Lost Horizon (1937 Film) - Comparison To The Novel

Comparison To The Novel

Hilton's Conway is not as successful as the character in the film version. Rather than the next Foreign Secretary, he is an anonymous, mid-level British consul. Thus, he is not the specific target of the kidnapping, which is merely intended to bring in a few outsiders. However, the High Lama perceives Conway's remarkable affinity for the spirit and goals of Shangri-La and does pass on the mantle of leadership to him before dying. In the book, unlike the film, not everyone in Shangri-La is granted the gift of long life. The delicately beautiful Manchu princess Lo-Tsen is the basis of the Maria character. There is no Sondra in the novel, though Conway does feel a languid attraction to Lo-Tsen. Mallinson, Conway's younger, discontented vice-consul rather than his brother, persuades Conway to leave with him and Lo-Tsen. Mallinson's fate is not revealed, and it is implied that Lo-Tsen brings a sick Conway to a hospital before dying of old age. There, he is found, not as a result of a massive search, but simply by chance by an acquaintance.

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