Lost Horizon (1937)

John Burton: Wynant

Quotes 

• Lord Gainsford : Gentlemen, you see before you a very weary old man, who has just ended a chase that lasted nearly ten months.

  Meeker : Do you mean to tell me you never caught up with him?

  Lord Gainsford : Since that night that he jumped off the ship until two weeks ago, I've been missing him by inches.

  Meeker : You don't mean it!

  Wynant : Think of it!

  First Man - Robertson : He was as determined as that to get back?

  Lord Gainsford : Determined! Gentlemen, in the whole course of my life, I have never encountered anything so grim. During these last ten months, that man has done the most astounding things. He learned how to fly, stole an army plane and got caught, put into jail, escaped... all in an amazingly short space of time. But this was only the beginning of his adventures. He begged, cajoled, fought, always pushing forward to the Tibetan frontier. Everywhere I went, I heard the most amazing stories of the man's adventures. Positively astounding. Until eventually, I trailed him to the most extreme outpost in Tibet. Of course he had already gone. But his memory - ah - his memory will live with those natives for the rest of their lives. The Man Who Was Not Human, they called him. They'll never forget the devil- eyed stranger who six times tried to go over a mountain pass where no other human being dared to travel, and six times was forced back by the severest storms. They'll never forget the madman who stole their food and clothing - whom they locked up in their barracks - but who fought six of their guards to escape. Why, their soldiers are still talking about their pursuit to overtake him, and shuddering at the memory. He led them the wildest chase through their own country, and finally he disappeared over that very mountain pass that they themselves dared not travel. And that, gentlemen, was the last that any known human being saw of Robert Conway.

  Wynant : Think of it!

  Carstairs - Man at Club : By jove, that's what I call fortitude!

  First Man - Robertson : Tell me something, Gainsford. What do you think of his talk about Shangri-La? Do you believe it?

  Lord Gainsford : Yes. Yes, I believe it. I believe it, because I want to believe it.

  [as he lifts his glass] 

  Lord Gainsford : Gentlemen, I give you a toast. Here is my hope that Robert Conway will find his Shangri-La! Here is my hope that we all find our Shangri-La.