In James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon, Shangri-La was a valley of delicate beauty and perfect serenity set against a backdrop of soaring Tibetan mountains. To Movie Producer Ross Hunter, Shangri-La is Burbank, Calif. The mountain range is only 600 ft. long (not bad by studio standards) and made of plaster; in Hollywood, serenity is a realm that lies only beyond the fourth martini or the third joint. Otherwise, Hunter's Shangri-Lathe set for a new musical version of Hilton's novelhas it all over the novel, as well as Frank Capra's 1937 black-and-white Ronald Colman tearjerker.
The four-acre set cost $500,000 more than...
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