About the book:
Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a movie, also called Lost Horizon, in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery high in the mountains of Tibet.
The book, published in 1933, caught the notice of the public only after Hilton’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips was published in 1934. Lost Horizon became a huge popular success and in 1939 was published in paperback form, as Pocket Book.
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt named the Presidential hideaway in Maryland after Shangri-La. (It has since been renamed Camp David.) Likewise Roosevelt initially claimed the Doolittle Raid came from Shangri-La; this inspired the name of the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La.
The book has been made into two films:
Lost Horizon (1937), directed by Frank Capra
Lost Horizon (1973), directed by Charles Jarrott (musical version)
The book also served as the basis for the unsuccessful 1956 Broadway musical Shangri-La.
Hilton’s novel was adapted for BBC Radio 4 in three-hour-long episodes under its Classic Serial banner.
(from wikipedia)
