King Solomon's Mines

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.

Aaron Copland believed great art goes hand in hand with simplicity. This movie is simple and great. I was browsing on the internet when I discovered some reviews of the R-1 DVD which heavily criticize the movie (and not just the DVD). I gave a quick look at IMDb to discover that, quite amazingly to me, the movie has only a 6.8 rating, that it has only been rated by less than a thousand viewers and that many viewer apparently found it boring. Let me just emphasize what should be obvious: this version of 'King Solomon's Mines' is not an action movie. It is probably best described as an invitation to Africa, combined with a reflexion on various aspects of what it means to be human. It many respects, it foreshadows and complements Clint Eastwood's 'White Hunter, Black Heart'.

Let me mention just one striking 'detail': what's going on on screen is SO fascinating that no music has been added to the various sounds emanating from the country or from the music instruments of the African people themselves. This was a daring move, especially at the time, but it enriched the movie enormously.

I will end this quick review with a piece of advice: Your mind should be as free as possible from everyday's life various troubles if you want to enjoy this movie. Pick up a night when you are already rather relaxed, and immerse yourself gently into the atmosphere created by the filmmakers. You won't regret it.

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.

H. Ryder Haggard's adventure tale has been transposed to the screen with professional polish, given authentic African locales for all the background color, and uses no music on the soundtrack except for the chants of African tribes. As such, it's a stunning film to look at in gorgeous Technicolor and nicely played by STEWART GRANGER as the burnt by the sun Safari guide and DEBORAH KERR in another of her prim leading lady roles.

Kerr is actually seeking the best of guides so she can hunt for her husband, so she takes along her good friend RICHARD CARLSON. Naturally, a romantic attachment to Granger gradually develops once Kerr starts to melt under the African sun.

All of the scenes involving actual native tribes are beautifully staged and handled with a sense of excitement and adventure, as are the scenes of wild animals. But it's basically a showcase for MGM's new property, Miss Kerr, and their new leading man, Mr. Granger.

It kept fans happy when it opened at New York's Radio City Music Hall in the summer of '50, but today it's largely forgotten among the many gems that came out that year. It did win a couple of Oscars, one for the beautiful color cinematography.

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.