4. 7 Minutes From The Preview Cut - Lost Horizon
Frank Capra's most epic film was thought to be lost in its original form after it was dismembered and re-cut, first at the behest of studio executives and then again by the US military, who renamed the film Lost Horizon Of Shangri-La and used it to entertain troops during WWII. The original Rough Cut was over 6 hours long, but was cut down by Capra to 210 minutes for the Preview Screening. Feedback was negative, and the movie was cut down further to 132 minutes. Many people attest that this 132 minute version was Capra's preferred version of the film. The "US Military Version" was heavily cut to around 110 minutes. "A lengthy drunken speech delivered by Robert Conway, in which he cynically mocked war and diplomacy, was deleted because it was feared such sentiments expressed at the height of World War II would prove to be unpopular with audiences." After WWII, the film would be cut down again to a mere 92 minutes. According to IMDB, this version was "edited to downplay allegedly communist elements, as well as hints of swinging and various scenes which were felt to present the native children in too positive a light. It was later sold to television in the 1950s. In his article "Restoration Revives Lost Horizon," film critic David Kehr discusses how, as of 1967, "only a spotting script, a transcription of the dialogue prepared for foreign subtitling, as a clue to the film's original form." In 1969, however, Colombia Pictures donated a copy of a deteriorating nitrate print with a 116 minute runtime to the American Film Institute, with hopes it could be restored. Capra argued that this "Colombia Version"had been put together so that he could generate more money in theatres. In 1973, restorationist Robert Gitt started to ask archives from around the world to dig up and send him all available prints of Lost Horizon, hoping that he could piece together a master print from the collective material. "In 1975, three minutes of missing footage (including the pigeon house sequence) turned up at the British Film Institute, along with the long-missing master guide, a complete sound track for the 132-minute version." A few years later, Colman's "Drunken Reverie Scene" was discovered in a French-dubbed copy of the film, owned by a Canadian TV station. Gitt finished the restoration project in 1985, as best he could, filling in the seven minutes of still-missing image track with a mix of production stills and close-ups taken from other sections of the movie. It's entirely possible that one day these elusive fragments will show up, but for the time being they remain missing. It should be noted, though, that - other than one conversation between Conway and the Lama- the missing footage is not incredibly imperative to the development of the film's storyline. When it comes to the Preview Version, Capra claims - in his autobiography - that he had "personally destroyed the first two reels" of the film (though this has been disputed). The 1999 Colombia Tristar DVD release includes three deleted scenes from the Preview Version, as well as the alternate ending (where Sondra was shown waiting for Conway upon his return to Shangri-La). The remaining 7 minutes from the 132 minute version, and the rest of the Preview Version footage, however, have likely been lost forever.