Review of Lost Horizon (1937) by Rachel B — 28 Jan 2009

I was shocked that I wound up hating this movie. Frank Capra making a fantasy film set in Shangri-La sounds like a great watch. There's some great shots and the restoration is fairly expert; however the scenes comprised of only stills may be painful for the average viewer.

I hated it because of the Anglo appropriation of Asian culture (The high lama is a European Catholic priest?!) and that most of the characters were irritating in one way or another. I love that this film helped inspire Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, but overall found it a painful watch to my liberal cinema student brain.