Published in 1933 - note date.
We had the film at school, and everybody remembers what happens to Lo-Tsen. Terrifying moment. But it was a long time since I'd read the book.
Spoilers alert! Four random Westerners are escaping from an oriental trouble spot on the last plane out. A bluff American (Barnard), a young diplomat (Mallinson), an older diplomat and former army man and explorer (Conway), and a middle-aged woman missionary (Miss Brinkwell). Their plane goes off-course over the Himalayas and eventually crashes, and the pilot dies. Soon a party of Tibetans rescues them and leads them down a perilous route into a beautiful valley, Shangri-La, that's not on any maps.
The story is relayed by Conway, who is first heard of ill with fever in a Chinese hospital.
They stay in the monastery, but meet only one of the personnel, Chang, who gives wonderfully obscure answers to all their questions. Moderation in all things, he says, and the truth is always somewhere in the middle. Yes, of course they can leave with the next party of porters bringing necessities from the far-off outside world. In a month, or six, or a year.
Conway is affected by the beauty and calm of the place, and his shell shock (PTSD) from World War One begins to be soothed. In a distant manner, he falls in love with the only other female inhabitant, the teenage Lo-Tsen. Barnham makes the best of it, Miss Brinkwell sees new souls to save - but Mallinson chafes against the boredom.
Conway is summoned to meet the head Lama. The old man tells him a long story – how the place was discovered by a French missionary, Father Perrault, in the 18th century. How he built the lamasery and became its head. How a local herb plus the atmosphere of the place gave him an incredibly long life. How the whole place is funded by a bottomless gold mine.
"But you understand, don't you," he explains, "That anybody who finds his way here cannot be allowed to leave."
Conway learns more about the lamasery, and meets more of its ageless inhabitants who, with centuries before them, are conducting in-depth scholarship in the library. The monastery is founded on Christian lines, though we see no ceremonies and hear no sermons. The library, collected over hundreds of years, preserves Western civilisation. Lo-Tsen arrived in the late 19th cent, on the way to get married. But she has forgotten such desires, and "is happy". "All that fades in five years," says Chang.
"A great conflagration threatens to destroy Europe," says the head Lama. "But we shall then emerge and re-educate its people about its intellectual heritage."
"You never died, did you, Father Perrault!" says Conway.
"I want you to be my successor," replies Father P.
But then the porters arrive, and Mallinson grabs Conway, saying that if they don't leave now they'll be trapped for ever with "these boring Tibetans"! Mallinson, too, is in love with Lo-Tsen, and they want to escape and lead a normal life. Barnham - on the run from the police - says he'll stay and run the mining operation more efficiently. Miss Brinkwell wants to remain with her potential converts.
So the three set out to meet the porters. It is assumed they make it back to China. We switch back to the gentlemen reconstructing the events. Conway has disappeared again. No mention is made of Mallinson. We're told that Conway was delivered to the hospital by an old, old Chinese woman who soon died herself.
And all we remember of the book and the films is the happy valley where humans can live for ever. Successive films (one is a musical) distorted the story and dropped the patronising Sunday School tone. The book convinced me that Utopias are hell.
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