King Solomon's Mines

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.

King's Solomon's Mines brings us Patrick Swayze (playing Allan Quatermain)who has spent a lot of time in Africa, but decides it is time to return to England and be a father to his son. He finds that his wife's parents have taken custody of his son and that he has very little chance of getting custody of him with lots of money for a law suit. In comes Alison Deedy (playing Elizabeth) whose father is in Africa and being held by an African tribe for ransom of the map Elizabeth's father had sent her. Elizabeth seeks out Quatermain to take her back to Africa to find her father.

There is a good cast of supporting characters that go along with Quatermain and Elizabeth and of course there are some enemies (Russians) who want the map also.

The movie holds your attention until the end. Patrick once again plays a ruggedly handsome honorable man who comes to the rescue of the damsel in distress. Patrick is a great dramatic actor who can easily portray passion, loss and despair, the rugged silent good man, anger and strength; In King Solomon's Minds his character actually smiles a few times. I would really like to see Patrick Swayze in a relaxed live-loving story again, one in which he doesn't have to clench his jaws and be quite so strong. Maybe a little dancing would help. But this is a good movie for the entire family and worth the time to watch it.

The main problem with this film was the casting of Patrick Swayze who did not compare well with Stewart Granger in the part of Allan Quatermain. The 1950 version was filmed in the Rift Valley of Kenya and Uganda in an area of brilliant light and suberb scenery. It dazzled us with tribal dancing, stampedes, and lots of wild animals. Unfortunately this current version has a made for TV look about it. Everything seems as if it was done on the cheap, including substituting South Africa for the rift valley. It is so long since I read the book that I cannot recall who were the villains, but this time around it is the Russians. The leading lady looks 70 years out of place with her 60's hair style and make up.

I recommend the 1950 version.

I thought of the film as way too long and quite boring as there didn't really happened much in almost three hours compared to the 1985 movie version with Richard Chamberlain. If you are in to Africa, then you might like the film as there is a lot of nice footage of it. Patrick Swayze is as always his own stiff self, but the beautiful Alison Doody does a great role, or so I think, it doesn't really matter as she is extremely, ridiculously good looking. As for the purpose of the film I don't know. Why make TV-films that really don't give you much of a thrill as it has been shown that it is possible to do them with a bit more content. You who love movies like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft and think this will be anything like those movies will be disappointed...

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.