Las minas del rey Salomón

The screenplay follows the British version by Robert Stevenson but the screenwriter Helen Deutsch changed the plot, as introducing a female character, the brotherhood relationship for matrimonial relation and eliminating the fantastic elements. Two English actors starred, Stewart Granger as the famous Allan Quatermain and Deborah Kerr as Elizabeth Curtis, hiring the great white hunter and accompanied by her brother John performed by Richard Carlson. At the time was announced as starring Errol Flynn , though he renounced for performing 'Kim' by Victor Saville. The safari led by Stewart Granger set out in search for her husband and the king Salomon's treasure mines. The brave hunter and the elegant lady become fast friends, confronting risks and danger in search of legendary diamonds mines.The African native is played by a real Watusi ethnic, Sinaque, reclaiming his rights over throne.In 1937 version was the supreme role performed by the singer Paul Robeson who proved his singing faculties.

The filming started in Africa 1949, running time five months. The crew travelled by hundred miles in planes and trucks across Kenia, Uganda, Congo Belgian, Lagoon Victory, Falls of Murchisin and north of lagoon Tanganika where live the Watusi. Polished and coloristic production design by the veteran Cedric Gibbons. Heat and ills affected the crew and main actors but Deborah Kerr surprised for her resistance. There had confronting between Stewart Granger and Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton directed the second unity. Then, Metro Goldwyn Mayer dismissed Compton and Marton finished the picture. It was nominated for best movie and won Academy Award for cinematography by Robert Surtees and edition. Had several take-out with no use and later Metro Goldwyn Mayer utilized for its follow-up.

The picture is followed by a sequel, rapidly made, created with excess footage previous, titled 'Watusi'(1959) by Kurt Neumann with George Montgomery and David Farrar. An inferior version directed by J.Lee Thompson(1985) with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone; and a TV adaptation directed by Steven Boyum with Patrick Swayze and Alison Doody, among others.

I remember the movie played in our little town's premier theatre to considerable fanfare— See Darkest Africa As It Really Is in Dramatic Technicolor!— you know, that sort of thing. In fact it was a treat to see all the wild animals and fearsome natives, plus an exciting adventure story. I expect MGM made back its expenses and then some.

Of course, that was before TV brought the world into living rooms everywhere. The movie may have lost that long ago novelty, but it's still a good story set in what was then colonial Africa, with a first-rate cast, including the exotic Umbopa, the prince in exile. Then there's that thundering stampede whose mighty numbers still impress.

Like many reviewers, I cringe now at the elephant kill. I'm sure I didn't at the time, but then this ecological type change reflects a newer awareness, and one I think for the better. Actually, Quartermain (Stewart) is also bothered by big game kills, one reason he's ready to give up his hunting safaris.

Happily, Stewart's persuasive as the experienced white man, while Kerr does nicely as the British gentlewoman able to adapt her well-bred ways. (However, MGM, ever the glamour studio, refuses to de-glamorize her no matter how rough the going). I do feel a little sorry for tag-along John (Carlson) who, nevertheless, hangs in there. On the other hand, I'm still curious about the van Brun (Haas) role. Was that episode in the book or was it added to diversify and perhaps pad the storyline.

No, those old promotionals about Africa in Color wouldn't work now. But the movie's still an eyeful with a good adventure yarn and a fine cast, and those are film features that do endure.

The wonderful book by H. Rider Haggard "King Salomon's Mines" was beautifully adapted for the screen by Helen Deutsch. The film entirely shot in Africa has a lot going for it in Robert Surtees excellent cinematography. This is a film that is good for viewing by all ages, but young minds will probably will find it more to their taste because of the long trek the three principals take into the unknown.

This film boasts two directors, Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton! The film is set in Africa. At the beginning of the film we watch Allan Quattermain who is guiding a group in a safari and a herd of elephants come near and one is killed. We watch in horror as the others rally around the dead animal in an almost human display of emotions.

Quartermain is contacted by Elizabeth Curtis, a woman that wants to locate her husband who has come to the region in search of the legendary diamond mines of King Solomon's. He is reluctant, but since she meets his price, the excursion is organized. What Mrs. Curtis, or Quartermain, or even the third member of the mission, Jack Goode, don't realize at the outset of the trip is what they are in for! The trek turns into one of the most extraordinary adventures ever filmed. Some of the scenes involving wild animals are incredible. In fact, some of the things this party has to deal with are amazing. Especially impressive is the stampede sequence when one watch in horror how all these wild animals are running amok.

Stewart Granger is Quartermain, the jaded Englishman living in that remote spot. He loves it there and would never go back to his country. Mr. Granger was perfect for this type of film in which he clearly excelled. Deborah Kerr plays the English lady in search for her husband. She sticks out like a sore thumb, but in the end, she proves to have a strength we didn't give her credit for. Ms. Kerr was always a good in whatever she undertook. Richard Carlson makes a good contribution to the film.

The different natives shown in their own habitat add veracity to the movie. The tall Watusi tribe is the most exotic one we have seen in any films of this type.

The film follows an excellent hunter (Granger) who is payed to go on a safari to find the lost husband of Deborah Kerr and Richard Carlson. He reluctantly agrees. Along the way they run into different perils. Including many tribes that want the group dead.

The film is very exciting. And you feel for the characters when they come into contact with danger. I wish more action films could make you do that. The performances are the reason behind this. It's too bad that the actors and actresses in the film weren't nominated for Oscars. I doubt they deserved to win, but they deserved to be up.

The script is also very good. It strays away from the book just a little bit. But I have no problem with that because the film, by itself, is very good.

The cinematography and editing are flawless. And they rightly won Oscars. The film was also nominated for Best Picture. It's one of the better adventure films.

When this production was mounted for Stewart Granger, with Deborah Kerr and Richard Carlson as his co-stars, no one could have imagined how imitated, influential and important the film would become. It has an epic quality about it that is earned by African on-site locales, fine cinematography and direction of the film, and the discovery-aspect of the narrative as the participants learn along about a fascinating continent and its people with the viewers. H. Rider Haggard's venerable novel find to b a curious mixture of Victorian angst, adventure, romance, mystery evoked by an expedition storyline. The fine acting by Stewart Granger as Alan Quartermain the white hunter, Deborah Kerr as a woman seeking her missing husband, Richard Carlson as her brother, and Hugo Haas as a back-sliding villain works exceptionally to increase the believability of the film. The simplest incident on this dangerous expedition--sitting down in the wrong place, turning over a leaf, wearing the wrong weight or textile of garment, cutting one's hair, hearing a sound, anything--can trigger a learning or a dangerous experience... This was a lavish MGM production, with participation by legendary artists and technicians such as Cedric Gibbons as art director, Edwin B. Willis as set decorator, Robert Surtees as cinematographer, Douglas Shearer in charge of sound and many others. But the real star of the film apart from the actors is Andrew Marton and Compton Bennett's realization of Helen Deutsch's interesting modernization of the original novel. Wjite hunter Alan Quartermain does not really care to live any longer; he has just seen one of his best "boys" die in a hunting accident, having been hired to please a bloodthirsty imperial's whim to kill wildlife; and Deborah Kerr comes along just then in need of a guide, trying to convince herself that she still cares about the cold husband who disappeared in search of a fabled treasure, the gold mines of King Solomon of Israel.. Obviously the two are ready to fall in love during the dangerous search for her lost mate, one that takes them into unknown country, among dangerous tribes, and into adventures that include helping a deposed seven-foot-tall monarch regain his throne by a rite of combat, incidentally saving their lives in the process. The most exciting sequence in the film is a grass fire that causes animals to stampede toward the expedition, who must taken shelter crouched low behind a makeshift low barrier; it has been imitated, never duplicated, and was later used in several other films. The film is occasionally leisurely, never dull; its makers play with time very intelligently. For once, the viewer gets the sense in a film of an arduous trek, of time passing, time for changes to happen and motivations for the same. The actors are grand, especially the mature intelligent leads; all-in-all, this simple storyline in the right hands was turned into what is all-but-universally acknowledge to be a classic adventure-romance.