Le miniere di re Salomone

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.

I saw this film when I was ten years old and its impact was deep and lasting. It stemmed less from the story or the acting of the principals as from the environment and context of the film, set as it was in east Africa. I believe this film to be one of the first to be shot virtually entirely on location in Africa, and the results are stunning. Shots of stampedes that are clearly not drawn from stock footage are awesome, but even more gripping are the scenes of the Masai and Kikuyu tribespeople, playing themselves and doing so absolutely unselfconsciously. The tribal dancing of these magnificent people is moving (and at times terrifying). I understand that in filming them it was terrifying for cast and crew as well, for the spearthrowing got out of hand, at one point driving Deborah Kerr up a tree! In any case, this version of "King Solomon's Mines" is one for the ages.

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.

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.

This 1950's version of King Solomon's Mines is unusual in a couple ways. First, there's no symphonic music score whatsoever. Film music is typically used to tell us what we as the audience should feel about activity on screen, and also tell us what the characters themselves are supposedly feeling. In this way both audience and characters share the same emotional reactions. Music on film is such a common and natural expectation (or substitute?) for an audience's emotions, that some reviewers here think the movie was bland and boring!

Secondly, the MGM crew of about 30 people and 7 cargo trucks spent months in 1949 filming this on the Dark Continent itself, at locations hundreds of miles from civilization in eastern Africa instead of the usual Hollywood lots. They enlisted the inhabitants of remote villages as actors, asked them to perform communal dances, and took many close-up shots of their faces, hair, headgear, jewelry and body paint. This amounts to some of the most magnificent - and rare - color and sound footage of "old" untouched African culture I've seen.

Not long after this, during the 1950's-1960's these villages gradually became part of the modern world, and by the 1980's, remote tribesmen were filmed as they hunted with spears - wearing "Michael Jackson" t- shirts.

The movie is generally pretty good, but the Africans steal the show.