we alone can make the decision
to be kind. The High Lama's message in a film that was made when movies were merely
a few years removed from the Silent Era, was framed by centuries of mankind's wisdom,
philosophies, and religions, boiled down to the two words, "Be kind". We humans group
ourselves into many types of social strata based on our thinking and outward physical
appearance--who we are. But being endowed with our human brain is the determining
factor of what we are because it allows us to think. We all belong to that group!
Try to view "The Lost Horizon" as soon as you can. Reflect deeply on the conflicts
which the characters are faced with. Ask yourself what you would do if you were in
Conway's position? And when you are forced to make difficult choices and judgments,
remember to be kind. You can't go wrong.
-Paula