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.
Read more about this topic: Lost Horizon (1937 film)
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