Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Hitchcoc Capra was a master of the large cast. Most of his films are about the "everyman." We get to see small town storekeepers or inner city folks. In this one, however, based on a book by James Hilton, the star is a place, Shangra-la. Five main characters find themselves in this place after being rescued from a plane crash. We never actually get to know the motivation of the natives, but we know the place has curative powers and endless beauty. We also know that it is a test of the human spirit to chart one's own destiny, to eventually go home. This film, however, is about the rules that function in this place. Is this a heaven on earth or a prison? We get to decide, don't we? Excellent cinematography, wonderful acting, and an overriding question that must be answered.

SnoopyStyle Robert Conway is England's "Man of the East". In 1935, he is tasked with evacuating westerners from war-torn Baskul, China. He flies out with the last of the group which includes his brother George, paleontologist Lovett, terminally-ill Gloria Stone, and Henry Barnard. The plane is hijacked by a villainous Chinese pilot. He flies them in the opposite direction and crash lands in the Tibetan wilderness. They are rescued and welcomed to the idyllic Shangri-La by Chang. Sondra is a lovely girl grown up in isolated kingdom. Soon, the outsiders wonder if they are imprisoned in a gilded cage. The High Lama reveals to Robert that the location gives a special longevity but later, local Maria counters the idea to George.The sets have a Hollywood exotic epic grandeur. There are Asian actors although they are relegated to minor villains or extras. The story itself is rather static. It's a lot of sitting and talking or standing around and talking. There is one big action scene with an avalanche although I don't understand why that guy is shooting his gun. The restoration has sections missing which are replaced with stills. A couple of the actresses do some big broad hysterical acting. This has the look of an epic but the story falls a little flat.

LeonLouisRicci The Appeal of the Message Hypnotizes Audiences with the Belief that They are Visiting or Witnessing a Utopia. Because Ultimately what is Shown Fails, Except on the Most Superficial Level Imaginable. What Amounts to Nothing More than some Interesting Long Process Shots, Modern Architecture, and a Deer Park. There is Hardly Anything Ethereal or Heavenly about it.The Movie Seems to Gain Artistic and Philosophical Reverence in its Journey from the Screen by way of the Eye, to the Brain and it Takes Up Residence in the Subconscious and Conscious Recollection and Reflection are Nothing Like what is Actually Up there being Projected. Because the Film is Extremely Unrealized, Disjointed, and Flat.It takes a High Road to be Sure, but the Exalted and Elevated Locale is Rather Bland, Boring, Dull and is Barely Picturesque. Not the Ideas or the Message but how it is Expressed Cinematically. If Director Frank Capra couldn't put together a Better Movie than this from a 6 Hour Initial Cut, there's Trouble in Motion Picture Paradise.It is Heady and at Times Inspirational, Moving and Interesting in a Few Spots but Overall this is Overrated and Over Praised, and that is Probably More of and Insight into the Hopes and Dreams of the Audience than the Excellence of the Film. With its Mega-Budget Seemingly Wasted because so Much More could have been Shown with Only Moderate Financing.

Vihren Mitev Utopia that exists deep in every one of us. The feeling that forced few people to reconstruct this movie. This filmography treasure is seriously achievement for its time. Even the few scratches, made by the force of the passed time, ca not in no way wound its corpus because they are carefully cured by those people.The place in the soul of everyone that has to be his destination. Whether it exists or it is possible to be reached - this is the question: are you going to believe it? I believe and strongly hope the second world loss of horizon to be the last loss of horizon. That we acquired with working compass that will guide us from now on, flawlessly.Interesting will be the parallel 1937 - 1973, although we can easily stop here because such an end would be an excellent beginning!http://vihrenmitevmovies.blogspot.com/