Utopian society isolated in the Himalayans welcomes group of plane-crash survivors who are alternately pleased to find refuge there and yet are suspicious of their new home. Handsome film-version of James Hilton's novel was shown in butchered prints for years, and was finally restored to almost its original form by the American Film Institute in 1979 (some missing scenes are represented by stills and the soundtrack only). It's a worthy job for a sterling movie, despite some hammy overacting by Edward Everett Horton and occasionally overwrought melodramatics. Jane Wyatt's skinny-dipping scene can still raise eyebrows, though she's enchanting and the sequence is beautifully filmed. Remade (quite well) with music in 1973.
*** from ****
*** from ****