Lost Horizon by James Hilton - Essay Example

? 3 July, Lost Horizon by James Hilton Book Review: Lost Horizon written by James Hilton in 1933 immediately hit the box office and got the appreciation of millions of audience all over the world. Billions of copies of the book were sold in no time and President Roosevelt was convinced to name Camp David Shangri-La. The movie was made into a film by the director, Frank Capra. James Hilton wrote The Horizon in six weeks while Frank Capra consumed two and half years to bring it on the big screen (Rotten Tomatoes). Frank Capra was one of the most talented and skilled directors of the era of Great Depression, ‘who won the Oscar in 1934 for “It Happened One Night,” followed up his 1936 political fable “Mr. Dees Goes to Town” with a totally different fare, “Lost Horizon,” a fantasy-adventure scripted by his favorite scribe Robert Riskin’ (Levy). Lost Horizon has a simple plot. While stranding around the Himalayas, a group of travelers comes across Shangri-La, which happens to be a remote monastery. The group meets the people of Shangri-La. This incident comes after two detailed chapters of introduction and set-up of the group. Prologue of the book allows the audience an in-sight to a framing plot in which a Renaissance man at Oxford called Conway is being discussed by some British people after he has vanished. “Hugh Conway, a charming, brilliant man—tall, bronzed, with short brown hair and blue eyes—who is a veteran of ten years of unspectacular work in the British Consular Service” (“Lost Horizon”). Convey is the most fundamental character of the play and all that the author says is filtered through his actions (Clapsaddle). Conway accepts an Indian post despite being agile, active and artistic. After a while in which nobody hears from him, Conway shows up as an amnesiac at a Chinese hospital. After the gradual recovery of his memory, Conway narrates Rutherford his tale who in turn, narrates this hard-to-believe story to his friend. The first chapter begins with the act of fleeing a strange and dangerous Indian region of Conway and three individuals beside him. Mallison, the young diplomatic subordinate of Conway accompanies him. In addition to Mallison, there is a missionary named Miss Brinklow and Bernard, an American. It is when they are making the air travel that they realize that they are being flown by an unexpected pilot in an unexpected direction. They are threatened by a revolver and they become extremely anxious. The plane is refueled in a remote area by the tribesmen. In the Chapter 2, the plane starts to descend in the night and the unconscious pilot is seen by the four travelers. They are left in the middle of a remote range of mountains without the necessary instructions, purpose or equipment. The story of Shangri-La is narrated in the third chapter. The four wandering individuals reach Shangri-La after the monastery sends a party for rescue. The travelers find Shangri-La as a place of civilized people with good mannerism. “Though most often remembered for its depiction of the mythical paradise of Shangra-La, Lost Horizon can perhaps most fruitfully be read as a probing character study and a fascinating contrast of eastern and western culture” (“Teaching Guide to”). Till this point, all chapters tend to create one strong sense of unveiling of a lost civilization by a lost group of travelers. This point onwards, the original would-be adventure story transforms into a meditation upon philosophy, pacifism, and the ideal way of living. The four individuals come across Shangri-La’s High Lama and interact. There is an epilogue at the end of the book which in a way, takes the tale of Conway at a further level after his stay in Shangri-La. One word to summarize Shangri-La’s philosophy is moderation. According to a native of Shangri-La, “We rule with moderate strictness, and in return we are satisfied with moderate obedience. And I think I can claim that our people are moderately sober, moderately chaste, and moderately honest” (Hilton 74-75). The people also believe that different religions are somewhat true in their own respective ways and that the policies need to be inflexible. The valley people supporting lamasery are not discussed much and so are the porters that have carried the grand piano in the strange mountain range. Likewise, the moderate luxuriousness of the society’s civilized band is not sufficiently discussed. The lamasery exists in the valley due to a gold mine. The stated philosophies are largely in conflict with the elements of fantasy of the scenario of the lost world. Lost Horizon’s main characters are stock issue. Miss Brinklow happens to be one of the most sober characters. In the beginning of the story, she plays the role of a token woman. Her role totally compliments that of Mallison who remains irritating throughout the story and never changes his always-gone attitude. The only character that comes from a slightly interesting past and who changes is that of Barnard. However, it is only after the audience gets to know of the chase of policemen that the change of Barnard’s character is telegraphed. Chang cheats on the heroes of the story on account of his status in Shangri-La, though the audience largely finds it boring. Shangri-La’s ideology fundamentally reflects in High Lama but sessions of conversation with him are static. Convey is hardly impressed by the unique ideas regarding civility and moderation of High Lama. One of the essential threads of the book is misogyny. Lo-Tsen comes with multiple lines of speech. Caught in a “haunting love story”, she wanders about the place playing piano and hanging out with men. Conway easily adapts himself to the indigenous culture of Shangri-La despite the fact that he has spent a lot of years in the British Consulate as a good boy. The audience senses a mix of introspection and vacillation in his mannerism. The character of Conway appears boring and somewhat inconsistent with a story that is primarily assumed by the audience as the account of an adventure. Conway essentially symbolizes the disparity between the two halves of Lost Horizon. Shangri-La is undoubtedly a place worth making a visit to, though it should not be on the edge of the seat. Before Convey resolves to depart, it says, And he knew, too, that his mind dwelt in a world of its own, Shangri-La in microcosm, and that this world also was in peril. For even as he nerved himself, he saw the corridors of his imagination twist and strain under impact; the pavilions were toppling; all was about to be in ruins. He was only partly unhappy, but he was infinitely and rather sadly perplexed. He did not know whether he had been mad and was now sane, or had been sane for a time and was now mad again. (Hilton 216-217). The film version of this book won two of the seven Academy Awards for which it was nominated which include “two Oscars: Best Interior Decoration (Stephen Goosson) and Best Film Editing (Gene Havlick and Gene Milford)” (Driks). Overall, it is a good book that requires the reader to stay persistent as one with the intention of reading an adventure story does not find a very strong story line in the beginning and also, the later part of the book is way off the conventional style of adventure books, though given a try, the attempt seems worth it as it leaves the reader with a light mind with little ideas popping up regarding the civilization of people of Shangri-La or Shangri-La as a place to visit. Works Cited: Clapsaddle, Diane. “TheBestNotes on Lost Horizon.” TheBestNotes.com. 28 May 2008. Web. 3 July 2011. . Driks, Tim. “Lost Horizon (1937).” n.d. Web. 3 July 2011. . Hilton, James. Lost Horizon. Reader's Digest Association, 1990. Print. Levy, Emanuel. “Film Reviews: Lost Horizon (1937).” 2011. Web. 3 July 2011. . “Lost Horizon: James Hilton.” N.d. Web. 3 July 2011. . Rotten Tomatoes. “Lost Horizon (1937).” n.d. Web. 3 July 2011. . “Teaching Guide to Lost Horizon by James Hilton: Note to Teachers.” n.d. Web. 3 July 2011. . Read More