Sunday, June 18, 2006
SHANGRI-LA
This movie was so popular that it was virtually worn out.
Recut and re-released many times, the print was almost lost.
Today we watched the NYTimes Best 1176 Film
in an 'almost' restored condition. 9 minutes are made up of sound track and still photos.
I saw this when I was a kid; obviously in a later release as it was made the year I was born.
Its reputation preceded itself. My mother and father made sure that I went and I have remembered much of it over the years.
While it was wonderful to see the film today, it was amazing how much of it was familiar to me.
That has to be a good movie!
Frank Capra directed. Ronald Coleman and Jane Wyatt starred with Sam Jaffe as the High Llama and Edward Everett Horton and Thomas Mitchell as 'sidekicks'.
Part of this was filmed in Tahquitz Canyon which is not a mile from our house; maybe five minutes of it.
They obviously tarted up the desert landscape with vegetation to take advantage of the beautiful rocks and high waterfall.
In a way, the idea behind the 'lost land' is naive and simple minded. Yet, that is its real appeal. Somehow, it seems that we complicate things.
I really enjoyed seeing it again and its sentimental value as well as the full restoration leads to giving it a high 5 out of Netflix 5.
