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00:00♪♪
00:10The makers of Campbell Soup present the Campbell Playhouse.
00:14Orson Welles, producer.
00:16♪♪
00:43Good evening, this is Orson Welles.
00:46Tonight we take you to Shangri-La in the Valley of the Blue Moon.
00:50You may not believe this story, but ladies and gentlemen,
00:54remember please that ever since the human race was articulate,
00:58men have returned with tales of such a place as Shangri-La.
01:02Usually they've been laughed at.
01:05Always they've been doubted, but
01:08never yet been proved that their stories were untrue.
01:12And so tonight we bring you James Hilton's Lost Horizon,
01:15and as our guest of the evening, Miss Sigrid Gury.
01:18Before our story begins, before we move on into the future,
01:21as embodied in the earthly paradise of Shangri-La,
01:25Ernest Chappell invited us to hark back for just a moment to an occasion or two, and here he is.
01:30An occasion or two, ladies and gentlemen, when dinner and the choice of a main dinner dish were especially important.
01:36Perhaps it was a birthday celebration or a wedding anniversary, and you were eating out.
01:41Together you consulted the menu, looked up and...
01:43Well, dear, this is your occasion. What looks good to you?
01:47Um, let's have chicken, shall we?
01:50Sounds good to me. Oh, here's our waiter now.
01:52And then when important company was coming to dinner at your house...
01:55But what shall we have for dinner, darling?
01:58I say let's have chicken. That's something everybody likes.
02:01Let's have chicken.
02:03Haven't you said those very words yourself many and many a time when you wanted to enjoy or to serve an especially fine dinner?
02:09I'll wager you have, because there's no disputing the fact that just about all of us
02:13do have an exceptional liking for chicken in one form or another.
02:17And I think it must be this general liking for chicken that accounts for the constantly growing popularity of Campbell's Chicken Soup.
02:23Every golden drop of this chicken soup brims with rich chicken flavor.
02:28Steeped in the taste of chicken too is the fluffy white rice Campbell's measure into this homey old-fashioned chicken soup.
02:34And you'll enjoy pieces of tender chicken meat in every fragrant plateful.
02:38Have it soon, won't you? Perhaps tomorrow.
02:41I promise you, just as sure as you like chicken, you'll like Campbell's Chicken Soup.
02:47And now Orson Welles in James Hilton's Lost Horizons with Sigrid Gordy.
02:54I say, Sanders, did you ever know a chap named Conway?
02:57You mean Glory Conway? Oh yes, of course I do.
02:59Remember him very well. Wonderful fellow.
03:01He was. Our civilization doesn't breed people like that nowadays.
03:06Remember the uprising at Baskerville?
03:08Soon as the fall dies. Yes, I remember.
03:10They sent Conway up there, you know, to take over.
03:13That's right. There was a wild yarn going about, wasn't there?
03:17But one of the planes that went out never came back.
03:19Yes, the plane did disappear.
03:23There were four people in it. Conway and three others.
03:27I can only tell you this far as he told it to me.
03:31I don't ask you to believe it.
03:33I wouldn't believe it myself except for one small fact.
03:38There were four of them in that plane.
03:41There was Conway. There was Melanson, his assistant.
03:45Just a youngster, but he'd come to be quite fond of him
03:47during the six months they'd worked together at Bath School.
03:50And two others he didn't know.
03:53Miss Brinklow, a missionary, and an American named Barnard.
03:58Conway said he was dog-tired. All he wanted to do was sleep.
04:02As a matter of fact, they were hardly off the ground, he said,
04:05before he was dozing off.
04:07And he doesn't know exactly, but he thinks they must have slept for a certain hour.
04:12Conway! Conway! Conway, look! There's a big break in the clouds!
04:16Conway! Conway, where are we?
04:18I don't know, Melanson.
04:18Hey, what is it?
04:19Something wrong?
04:20I think we're way off our route, Mr. Barnard.
04:22Off our route? We're being kidnapped!
04:23Kidnapped? I've been thinking for so long, Mr. Conway, that something was wrong.
04:27Well, I'll be darned. What's he doing it for?
04:29We'll be chasing her!
04:29Yes, there aren't any flies sitting around here.
04:31We're far past the frontier country by now.
04:33Oh, we'll be in for bed by morning.
04:34If the gas goes out, why, nobody but a lunatic would fly to this sort of country.
04:38Yeah, nobody but a darned fine airman could.
04:45What's wrong? What's happening?
04:46The boat's in the light, Captain. Captain Landry.
04:48How the hell I can see the land in pitch blackness, I don't know.
04:50Well, at any rate, I'm glad it won't.
04:52Conway, who's going to cut us?
04:54Well, here we go.
04:59Rotten landing, rotten.
05:00Oh, I've cut his left wing.
05:03Well, we're not as stable as we are now.
05:05That's certain. Come on, Conway. I'm going forward.
05:08Mallinson.
05:08I'm not scared of this fellow on land, wherever he is.
05:11I'm going to catch him right away.
05:13Go after him from the outside.
05:15Oh, hold on, dear. Hold on.
05:18This is the end of the world.
05:19Better stop him, Conway, before he does something foolish.
05:21Yes.
05:21Mallinson.
05:23Mallinson, come back.
05:25Mallinson!
05:28Mallinson!
05:30Mr. Conway!
05:32I think the pilot's dead.
05:33He's all doubled up over his panel.
05:35All right. Come on.
05:36Let's get him out of the cockpit and the opening.
05:41Rain down here.
05:42Well, what's happened now?
05:43Let's have a look at him.
05:44Strike a match with you some day.
05:45Here, here.
05:46Oh, no use in this wind.
05:48Hard for a thing.
05:50Hey, this isn't our pilot.
05:52He's Chinese.
05:54Be quiet, Mallinson.
05:55Well, I can't help it.
05:55We look like fools telling about striking matches over a cough.
05:58He isn't much of a beauty, is he?
05:59Look, he's becoming cool.
06:02I told you to stop talking.
06:03They say...
06:04Can you understand him, Conway?
06:06How do I look?
06:08Hungry now.
06:10Shut up.
06:13Well, what's the matter, Conway?
06:15He's dead.
06:16Could you understand anything he said?
06:17Very little.
06:19I think they're in Tibet.
06:20It's obvious.
06:21And I gather there's a place near here along the valley.
06:24Some sort of monastery, it sounds right.
06:27We can get food and shelter there.
06:29He kept saying we must go there.
06:32He said its name.
06:33It was Sangri-La.
06:44I shall never forget Conway's vivid description of that lonely place.
06:49It was like a vast emptiness, he said, with mountains on every side.
06:53Mountains rising on top of mountains.
06:56There was a range of them gleaming on the far horizon like a row of dog feet.
07:01But it was the wind, I think, that impressed him most.
07:05Not an ordinary wind.
07:06Not even a strong wind or a cold wind.
07:10A sort of frenzy that lived all round us.
07:14That's how he felt it.
07:16And all through the night, he watched.
07:20At dawn, the wind dropped.
07:24And in the lessening gloom, the valley took shape.
07:28A floor of rock and shingles sloping upwards.
07:31And then, suddenly in the distance, he saw climbing down the steep incline of the mountain,
07:38coming towards him, a party of men.
07:41Tibetan, they looked like.
07:43There were a dozen or more, carrying with them a hooded chair.
07:47In this sat a figure, an elderly Chinese, gray-haired, pale-shaven,
07:54robed in an embroidered gown of rich blue silk.
07:58I know my songs.
08:00We have with us food and wine, if you will honor me by accepting our slight hospitality.
08:06After that, we can start, but our journey is long and somewhat difficult.
08:10Now, if we could borrow a couple of your men for guides and some swords,
08:14I think we can get along all right by ourselves.
08:16I'm afraid that would be quite impossible.
08:18I regret that it will be necessary for you to return with me to the lamissary.
08:22The lamissary?
08:23Yes.
08:24I shall try to arrange for guides for you there.
08:26I'm sorry, but we must conclude on your hospitality this way.
08:29We are always delighted to receive guests from the outside.
08:32Well, we won't be there long, I promise you that.
08:35And we'll pay for everything we have.
08:37We'll pay for our journey and our guides back.
08:39We want to return to civilization as soon as possible.
08:42My dear sir, are you so very certain that you are away from...
09:00From the plateau to the lamissary, it took them ten hours.
09:05It was bitterly cold.
09:07At one time, they were forced to rope themselves together.
09:10Conway seemed very pleased that here at least he was of some use.
09:14He'd done a lot of mountain climbing in the Swiss Alps and knew all the tricks.
09:18And then, very late in the afternoon, without warning, Conway said,
09:23they stepped out onto level ground,
09:26out of that mist and cold into clear, sunny air.
09:32Far below them, under the setting sun, was the lamissary,
09:37a group of colored pavilions clinging to the mountainside
09:40with the chance delicacy of flower petals impaled upon a crag.
09:45That's how he described it.
09:46And beyond that, in a dazzling pyramid,
09:49shimmering against the deep electric blue of the evening sky,
09:53was the most beautiful mountain on earth.
09:56It was so radiant, so serenely poised,
10:00that for a moment, he wondered if it was really tall.
10:04There's our valley.
10:06And there is our lamissary.
10:08It is called Sangre La.
11:04I hope our simple dinner has pleased you, Mr. Barnard.
11:10Well, I've been around a lot, Mr. Chang, but I've never tasted food like this.
11:13I've never seen anything like this place.
11:15Bathtubs from Akron, Ohio, steam heating.
11:17Lord, what haven't you got?
11:18You see, here at Sangre La, we are less barbarian than you expect us to be.
11:23We have a rather complete library for monastery,
11:25a certain amount of art specialism.
11:27That girl up there, strange.
11:29I've never heard 17th century music so well.
11:31She's charming.
11:33Who is she?
11:34Her name is La Tène.
11:36She has much skill with western keyboard music.
11:38She's a girl that's hardly more than a child.
11:40How old is she?
11:41I am afraid I cannot tell you.
11:44Not giving away secrets about a lady's age, is that it?
11:46Precisely.
11:47Yes, yes, well, that's all very interesting.
11:50Uh, but it's time we began to discuss translating away, Mr. Chang.
11:53I... I am sorry.
11:57I am very, very sorry.
11:59But surely you can do something.
12:01You have math, I suppose?
12:02Oh, yes, yes, a great many.
12:04All right.
12:05I suppose you must have some communication with the outside world.
12:08How far is it to the nearest telegraph line?
12:10Well, where do you send...
12:12Where do you send to when you want anything civilized?
12:15It is quite true, Mr. Malleton, that from time to time
12:18we do require certain things from distant parts.
12:21And there is such a consignment expected shortly.
12:23Perhaps when the port has arrived.
12:26When do they arrive?
12:27The exact date is, of course, impossible to forecast.
12:31Oh, all right, all right.
12:32Well, I'll say no more, then.
12:34Not tonight, but in the morning.
12:36I warn you, but in the morning, I intend leaving.
12:39Good night.
12:41I'm sorry my friend is so upset tonight.
12:43I, too, am sorry.
12:45You and none of you, I am sure, regret your sojourn with us
12:47in our little valley in the shadow of Caracal.
12:50Caracal.
12:52Is that the name of that mountain you told me?
12:54Yes.
12:55It is beautiful, is it not?
12:57And very tall.
12:59Over 28,000 feet.
13:02Caracal.
13:03In the valley come, Mr. Conway, Caracal means blue moon.
13:09Blue moon.
13:30Please, don't stop, Mr. Conway.
13:33Oh, I'm sorry.
13:34I didn't see you come in, though, Sam.
13:36You play very well.
13:37Oh, no, not really.
13:38I lead a pretty busy life, and I don't get near a piano very often.
13:41Please go on playing.
13:42If you don't, I shall have to go away.
13:44Oh, but why?
13:45It is not usual in the beginning that we talk to the guest.
13:48But it's not forbidden.
13:49No, but it's not forbidden.
13:52It's not forbidden.
13:53It's not forbidden.
13:54It's not forbidden.
13:55It's not forbidden.
13:56It's not forbidden.
13:57It's not forbidden.
13:58It's not forbidden.
13:59But I'm not sure that John would approve.
14:01Dear, I suggest we do not discuss, Mr. Conway, either with you or amongst ourselves.
14:05Oh, I'm sorry.
14:07Your friend, Mr. Mallington, is not so polite.
14:10He tries to make me talk.
14:12Oh, you mustn't mind Mallington.
14:13He means all right, but he's rather an excitable young man.
14:16I don't think he's very happy here.
14:18No, he's not at all happy.
14:20He feels sometimes very lonely.
14:24Oh, well, he's young.
14:26That makes a difference.
14:28Yes, it makes a great deal of difference.
14:59The End
15:13Conway said that in that place it was difficult to estimate the path of his time.
15:18He said it must have been about the fourth night after they got to Zangri La
15:23that John came to him one day with a message.
15:26The message was a summons from the High Lama.
15:29Together they went across the empty courtyard,
15:32then up a steep spiral staircase,
15:35and as they climbed, Conway said he was aware of a strange sensation,
15:40a dry, tingling warmth,
15:43as if all the windows were tightly closed
15:46and some kind of steam heating plant was working at full pressure.
15:50Then, finally, they were standing before a door which opened and closed again
15:56and Conway found he was alone.
15:59He said he stood there for a moment, hesitant,
16:03breathing an atmosphere that was not only sultry but full of dust,
16:08for there were several seconds before he could accustom himself to this loneliness.
16:13Then, slowly, he became aware of a small, pale, and wrinkled person,
16:20motionlessly shadowed like some alien antique portrait in the warm dust.
16:27He felt dizzy under the gaze of those ancient eyes.
16:34Oh.
16:36You are Mr. Conway.
16:38I am.
16:39It is a pleasure to see you, Mr. Conway.
16:42Please sit down beside me.
16:45I am an old man and can be slow in any form.
16:48I feel it is a signal honored to be received by you.
16:51Thank you, my dear Conway.
16:53I shall call you that according to the English fashion.
16:57Joan tells me that you have been asking many questions about our community.
17:01It is a pleasure.
17:02I am certainly interested.
17:03Then, if you can spare me a little time,
17:05I shall be pleased to give you a brief account of our foundation.
17:10Tell me, my dear Conway,
17:13are you familiar with a general outline of Tibetan history?
17:17I found in your excellent library some interesting annals of these regions,
17:21but curiously enough, nothing of the history of Shangri-La.
17:25There is a reason for that, as you will see.
17:27And in all the maps of this area, both ancient and modern,
17:30there is no mention of Caracal or the Valley of the Blue Moon.
17:34That, too, is for a reason you will soon understand.
17:38The ancient history of Shangri-La
17:42is the history of a Catholic priest named Fr. Perrault.
17:48Before devoting himself to Far Eastern missions,
17:52Perrault had studied at Paris, Bologna, and other universities.
17:55He was something of a scholar.
17:58But he was not an ascetic.
18:00He enjoyed the good things of the world
18:02and was careful to teach his converts cooking as well as catechism.
18:08In the year 1719,
18:12Perrault set out from Pekin with three other Catholic emperors.
18:16They traveled southwest for many months
18:20by Langchao and the Kokonor,
18:23facing terrible hardship.
18:26The three others died on the way,
18:28and Fr. Perrault was not far from death,
18:31when, by accident,
18:34he stumbled into the rocky defile that remains today,
18:38his only practical approach to the valley of the Blue Moon.
18:43Perrault began to preach here in the year 1734,
18:48when he was 53 years of age.
18:51His was a full life,
18:54and he had accomplished much when, in the year 1789,
18:58news descended to the valley that Perrault was dying at last.
19:04He lay in this room, my dear Conway,
19:07where he could see from the windows the white blur
19:10that was all his failing eyesight gave him of Caracal.
19:15But he could see with his mind also.
19:19His mind was tracing to a snow-white calm.
19:23He was ready, willing, and glad to die.
19:27He gathered his friends and servants around him
19:29and begged them all farewell.
19:31Then he asked to be left alone a while,
19:33and it was during such a solitude
19:36that his body's thinking and his mind lifted to beatitude
19:40that he had hoped to give up his soul.
19:44But it did not happen so.
19:48He lay for many weeks without speech or movement.
19:51And then, my dear Conway,
19:55he began to recover.
19:57He was then 108.
20:01When the last of the old monks died,
20:04in 1794, Perrault himself was still living.
20:09He was then 113 years of age.
20:14You will wish to know how he spent his time
20:16during those unprecedented years.
20:20You see, Father Perrault's attitude may be summed up
20:22by saying that as he had not died at a normal age,
20:25he began to feel that there was no discoverable reason
20:28why he either should or should not do so
20:31at any definite time in the future.
20:34Having already proved himself abnormal,
20:36it was as easy to believe that the abnormality might continue
20:40as to expect it to end at any moment.
20:44I think I understand, Father.
20:46Can you indeed?
20:48And can you understand anything else
20:51after this long and curious story of mine?
20:54It seems impossible,
20:56yet I can't help thinking of it.
20:58It is punishing and extraordinary and quite incredible,
21:02and yet not absolutely beyond my positive belief.
21:06What is, my son?
21:09You are still alive, Father Perrault.
21:28You are listening to Orson Welles
21:30in the Campbell Playhouse presentation of Lost Horizons
21:33with Siegfried Gury.
21:35This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.
21:41This is Ernest Chappell, ladies and gentlemen,
21:43welcoming you back to the Campbell Playhouse.
21:45In a moment, we shall resume our presentation
21:47of James Hilton's Lost Horizons.
21:49And in that moment, I'd like to take you
21:51to one of the most beautiful places in the world,
21:54the presentation of James Hilton's Lost Horizons.
21:57And in that moment, I'd like to take you back
21:59across the high plateau of Tibet,
22:01back from this strange corner of the world
22:03to the familiar surroundings of your own home,
22:05in order to remind you that more soup is eaten in December
22:08than in any other month of the year.
22:10There are a number of good reasons
22:12why December is the top soup-eating month,
22:14but of them all, I think these two are most important.
22:17First, December ushers in winter,
22:20and most mothers realize that good, hot soup
22:22in the winter diet not only nourishes
22:24and warms us pleasantly, but served frequently
22:27can help fortify us.
22:29Second, December is of all months
22:31the month of entertaining,
22:33of open house when relatives and friends drop in
22:35and gather at the table.
22:37And wise hostesses have learned that no dish
22:39can more quickly or more successfully
22:41transform even a simple meal,
22:43give it a festive holiday touch,
22:45than a well-chosen soup.
22:47Will soup be on your table frequently this month?
22:50And will you let Campbell's make this soup for you
22:52as millions will?
22:54I know that whatever Campbell's soup you may select,
22:57you'll be delighted to find the same full-flavored
22:59nourishing soup that you would strive for
23:01in your own kitchen.
23:03And now, Orton Wells resumes our Campbell Playhouse
23:06presentation of Lost Horizons with secret goodies.
23:10Another whisky tender, safe.
23:12Say, Wayne, where's the booze?
23:15Oh, it's getting awfully late, never mind.
23:18Please go on, about Conway.
23:20Yes, it is quite a story, isn't it?
23:22You see, from the time Conway got to that monastery place
23:27to the night when he told me about it,
23:29nearly a year had passed,
23:31and still no one knows what he'd been through.
23:34But the way he told his story,
23:36and the way he described it all,
23:38it was as though he were living it all over again,
23:41every minute, every detail of it.
23:44I remember the tone of his voice
23:46as he spoke of the High Lama.
23:48I remember the silence exactly as he described it,
23:52the silence between him and that ancient figure
23:56in that airless, half-lit room.
23:59It may have lasted but a second,
24:01though it seemed an hour, an eternity,
24:04that he sat there staring at the ancient face
24:07of the High Lama.
24:08It was disembodied.
24:10It seemed to glow out of that yellow dust
24:13like a fragment of an old parchment.
24:21In the course of those next years,
24:25a few rare strangers found their way to the valley
24:29and were welcomed.
24:31A Chinese merchant found his way here in 1822,
24:35a Greek trader in 1830,
24:37and in 1845, a French musician,
24:40a pupil of Chopin.
24:42Later, an Englishman, two Russians, a German,
24:46and night and day centuries kept constant watch
24:49on the entrance to the Defile.
24:52And more than one party of explorers,
24:55glowing in their first distant glimpse of Caracal,
24:59encountered messengers bearing a cordial invitation,
25:03one that was rarely declined.
25:06Yes, we were greeted and welcomed?
25:08Yes, my dear Conway.
25:11Of course, our invitation is subject to one
25:14very important and invariable proviso.
25:17And that is?
25:19You intend to keep us here?
25:22That, I take it, is the important and invariable proviso.
25:26You have guessed correctly, my son.
25:28In other words, we are to stay at Shangri-La forever?
25:33I should greatly prefer to employ your excellent English idiom
25:38and say that we are all here for good.
25:43For good.
25:45What puzzles me is,
25:47why out of all the rest of the world's inhabitants,
25:49whom far should have been chosen?
25:51In recent years, our number has been shrinking.
25:55Even in Shangri-La, we are mortals.
25:58And a serious problem was beginning to arise.
26:00You mean that pilot was sent out deliberately
26:02to bring someone back by air?
26:04My son, you are still, I should say,
26:08a youngish man by the world standard.
26:11Your life, as people say, lies ahead of you.
26:17Yes, in the normal course,
26:19you might expect only 20 or 30 years
26:22of gradually diminishing activity.
26:25Youth and old age between those two clouds.
26:31What small and narrow sunlight
26:33illumines a man's lifetime.
26:37But you, it may be,
26:39are destined to be more fortunate.
26:42Since by the standards of Shangri-La,
26:46your sunlit years have scarcely yet begun.
26:50You will have time.
26:54Time, that rare and lovely gift
26:57that your western countries have lost
26:59the more they have pursued it.
27:02You make no comment, my dear.
27:05I've been deeply impressed, Father Thoreau.
27:08As things you've told me,
27:10I still don't entirely comprehend their significance.
27:13Here in Shangri-La, my son,
27:15we have a dream and a vision.
27:19It is a vision that first appeared to me
27:21when I lay dying in this room in the year 1789.
27:27I looked back then on my long life,
27:29as I have already told you,
27:31and it seemed to me that all the loveliest things
27:34were transient and perishable,
27:37and that war, lust, and brutality
27:39might someday crush them
27:41until there were no more left in the world.
27:44I saw the nations strengthening,
27:47not in wisdom, but in vulgar passions
27:50and the will to destroy.
27:52And I perceived that when they had filled the land
27:55and sea with ruin, they would take to the air.
27:58I foresaw a time when men,
28:00exultant in the technique of homicide,
28:03would rage so hotly over the world
28:06that every precious thing would be in danger.
28:10Every book and picture and harmony,
28:15every treasure garnered through two millenniums,
28:19the small, the delicate, the defenseless,
28:25all would be lost like the lost books of Livy
28:28or wrecked as the English wrecked the Summer Palace in Peking.
28:32I share your opinion of that.
28:33And that, my son, is why I am here,
28:36and why you are here,
28:39and why we may pray to outlive the doom
28:41that gathers around us on Earth.
28:43That when that time comes,
28:45that Shangri-La will escape perhaps.
28:48We expect no mercy,
28:49but we may faintly hope for neglect.
28:53Here we shall stay with our books
28:55and our music and our meditation,
28:59conserving the frail elegances of a dying age
29:04and seeking such wisdom as men will need
29:08when their passions are all spent.
29:12We have a heritage to cherish and bequeath.
29:17Let us take what pleasure we may until that time comes.
29:21Yes.
29:23And then, my son,
29:26when the strong have devoured each other,
29:30the Christian ethic may at last be fulfilled
29:36and the weak shall inherit the Earth.
29:48I declare, I believe there's a storm coming up.
29:50Somehow I never expected that here.
29:52I don't think it'll touch us here in the valley.
29:54Sure hate to be out there in that pass, though.
29:56That place is murdered.
29:57Well, well, we've all got to face it sooner or later.
29:59All four of us.
30:00Those porters will be here any day now.
30:02I don't imagine we'll have perfect weather all the way to India.
30:05No, I don't think we will.
30:06That's one of the reasons why I think I'll let this first trip pass.
30:09There'll be other porters later.
30:11You mean to say you're not coming with us?
30:13That's it.
30:16Well, I suppose it's your own affair
30:18that nobody can prevent you from stopping here for all your life.
30:21It's not what everybody would choose to do, but ideas differ.
30:23What do you say, Conway?
30:24I agree. Ideas differ.
30:26As a matter of fact, there's a very practical reason why I think I'll stay on.
30:29I don't know whether you people guessed it or not,
30:31but it was not Barnard.
30:33Not Barnard?
30:34Never was.
30:35I'm Chalmers Bryant.
30:37Chalmers Bryant.
30:38You don't mean that Wall Street fellow?
30:40The international swindler?
30:41That's me.
30:42I had some friends in Woodstock that lost all they had through you.
30:45I'm sorry.
30:46Well, you certainly played fast and loose with a lot of other people's money.
30:49And why?
30:50Because those same people all wanted something for nothing
30:52and hadn't the brains to get it for themselves.
30:53That's nonsense.
30:54I'll tell you another thing, too.
30:56There's gold in this valley, and tons of it.
30:58What's more, I've got permission to prospect it.
31:00Maybe I can give them tips on how to increase the output.
31:03Maybe even someday I'll have...
31:04There.
31:05A common thief,
31:06facing a life behind prison bars.
31:08No wonder he wants to stay here.
31:09I'm not facing a life behind prison bars, Mr. Mallinson.
31:12And I think I'll stay on, too.
31:13What?
31:14No, Miss Brinklow.
31:15Yes.
31:16I've done a lot of thinking the last few weeks, and my mind's made up.
31:19It's quite obvious that I have a call.
31:21This place is in urgent need of a mission.
31:23I'm strongly opposed to this doctrine of moderation.
31:26In my opinion, it's nothing but slackness and laxity.
31:29It's plain to me now that I've a lot of work to do here.
31:33A lot of work.
31:39A lot of work.
32:00Thank you, Lieutenant.
32:01It was beautiful.
32:02Mr. Conway, you have seen the High Llama?
32:05Yes.
32:06He told you everything?
32:08What do you mean?
32:09The story of Father Perrault, of the Llamas, of me.
32:13The High Llama did not mention you, Lieutenant.
32:15He told me a great deal about the history of Shangri-La and the work he's doing.
32:19And you found it interesting?
32:20More than that.
32:21I was thinking just now as you played
32:23how much Shangri-La has come to mean to me.
32:26How much these hours here in the music room with you have come to mean.
32:31Do the others feel like this, too?
32:34I'm afraid not.
32:35But then, we're all of us different.
32:37Each of us, I dare say, Shangri-La holds a special meaning.
32:40Except, I think, for Mr. Mallington.
32:43He will never be contented here, Mr. Conway.
32:46Never.
32:47No, I suppose not.
32:48He has no idea, then, of what the Llama has told you.
32:51You haven't told him.
32:52Naturally not.
32:53And you believe.
32:55You believe all that you've been told.
32:58Well, I see no reason why the High Llama should lie to me.
33:02No.
33:03No, of course not.
33:05Of course not.
33:07Oh, my darling.
33:36Have there been many who have tried to escape from Shangri-La?
33:39Escape from Mr. Conway?
33:41Is that really the word that should be used?
33:43After all, the path is open to anyone at any time.
33:47I can only hope none of your friends would be so rash as to attempt so difficult a journey.
33:52There's Mr. Mallington.
33:54He's young, of course.
33:56But others, too.
33:57Lutzen, for instance, was young when she first came to us.
34:00Was young?
34:02Her carriers lost their way in the mountains.
34:04She was betrothed to a prince of Turkestan and was traveling to Kashgar to meet him.
34:08The whole party would doubtless have perished but for the customary meeting with our emissaries.
34:12When did this happen?
34:131884.
34:14She was 18.
34:1618?
34:17In 1884?
34:18Yes.
34:19If you will forgive me a personal question, Mr. Conway,
34:23is it possible that you are falling in love with Lutzen?
34:26What makes you ask that?
34:28Because if it is so, it would be quite, uh, appreciable.
34:32Which, of course, in moderation.
34:34Even love, then, fits into your scheme of things.
34:37The hospitality of Shangri-La is of a most comprehensive kind, Mr. Conway.
34:42Yes, I think I quite realize that by now.
34:44Tell me, Mr. Giant, how old were you when you first came to Shangri-La?
34:49I was quite young.
34:50Only 22.
34:52I am now 104.
34:54When did you first begin to grow old, in appearance?
34:58I was over 70.
35:00That is often the case, though I think I may still claim to look younger than my year.
35:06Oh, decidedly.
35:08And suppose you were to leave the valley now.
35:11What would happen?
35:12Death.
35:13If I remained away for more than a very few days.
35:16But even if I were fortunate enough not to die,
35:19I would immediately acquire the full appearance of my actual age.
35:23The atmosphere, then, is essential?
35:25Mr. Conway, in the whole world there is only one Valley of the Blue Moon.
35:47You sent for me, Father?
35:49I did.
35:52You are unhappy, my son.
35:53Not for myself, Father.
35:54I've never known such happiness as I've enjoyed here.
35:57It's as if I've been searching for a long, long time.
36:00Blast, I've come to the end of that search.
36:02Then it is for the others you are unhappy.
36:04For one of them.
36:05The other two are quite content, it seems.
36:07Yes.
36:08Miss Brinklow wishes to convert us.
36:11Mr. Barnard would also like to convert us into a gold mining corporation.
36:18But your friend, to whom neither gold nor religion can offer solace.
36:24How about him?
36:25Yes, he's going to be the problem.
36:27I'm afraid he's going to be your problem.
36:30Why mine?
36:32Oh.
36:34Ah, very storms.
36:35They are nothing.
36:37Caracol sends us storms at this time of the year.
36:42But we are quite secure.
36:44You said, Father, that Valentine was going to be my problem.
36:47Why mine, in particular?
36:49Because, my son, I'm going to die.
36:53Yes, perhaps.
36:55But surely, my friend, we are all mortal, even the Shangri-La.
37:00Father.
37:01It is charming of you to appear so concerned.
37:05And I will not pretend that there is not a touch of wistfulness, even at my age, in contemplating death.
37:13Fortunately, little is left of me that can die physically.
37:17And as for the rest, all our religions display a pleasant unanimity of optimism.
37:26There remains to me, before I go, one final duty that concerns you, my son.
37:31You do me a great honor.
37:32I have in mind to do much more than that.
37:35I am about to place in your hands, my son, the heritage and destiny of Shangri-La.
37:42I have waited for you, my son, for quite a long time.
37:46I have sat in this room and seen the faces of newcomers.
37:50I have looked into their eyes and heard their voices, always in hope that someday I might find you.
37:58My friend, it is not an arduous task that I bequeath, for our order knows only silk and bond.
38:07To be gentle and patient, to care for the riches of the mind, to preside in wisdom and secrecy, while the storm rages without.
38:21The storm? This storm you're talking about?
38:24It will be such a one, my son, as the world has not seen before us.
38:29There will be no safety by arms, no help from authority, no answer in silence.
38:38It will rage till every flower of culture is trampled and all human beings are leveled in a vast chaos.
38:48Such was my vision when Napoleon was still a name unknown, and I see it now more clearly with each hour.
38:54You think this will come in my time?
38:56I believe that you will live through the storm and after, through the long age of desolation.
39:05You may still be of use, growing older and wiser and more patient.
39:14You will conserve the fragrance of our history and add to it the touch of your own mind.
39:23Beyond that, my vision weakens, but I see it.
39:28At a great distance, a new world stirring in ruins, amidst lost and legendary treasures.
39:39And they will all be here, my son, preserved as by a miracle, hidden behind the mountains and the valley of the blue moon.
39:54The speaking had finished. The voice was silent.
40:09Conwest was there, looking at that face before him, full of a remote and drenching beauty.
40:19Then the glow faded and there was nothing left but a mask, dark shadows and crumbling like old wood.
40:29And Conway told me that it was only after a long time that it came to him as part of a dream, that the High Llama was dead.
40:43Conway! Conway! I've got the porters.
40:46The porters? Yes, they're about five miles down the path.
40:48They came yesterday loaded with books and things.
40:50You're thinking of going out to them?
40:51Oh, naturally.
40:52Oh, Mallinson, as long as you do get beyond the pass and find the porters waiting there, how do you know they'll take you with them?
40:58It all needs arrangements, negotiations beforehand.
41:01Well, they have been arranged. They have been paid in advance and they've agreed to take us.
41:05Who's been making all these plans?
41:07Joseph.
41:08Who?
41:09Joseph.
41:10Who?
41:11No, Sam. She's with the porters now, down below the pass. She's waiting.
41:16Waiting?
41:17Yes. She's coming with us. I assume you've no objections?
41:21No, Sam. That's nonsense. It's impossible.
41:24It's not impossible. You think you know a great deal more about her than I do, I dare say. But it seems you don't.
41:29Oh, just think of it, Conway. A kid of her age shut up here with a lot of old men. Naturally she'd get away if she had a chance.
41:36She said she'd come. She wanted to come.
41:41Hang it all, Conway. Don't stare at me like that.
41:44Mallinson, I've got to tell you the truth. I hope when you've heard it you'll realize at least why Loke Penn can't possibly go back with you.
41:52Well, there isn't anything that would make me believe that. But go ahead.
41:55There's something about this valley, Mallinson. Something that makes it different from other places, from any other place on earth.
42:03There are men living here. You've seen them. Who were young when your grandparents were already old.
42:10Oh, and you think that...
42:11Loke Penn is no different from the others. Loke Penn is not young.
42:17Not young?
42:19The first you'll tell me is that he came here in 1884.
42:221884?
42:23And she was 18 then.
42:25That makes sense.
42:27She was 18 then.
42:28Conway. Conway, you're raving. You're raving!
42:32Her beauty, Mallinson, like all other beauty in the world, lies at the mercy of those who do not know how to value it.
42:38It's a fragile thing that can live only where fragile things are loved.
42:42Take it away from this valley and you will see it fade like an echo.
42:46You will see her for what she is. An old woman.
42:50Conway, I don't believe you. I never will. I think you're off your head.
42:55I'm sorry if you think that, Mallinson.
42:57They warned me about that in India. I thought they were wrong.
43:01What did they warn you of?
43:02They said that you'd been blown up in the war and that you'd be queer at times ever since.
43:06Mallinson!
43:07Well, that settles it. I'll go now alone.
43:10I don't know how I'll manage to climb without you.
43:13No flicks with a rope.
43:15Almost certain death.
43:17But I must go. I gave my word.
43:20Loke Penn?
43:21Yes.
43:22Mallinson, won't you come with Conway?
43:24I hate imploring you for my own sake, but I'm young and we've been friends.
43:28And Loke Penn, too. She's young. Doesn't she count at all?
43:32Mallinson, there's just one question I'd like to ask.
43:35Yes?
43:37Are you in love with Loke Penn?
43:39I... I... dare say I am.
43:42Oh, Conway, it's that stupid nonsense about her being old.
43:46Conway, you can't believe that. You just can't!
43:49How can you really know she's young?
43:51Because you'll think less of me for it. Because I do know.
43:54Oh, I... I'm afraid you'll never properly understand her, Conway.
43:58And you do. And she's young.
44:01And you're sure of that?
44:03Just a girl, Conway.
44:05I was terribly sorry for her and we were both attracted.
44:10I don't see there's anything to be ashamed of.
44:14She's young.
44:16I know.
44:19I understand.
44:22Mallinson, I don't know whether I've been mad and I'm now sane,
44:25or whether I've been sane for a time and I'm now mad again.
44:29Well, Conway...
44:33Do you think you could manage that tricky bit on the pass for the rope if I were with you?
44:40You see, I think at the last moment the thing happened to Conway
44:46that so often happens to the dreamers of the world.
44:50His dream had dissolved, like all too lovely things,
44:55at the first touch of reality.
44:58I think he realized, too, that his mind dwelt in a world of its own.
45:02Its own Shangri-La.
45:04And that with there going, Mallinson and Lode said,
45:08that world was in peril.
45:10He saw the corridors of his imagination twist and strain under the impact.
45:14The pavilions were toppling and all about was ruin.
45:16Good heavens, man, you talk as though...
45:19You don't mean you really believe this story, do you?
45:23I wouldn't believe it.
45:25Except for one very small fact.
45:28And that is?
45:30Two weeks ago, I went back to the hospital at Jungang
45:33and looked up the young Chinese doctor who'd had charge of Conway's case.
45:37He remembered him perfectly.
45:39The Englishman who'd lost his memory.
45:42Was it true he'd been brought to the mission hospital by a woman, I asked?
45:46Oh, yes, certainly by a woman.
45:48A Chinese woman.
45:50She said something about a companion,
45:52a young Englishman who'd died on the way.
45:55Did he remember anything about her?
45:58Nothing, he answered,
46:00except that she'd been ill with fever herself and had died almost immediately.
46:05Then I asked him one final question.
46:10I dared say he couldn't guess what it was.
46:13About that Chinese woman, I said.
46:16Was she young?
46:18Yes, and what did he say?
46:20He looked at me solemnly for a moment.
46:23Then he answered,
46:25oh, no.
46:27She was most old.
46:30Most old of anyone I had ever seen.
46:35The last you heard of Conway was three months ago from Bangkok, eh?
46:39Yes.
46:40And he was going northwest.
46:43Of course, many places lie northwest of Bangkok,
46:46including the Valley of the Blue Moon.
46:51Do you think we'll ever find it again?
46:59My friend,
47:04it is not an arduous task that I bequeath,
47:08for our order knows only silk and bonds.
47:13To be gentle and patient,
47:17to care for the riches of the mind,
47:22to preside in wisdom and secrecy
47:26while the storm rages without.
47:31Such a storm, my son, as the world has not seen before.
47:37There will be no safety by arms, no help from authority,
47:41no answer in science.
47:45But I see it,
47:48at a great distance, a new world,
47:52stirring in the wind,
47:55seeking its lost and legendary treasures.
48:01And they will all be here, my son,
48:05preserved as by a miracle,
48:10hidden behind the mountains
48:15in the Valley of the Blue Moon.
48:35THE LAST HORIZON
48:53You have been listening to Orson Welles
48:55in the Campbell Playhouse presentation of Lost Horizon with Siegfried Gury.
48:59Mr. Welles will return to the microphone with his guest of the evening in just a moment.
49:02Meanwhile, one quick reminder.
49:05You'll be serving soup frequently these December days, won't you?
49:08I'm sure you will.
49:10And in letting Campbell's make the soup for you, as I hope you will,
49:13may I suggest you think often of Campbell's chicken soup?
49:16You'll find its full, rich chicken flavor will delight your family and your guests.
49:21And they'll enjoy, too, the fluffy rice and tempting pieces of tender chicken meat
49:25that help to make this chicken soup of Campbell's so homelike in taste and good nourishment.
49:30Come over tomorrow, why don't you?
49:32If you will, then I know with your very first spoonful you'll understand why I say,
49:37just as sure as you like chicken, you like Campbell's chicken soup.
49:41And now I see Orson Welles is ready. Mr. Welles.
49:44Here by my side, ladies and gentlemen, is a lady whom you've already admired in many continents of the world.
49:49In Asia, in Marco Polo, in Africa, in Algiers, and more recently in South America, in the picture Rio.
49:57Tonight she was in Tibet playing La Tsen.
50:00But for whose charms the story of Shangri-La might never have reached the outside world.
50:05Beautiful secret, Guri.
50:07Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Orson Welles.
50:10And thank you especially for inviting me here to Campbell's Playhouse.
50:13I hear your productions very often, and tonight being here in the studio with you,
50:18acting in one of them, is really an exciting experience for me.
50:22That's very nice of you, Miss Guri. Thank you.
50:24Good night, Orson Welles. Good night, Miss Guri.
50:27And ladies and gentlemen, next week, next Sunday night,
50:33our favorite and foremost guest, Miss Helen Hayes,
50:37returns once more to the Campbell Playhouse.
50:40Our production Vanessa, U Walthall's magnificent love story of modern England.
50:45And Vanessa is not only the heroine of a great love story,
50:48she is also one of Helen Hayes' favorite characters.
50:51And it was Miss Hayes' own choice for her next appearance on the Campbell Playhouse.
50:56And so until next Sunday night, until Vanessa, my sponsors, the makers of Campbell Soup,
51:01and all of us here in the Campbell Playhouse remain obedient for yours.
51:05The makers of Campbell Soup join Orson Welles in inviting you to be with us
51:08in the Campbell Playhouse again next Sunday evening,
51:11when we bring you our exclusive Playhouse star, Miss Helen Hayes,
51:14and her delightful love story, Vanessa.
51:16In the meantime, if you've enjoyed tonight's Playhouse presentation,
51:19won't you tell your grocer so tomorrow when you order Campbell's Chicken Soup?
51:23This is Ernest Chappell saying thank you and good night.
51:28This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.