Lost Horizon

Conway!

We can't take more than seven.

All right. I'm sorry. Another plane in a minute.

All right.

Wait, everybody.

Plenty of planes are coming. Have patience, we'll be all right.

- It won't be long! - Don't worry.

Leave everything to my brother.

- Yes, sir, 10 passengers aboard. - 10 passengers. Good.

Say, get me Shanghai.

- Is Colonel Marsh there? - Right here, Conway. Go ahead.

I need more planes. I've still about 30 people to get out.

- Where are the planes you promised? - We sent all we could find.

They better get here, or I can't be responsible...

- I think I hear motors. - Wait a minute, they may be here now.

George, get down on the field and guide those planes in.

Be sure none of the natives get in.

- Hello, Colonel? - Hello, Conway.

- Thanks, and take care of your liver. - My word!

Get ready, everyone. Planes are here. One at a time. Children first.

Where are they? Come stand over here. Where's the mother?

- They're orphans. - I see. You come here, and you...

- What about us, Mr. Conway? - Wait your turn. Come on, you.

Take some of those squealing men with you first.

They might faint on you. I'll wait.

Just as you say. You, madam. Come through here. Wait on one side.

- Don't lose your heads! - What was that explosion?

They've blown up the powerhouse! The planes can't land without lights.

We'll burn the hangar. That will make light for them.

There's going to be a big fire.

All right. Go ahead!

We go on the next plane. Bring out any people that are left.

- Hello, Fenner. - Hello, Conway. Having a little trouble?

Never mind me. Get this gadget off the ground.

- Bob, these are all that are left. - Quick.

You can't leave me here, you blighter! I'm a British subject.

Look out, Bob!

All right, Fenner. Go ahead!

Down on the floor!

Go ahead, Fenner!

Let's go!

I guess we're out of range.

- Everybody all right? - That was close.

I've never been in a situation like this in my life.

- Where do you come from? - I'm Alexander P. Lovett.

- Why aren't you registered? - It'd serve you right to be left behind.

How could I know a war was going to break out over my head?

Right over my head. My word! Those Chinese were pouncing on me.

I had to get into these ridiculous clothes in order to escape.

- Where were you hiding? - Hiding? No.

Hunting. I was in the interior hunting fossils.

- This morning I looked up suddenly... - And a war broke out right over your head!

Next time you're in wild country like this, keep in touch with the British consul.

Very good, Freshie.

Put his name on the list and make out a report later.

I beg your pardon, brother.

- What did you say you were hunting? - Fossils.

- Fossils? - I'm a palaeontologist.

- A what? - A palaeontologist.

I see.

I have here a discovery that will startle the world.

It's the vertebra from the lumbar of a Megatherium, found in Asia.

- What do you know about that? - Found in Asia.

When I get home, I'll probably be knighted for it.

You don't say!

- Do you mind if I take a look at it? - Not at all.

Sorry.

This is the only thing I was able to save when those heathens surrounded me.

From this vertebra, I'll be able to reconstruct...

...the entire skeleton...

You expect to be knighted for finding that soup bone?

This is the vertebra of a Megatherium found in Asia.

I remember. You said that before.

Sir Henry Derwent was knighted. He never got beyond the Mesozoic era.

- Poor fellow! - Yes, it just shows...

I don't know why I'm talking to you. Who are you?

- Okay, brother. - Don't call me "brother."

Okay, sister.

No offence.

Cigarette?

- I say, will you have a cigarette? - No.

You're an American, aren't you?

Go and annoy the rest of your playmates. Let me alone.

Look what I found. Just what I needed, too.

You.

Just this once, Bob. I feel like celebrating.

Think of it. A cruiser sent to Shanghai just to take you back to England.

You know what it means? Here you are.

Don't bother about those cables now. I want you to drink with me.

Gentlemen, I give you Robert Conway, England's new Foreign Secretary.

Hooray!

How I'm going to bask in reflected glory. People will point to me and say:

"There goes George Conway, brother of the Foreign Secretary."

- Don't talk nonsense. Give me the bottle. - That's why they're sending for you.

With all these foreign entanglements, it was bound to happen.

You can laugh if you want to. But whom else can they get?

Who else in England is half the fighter and half the diplomat...

...who has half your knowledge of the foreign situation?

They can't stop you now.

Hello, Freshie.

- Did you make that report out yet? - Yes, Bob.

- Did you say we saved 90 white people? - Yes.

Hooray for us.

Did you say that we left 10,000 natives down there to be annihilated?

No, you wouldn't say that. They don't count.

You'd better try to get some sleep.

Just you wait until I'm foreign secretary.

Can't you just see me with all those other shrewd little foreign secretaries?

The trick is to see who can outtalk the other.

Everybody wants something for nothing.

If you can't get it with smooth talk, you send your army in.

I'm going to fool them. I'm not going to have an army.

I am going to disband mine. I'm going to sink my battleships.

I'm going to destroy every piece of warcraft.

When the enemy approaches, we'll say:

"Come in, gentlemen. What can we do for you?"

So then the poor enemy soldiers will stop and think.

And what will they think?

They'll say, "Something's wrong here, we've been duped!"

"This is not according to form."

"These people seem quite friendly. Why should we shoot them?"

Then they'll lay down their arms.

You see how simple the whole thing is?

Centuries of tradition kicked right in the pants.

And I'll be slapped straight into the nearest insane asylum.

You'd better not drink anymore. You're not talking sense.

Don't worry, George, nothing's going to happen.

I'll fall right into line.

I'll be the good little boy that everybody wants me to be.

I'll be the best little foreign secretary we've ever had.

Just because I haven't the nerve to be anything else.

- Do try to sleep, Bob. - Yes. Good thing, sleep.

Ever notice the sunrise in China?

You should. It's beautiful.

Good morning, Lovey.

- I beg your pardon? - I say, "Good morning, Lovey."

Good morning. Look here, young man.

I didn't care for "sister" last night, and I don't like "Lovey" this morning.

- My name is Lovett, Alexander P. - I see.

- It's a good morning, anyway. - I'm never conversational before coffee.

Wait a minute.

Is it a good morning?

We're supposed to be travelling east, aren't we?

- Of course. - It looks to me as if we're travelling west.

- That's ridiculous. - Is it?

It certainly is.

Any child knows how to tell direction.

I don't care where the child is, in the air, on the earth, or in the sea.

If you face the rising sun, your right hand is north, your left hand is south.

I get it twisted because I'm left-handed.

- Really? - Yes.

Just reverse it. Your left hand is...

What difference does it make? The north is the north.

All I know is the sun rises in the east, and we're going away from it.

Now you're irritating and absurd.

Of course. Boy! We're travelling in the wrong direction.

- We're going in the wrong direction. - Couldn't you make less noise?

We're going west, and Shanghai is way east of here.

Quiet! Fenner's the best pilot in China.

- It's Fenner. - He may have lost his way.

That's what I told him. You can't expect him to sail in the dark.

Calm yourself. I'll speak to Fenner.

Fenner! I say...

- Bob, it isn't Fenner in the cockpit! - Stop it.

The bloke up there looks Chinese or Mongolian.

We're nowhere near Shanghai. We're going in the opposite direction.

We're over the desert. That's funny.

Charming chap.

Nice puss to meet in a dark alley.

- That's that. - I wonder what happened to Fenner.

Who is he? How'd he get there?

Do you think we stopped last night and changed pilots?

That's not possible. If we'd landed, we would've awakened.

We never left the air. I didn't sleep the whole night long.

- That fellow got on at Baskul. - Where's he taking us?

He may be a maniac for all we know.

What are you going to do?

- I'll make him tell us his game. - What if he refuses?

- We'll smash his face in. - Brilliant!

Can anyone here fly a plane? That's no good.

- I guess we're in for it. - In for what?

I don't know. He must have had some purpose in taking the plane.

- When he lands, we'll find out. - You won't do anything till we land?

- What do you suggest? - Why, you...

- He may dash us to pieces. - It might afford you a great deal of relief.

I am going back to sleep. I was having such a peaceful dream.

As soon as he lands, let me know.

We're heading down! We're going to land.

We're coming to a village.

- What are these people? - I don't know. I can't get their dialect.

They're loading up with gasoline.

Imagine having that fuel there, waiting for us!

Something tells me our journey is just beginning.

Where are we going?

If you ask me, we're heading straight for those mountains.

Douglas plane from Baskul with Conway and four others aboard still missing.

Unreported between here and Baskul.

Make it very emphatic that His Majesty's government...

...will hold the Chinese government and all governors of Chinese provinces...

...responsible for the complete safety of Robert Conway.