Quatermain und der Schatz des König Salomon

This new agreeable version from H. Rider Haggard adventures follows again Allan Quatermain (one of the members of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) played by an old-looking Patrick Swayze . He is leading a safari in search of legendary diamond mines and save the damsel's father (John Standing) . He is accompanied by a gorgeous woman (Alison Doody) and a captain (Roy Mardsen) , among others . They are pursued by Russian soldiers and must confront natives , wildlife and several dangers and risks until they find the King Salomon's mines .

This overlong television picture displays exciting action , numerous shoot-outs , extraordinary adventures and outlandish cliffhanger situations abound . Patrick Swayze (unforgettable in Dirty dancing) as Quatermain is wooden , Stewart Granger in the classic of the 50s (directed by Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton with Debora Kerr) is incredibly missed . Alison Doody as his mate and lover is better than Patrick . After filming ¨Indiana Jones and the last crusade¨ roller-coaster which made her a successful star , Doody played a few more films and did some publicity but in 1994 she retired and went back to Ireland where she married a magnate . Alison finally came out of retirement since she realized how much she missed acting though she never regretted quitting movies to take care of her family and after divorce she has decided to give another chance to her acting career and is slowly coming back to performance and shooting this remake . Other versions of this known story are the followings : directed by Robert Stevenson (1937, in which the main role was performed by the singer Paul Robeson) , Kurt Neumann (titled Watusi with George Montgomery and David Farrar) and J.Lee Thompson (with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone) . The film was well produced by Larry Levinson and Robert Halmi , famous producers of big budget television movies based on historic events or remakes . The motion picture was professionally directed by Steve Boyum (Time cop II).

I thought King Solomon's Mines was beautifully done. My only reservation was Alison Doody. Her acting was superb but her makeup and hair was not of the period, and always seemed to make her look out of place next to the other actors. I thought Patrick Swayze was an excellent choice for Alan Quatermain. It was nice seeing a seasoned, rugged looking actor in this role after sitting through movie after movie with the fair haired, fair skinned actors like Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, etc. He was an excellent choice and I enjoyed every minute of this movie. This version cannot be compared with the 1950's version with Stewart Grainger. It was a big screen movie and not a made for TV movie. I thought both Quatermains were believable but the two medias have to be kept separated. I am looking forward to seeing this once more, and I hope Patrick Swayze will again look to these type of roles.

There's nothing really wrong with this version of King Solomon's Mines. There really isn't. It follows the events of the original novel rather faithfully, yet still changes things where needed to keep the story flowing in this different medium.

Though yes, I would prefer that Allan Quatermain, a character noted almost solely for his marksmanship, would actually connect with a bullet at least once, but other than that, the characters are fine. The sets and locations are also suitably varied and impressive-looking, the music is not awful and as far as TV movies go, the action scenes could be a lot worse. Though yes, actually hitting stuff seems to be something of a problem.

But, the biggest problem is that it's a TV movie. As thus, the plot absolutely crawls forward. With emphasis on crawls. I get that they didn't have a budget to do anything really outlandish and that it needs to be of certain length, but come on... something needs to happen for the majority of time.

I honestly think this would have been a better experience if I hadn't sat through it in one sitting. At almost three hours it's way too long for any viewer to keep up his or her interest from start to finish. In the end that means that King Solomon's Mines falls just short of being average, but is by no means a movie you shouldn't check out if you're interested.

If you a purist, don't waste your time - otherwise, hold onto your hat and enjoy the adventure. I loved the Stewart Granger/Deborah Kerr version - I've seen it dozens of times, but this film is every bit as good, only different. I won't detail the differences because it would spoil the film. Also, it is a pleasure to see Alison Doody again (I'm a huge Indiana Jones fan), Patrick Swayze is good as Quatermain, and the supporting cast is superb. I find the quality of the supporting cast one of the trademarks of a Hallmark Production and this film was no exception. The cinematography is splendid and the score is perfect. If you are looking for entertainment, you won't be disappointed.

I give 3 stars only for the beautiful pictures of Africa. The rest was... well pretty boring. For about 50min we have the outline of the plot... In War of the worlds, the introductory part lasted, oh, about 10min? Then was real action! This is something like:"Let's take a walk in the savanna and gasp at the beautiful sunsets!". And maybe deliver a message, like "Don't kill elephants!". Very ecological. I would have expected this out of a "new" Steven Segal movie, not from this... The leading actress makes me think about artificial sun-tan, dyed hair and too much foundation! And I didn't see one scene where her hair is messed up, or she sweats, or her clothes are dusty. She just doesn't look like a 19 century woman! And in the bar, where they seek up our hero, Swayze makes a comment about the commander that he looks like Dracula. Hmmm, Bram Stoker wrote his book and published it in 1896, and it became famous in the next years. Livingstone and other explorers went to central Africa from 1840 to 1880. So unless the action takes place between 1896 and 1900.. Houston, we have a problem. :) Swayze makes a nice impression.. as a nutshell - hard on the outside, but soft and cuddly on the inside. Not that I would cuddle with a nut, but you get the point. He really manages to have that beaten puppy look on his face on several occasions. The movie stank. Way too long and increasingly boring. don't watch it! Don't buy it! It's a waste of your money!