Think about all of the very old silent films that just get stumbled on every so often that were once thought of as lost films.
I'm thinking someone's great grandfather that used to run the Bijou theater in Nowhere, Louisiana back in '37 might still have a copy sitting in their attic just waiting to be re-discovered...
Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.
You may have a point there. I think I'll search through my attic this afternoon.
shareIf you find it, let me know! :)
Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.
I checked my attic. Found copies of the 1926 "The Great Gatsby," Laurel and Hardy's "Hats Off" and "London After Midnight" but no sign of "The Lost Horizon." Darn.
In all seriousness, the original post-preview release cut only played in a few theaters in 1937 - by the time it went wide, Columbia had already edited 15 minutes from it, including the 2 scenes that are now lost - and most of what select few theater owners got that version when it was in limited release complained about its length and were told by Harry Cohn to chop it down to 2 hours however the heck they saw fit. Robert Gitt did what he could after a worldwide search. Columbia were pretty good about getting their prints back after they had their runs (certainly a lot better than they were at preserving the original cuts), so the only miracle that might occur would be if one of the theater owners who personally cut up a print to shorten the film expunged the scenes in question and didn't immediately throw the trims in the garbage can afterwards. Never say never but... unlikely, that's for sure.
True, thanks for the history regarding the cuts. I had heard about the cuts being made because of the length but didn't know by who or when it was done.
At least regarding film restoration, Columbia seems to be better about this than some of the other studios. Maybe one day someone will stumble on some cuts and we'll get it properly put back together.
This is such a great film, wish it could be seen as originally intended.
Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.
There were so many different versions released that I've lost track of what came when. But Cohn was involved with multiple rounds of cuts, some of which included Frank Capra's involvement (mostly everything changed between the November, 1936 Santa Barbara testing and the March, 1937 general-audience release), most of which didn't (everything afterwards) - and it was the latter that was naturally the source of consternation between the two parties. As far as I'm aware, it was between the limited release in March, 1937 and the wider release in September, 1937 that the lost footage you see now as stills was removed. There were different versions playing at different theaters in between those months because, in addition to the ending quickly reverting to Capra's preferred vision and not the studio-imposed ending, Cohn had told the griping theaters to edit their prints themselves. And then of course came the butchered post-WWII reissues, retitled, further cut down, partially reshot, and totally disowned by Capra.
All the studios were pretty bad about preservation in the 1930s. Gitt said when he started his restoration efforts on this in the '70s, the only thing Columbia had in their vault was a 35mm positive print of the 117 minute cut - and even that was short of a few seconds due to splices. He truly performed miracles getting as much footage back in as he did. Columbia just didn't care. Of course, Gitt also said he didn't even like the 132 minute cut and he wished it were shorter, but it wasn't up to him to make those decisions.
Watching it now on GetTV over the air, not sure if its on cable?
He was just rescued, by what is said to be the Chinese.
Just ended at 11am est.
Don't normally watch that channel, but I saw it was on.
7:50
AM/EDT
Lost Horizon NOW PLAYING
185 min Adventure, Award Winning, Fantasy 1937
British diplomat Robert Conway and a small group of civilians crash land in the Himalayas, and are rescued by the people of the mysterious, Eden-like valley of Shangri-la. David Torrence, Edward Everett Horton, H.B. Warner, Isabel Jewell, Jane Wyatt, John Howard, Margo Stilley, Ronald Colman, Frank Capra
I really hope so, but supposedly Frank Capra burned several reels. However, don't give up hope, someone found several lost episodes of a popular British show in their garden shed.
shareI would like to see the entire 6 hour version, though probably not at one sitting. Maybe have better viewing of 27 yo Jane Wyatt in her skinny-dipping role.
I'll watch Father Knows Best now with a whole new appreciation of Mom!!!
this morning, a dick cavett rerun featured capra, who talked about burning the first two reels after the santa barbara preview. he said he made no other changes before release. that's what he said, anyway.
shareThat probably happened, but with the intolerable heat of the attic in Nowhere, Louisiana, the nitrate print degraded over the decades and spontaneously ignited in the late 1970's burning the entire residence to the ground. I just hope everyone made it out alive.
shareIt might happen.
Some essential missing portions of "Metropolis" were found in a theater in Argentina and other old films were found in the Yukon where they were used for landfill under a swimming pool.