Fact1: pilot has been replaced Unbeknownst to passengers, Fact2: group is rescued by Chang and men, Fact3: most of newcomers grow Initially anxious to return to civilization to love Shangri-La including paleontologist Alexander Lovett swindler Henry Barnard and bitter terminally-ill Gloria Stone, Fact4: Conway 's younger brother and Maria are determined to leave, Fact5: founder of Shangri-La is said to be old preserved like other residents
Output: It is 1935. Before returning to England to become the new Foreign Secretary, writer, soldier, and diplomat Robert Conway Ronald Colman has one last task in China: to rescue 90 white Westerners in the city of Baskul. He flies out with the last few evacuees, just ahead of armed revolutionaries. Unbeknownst to the passengers, the pilot has been replaced and their aircraft hijacked. It eventually runs out of fuel and crashes deep in the Himalayan Mountains, killing their abductor. The group is rescued by Chang H.B. Warner and his men and taken to ShangriLa, an idyllic valley sheltered from the bitter cold. The contented inhabitants are led by the mysterious High Lama Sam Jaffe. Initially anxious to return to civilization, most of the newcomers grow to love ShangriLa, including paleontologist Alexander Lovett Edward Everett Horton, swindler Henry Barnard Thomas Mitchell, and bitter, terminallyill Gloria Stone Isabel Jewell, who miraculously seems to be recovering. Conway is particularly enchanted, especially when he meets Sondra Jane Wyatt, who has grown up in ShangriLa. However, Conways younger brother George John Howard, and Maria Margo, another beautiful young woman they find there, are determined to leave. Conway eventually has an audience with the High Lama and learns that his arrival was no accident. The founder of ShangriLa is said to be two hundred years old, preserved, like the other residents, by the magical properties of the paradise he has created, but is finally dying and needs someone wise and knowledgeable in the ways of the modern world to keep it safe. Having read Conways writings, Sondra believed he was the one; the Lama had agreed with her and arranged for Conways abduction. The old man names Conway as his successor and then peacefully passes away. George refuses to believe the Lamas fantastic story and is supported by Maria. Uncertain and torn between love and loyalty, Conway reluctantly gives in to his brother and they leave, taking Maria with them, despite being warned that she is much older than she appears. After several days of grueling travel, she becomes exhausted and falls face down in the snow. When they turn Maria over, they discover that she had become extremely old and died, as her departure from ShangriLa had restored her to her true age. Horrified, George loses his sanity and jumps to his death. The Sherpa porters accompanying them were earlier swept away by an avalanche, triggered by some of them carelessly firing their handguns. Conway continues on and eventually ends up in a Chinese mission where a search party is sent to find him. The ordeal has caused him to lose his memory of ShangriLa. On the voyage back to England, he start remembering everything; he tells his story and then jumps ship. The searchers track him back to the Himalayas, but are unable to follow him any further. Conway manages to return to ShangriLa.