Lost Horizon: Frank Capra at Columbia (4K UHD Review)
- Review Date: Dec 12, 2024
- Format: 4K Ultra HD
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Director
Frank CapraRelease Date(s)
1937 (November 19, 2024)Studio(s)
Columbia Pictures (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: B+
- Audio Grade: B
- Extras Grade: B
- Overall Grade: A
Review
[Editor’s Note: Lost Horizon is currently available on Ultra HD only in Sony’s 27-disc Frank Capra at Columbia box set, which contains 20 films in HD (9 of them in 4K as well). The box set can be found on Amazon by clicking here, or on any of the artwork pictured in this review.]
Often overlooked in any discussion of the films of director Frank Capra, Lost Horizon remains a romantic masterpiece, and is one of my favorite of his works. It’s romantic in the classic sense—an evocative, soft-focus vision of a mysterious utopia created by lofty and noble ideals. Adapted from the James Hilton novel, Lost Horizon tells the story of English refugees fleeing the 1935 revolution in China. Lead by diplomat Robert Conway (played by Ronald Colman), the group manages to catch the last plane out. But rather than heading east, toward the ships that will take them home, it flies west into Tibet. The hijacked plane eventually crash lands deep in the frozen Kunlun Mountains, at the very roof of the world. Just as the passengers are about to give up hope, a band of locals arrives claiming to have been expecting them. After an arduous climb through treacherous cliffs and icy caverns, the band arrives at their destination, a lush and temperate paradise known as Shangri-La, nestled in a high mountain valley and completely cut off from the rest of the world. The people of this valley give the refugees a warm welcome, and life couldn’t be better. Shangri-La is Conway’s dream come true: There’s no crime, no greed, no suffering… just a wonderfully peaceful and idyllic utopia. But questions remain: Why was the group taken there against their will? And when a man finally gets his dream, can it ever be enough?
Capra was at the height of his game as a director with Lost Horizon. The film took more than two years to complete, and used what was (at the time) the largest set ever constructed in Hollywood. Lost Horizon moves at a steady pace, thanks to clever editing, and features inventive cinematography and a terrific score by composer Dimitri Tiomkin (Rio Bravo, The Guns of Navarone). Coleman is perfect as the world-worn English diplomat on a fast-track political career. Jane Wyatt is charming as his love interest and one of the caretakers of the valley. And there are a couple of other familiar faces as well—or should I say, a familiar face and a familiar voice. That’s Thomas Mitchell as the swindling Henry Barnard. Mitchell was a Capra favorite, appearing also in his Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life. And you might recognize the voice of Edward Everett Horton. He plays Lovett here, but he’s better known for narrating the Fractured Fairy Tales segments of TV’s The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Lost Horizon was shot photochemically in 35mm (at the 1.37:1 aspect ratio) on B&W nitrate stock by cinematographer Joseph Walker (It’s a Wonderful Life, His Girl Friday) using Mitchell Standard Studio Cameras with spherical lenses. Additional aerial photography was completed by Elmer Dyer (Hells Angels, Only Angels Have Wings). The film’s original preview length was between 180 and 210 minutes (sources vary on this, with Capra himself claiming in a 1972 Dick Cavett Show TV interview that the film’s Santa Barbara preview screening was 3.5 hours long). At the time, it included a length prologue sequence which reportedly caused audiences to laugh. So Capra—in an effort to salvage the film—cut the prologue completely, putting the titles instead “at the start of the third reel.” It was at this shorter 132-minute length that Lost Horizon was finally released into theaters in 1937 to mostly rave reviews.
But soon after, Columbia Pictures decided to cut the film further, releasing ever shorter versions in lengths that included 118 and 95 minutes. Unfortunately, when the studio went to look at the original camera negative in 1967, they found that it had deteriorated beyond repair, and no copies of the original 132-minute cut were known to exist. So the best existing copies were located, and efforts began in the 1970s to find the missing footage in various film archives around the world. After years of searching, the film’s complete 132-minute soundtrack was discovered, along with all but 7 minutes of the missing footage (again in varying levels of quality). In 1986, Sony Pictures and the UCLA Film and Television Archive completed a full photochemical restoration, restoring the film to 132 minutes with still photos replacing the missing footage. Additional digital restoration was done in 1998 (resulting in the creation of a new preservation negative as well as the 1999 DVD release). Then in 2014, a new 4K scan was commissioned (of the preservation negative, as well as the director’s personal nitrate print) and further restoration was completed after an additional minute of missing film was found (in a badly-worn 16 mm print—the new footage appears during the first scene in which the characters meet with the High Lama). And for Lost Horizon’s debut in Ultra HD, that 4K master has now been graded for high dynamic range (compatible with both Dolby Vision and HDR10) and encoded for a 66GB disc.
The result is wondrous image quality, if somewhat uneven given the variety of sources utilized for the restoration. The preservation negative offers generally pleasing fine detail and texturing, though it’s obviously not as refined looking as original camera negative would be. It appears that netting material or diffusion was employed occasionally on the lens element to render a softer image—a practice that was common at the time, especially when photographing female cast members. And of course, some of the various film sources are softer and exhibit more wear than others. Grain levels range from light-medium to strong, with medium being the average. The image looks highly cinematic and natural at all times, save of course for the rare occasions when footage is missing (so still photos are employed to reconstruct these scenes). The HDR grade is very restrained, but it does add a bit of luster to highlights and depth to the shadows. And for the best-looking footage, there’s added detail on both ends. This is certainly an improvement upon the previous DVD and Blu-ray presentations.
Audio-wise, the film’s original English mono soundtrack (recorded via the Western Electric “noiseless” method to reduce hiss and background noise) is presented here in 2.0 mono in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio format. It’s mostly clean and clear, with readily discernible dialogue and good musical fidelity—about what you would expect for mono audio on a film of this vintage. Optional subtitles are available in English, English SDH, and French.
Sony’s 4K release (currently available only in the Frank Capra at Columbia box set, which celebrates the studio’s 100th anniversary) is a 2-disc edition that offers the film on UHD as well as 1080p HD on Blu-ray—the exact same 80th Anniversary Edition they released in 2017 in Digibook packaging. There are no extras on the 4K disc itself, but the Blu-ray includes:
- Restoration Audio Commentary by Charles Champlin and Robert Gitt
- Photo Documentary (SD – 30:27)
- Restoration Featurette (SD – 8:36)
- Opening Credit Comparison (SD – 1:25)
- Alternate Ending (SD – 2:43)
- Before & After Comparison (SD – :59)
- Theatrical Teaser 1 (HD – :33)
- Theatrical Teaser 2 (HD – :48)
- Re-Issue Trailer (HD – 1:58)
- Theatrical Trailer French (HD – 4:33)
- Theatrical Trailer Spanish (HD – 3:16)
Most of these extras were created for the 1999 DVD release, though a few were new for the Blu-ray. There’s a terrific feature-length audio commentary with Robert Gitt (who helped to restore Lost Horizon) and film critic Charles Champlin, along with a Restoration Featurette (narrated by Gitt) that compares the film footage before and after restoration. It also offers a look at the altered World War II-era re-issue introduction to the film, a glimpse at the only surviving unused footage from the original camera negative (it looks gorgeous), and deleted scenes (with Gitt reading from the shooting script, as no audio for these exists). The film’s alternate ending is included as well, as is a collection of trailers. And you get a great 30-minute Photo Documentary, narrated by historian Kendall Miller, that’s filled with interesting behind-the-scenes stories and dozens of never-before-seen photographs and film clips.
All that’s missing here (that was included on the 2017 Via Vision/Madman Entertainment Blu-ray, reviewed here) is the Frank Capra’s American Dream documentary (HD – 109:05), which was narrated by Ron Howard. However, you can find that on Sony’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Blu-ray (which is available separately, and is also included in both BD and 4K in the Frank Capra at Columbia box set).
I should add that the disc’s main menu screen is weirdly left-justified. So don’t be surprised when you pop the disc in and see that. Also, the Frank Capra at Columbia box set is absolutely gorgeous—beautiful hard “cabinet” packaging with magnetically closing doors that open to reveal lots of discs in Amaray cases. (You can see a photo of the packaging above.) Many of its titles include new and legacy special features. There are, however, no Digital Copy codes here.
Lost Horizon won two Oscars back in the day (it was nominated for five others) and it deserved them. The film ranks highly among Capra’s best works and it’s certainly his most idealistic. Though the image is far from perfect, Sony’s restoration is impressive and the new 4K presentation is absolutely the best way for fans and cinephiles to experience Lost Horizon. The Frank Capra at Columbia Collection’s $230 SRP isn’t cheap, but you can get it for as low as $140 (at least the moment) which is just $7 per film. And if you’re a Capra fan, it’s definitely a must-have release.
- Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)