H. Rider Haggard's classic story about African adventurer/guide Allan Quartermain, who after agreeing to search for Elizabeth Curtis' missing husband. Finds himself on the trail of the fabled diamond mines of King Solomon.
A road movie in African locations? Well yes it is, but if exotic locations and jungle japery is your thing? Then King Solomon's Mines is the film for you. MGM shelled out a then staggering $3.5 million to make this piece, and not a penny is wasted as it's one of the finest productions from the adventure genre. Robert Surtees rightly bagged the Academy Award for his cinematography, the jungle, mountains and swamps all brought vividly to life by the adroit Surtees. Yet as good as it is technically, and as epic as Haggard's source is, the film still doesn't quite reach the heights to compliment the other aspects.
It's not so much the cast, who had to contend with searing heat and numerous jungle infections, it's just the characters they play are plain and uninteresting. The burgeoning romance between Stewart Granger's Quartermain and Debora Kerr's Curtis is fine, and helps the trip zip along, but they are devoid of expression, secondary to the scenery around them. Granger {stepping in after Errol Flynn dropped out} does look the part of an adventurer, but a hint of heroism is badly missing, while Kerr plays the prim mistress act as if in her sleep. It's almost as if the technical aspects of the film took precedence over character substance, and that's a shame because this should have been a total benchmark for the action/adventure genre.
Unusually for films around this era, the African tribes are afforded respect, and actually are the most interesting characters on show, and although a whiff of imperialism is hard to ignore, it never suffocates the actual story, mainly because of the air of daftness that is driving it all along. It's basically a technically excellent film {fake creatures aside} that sadly underachieves on its human characterisations. But with that said, now comes my disclaimer that it's a film I have constantly revisited over the years, I get a kick out of it, as I'm sure many others do. If only they had..........well I can't go on about it can I? 6.5/10
A road movie in African locations? Well yes it is, but if exotic locations and jungle japery is your thing? Then King Solomon's Mines is the film for you. MGM shelled out a then staggering $3.5 million to make this piece, and not a penny is wasted as it's one of the finest productions from the adventure genre. Robert Surtees rightly bagged the Academy Award for his cinematography, the jungle, mountains and swamps all brought vividly to life by the adroit Surtees. Yet as good as it is technically, and as epic as Haggard's source is, the film still doesn't quite reach the heights to compliment the other aspects.
It's not so much the cast, who had to contend with searing heat and numerous jungle infections, it's just the characters they play are plain and uninteresting. The burgeoning romance between Stewart Granger's Quartermain and Debora Kerr's Curtis is fine, and helps the trip zip along, but they are devoid of expression, secondary to the scenery around them. Granger {stepping in after Errol Flynn dropped out} does look the part of an adventurer, but a hint of heroism is badly missing, while Kerr plays the prim mistress act as if in her sleep. It's almost as if the technical aspects of the film took precedence over character substance, and that's a shame because this should have been a total benchmark for the action/adventure genre.
Unusually for films around this era, the African tribes are afforded respect, and actually are the most interesting characters on show, and although a whiff of imperialism is hard to ignore, it never suffocates the actual story, mainly because of the air of daftness that is driving it all along. It's basically a technically excellent film {fake creatures aside} that sadly underachieves on its human characterisations. But with that said, now comes my disclaimer that it's a film I have constantly revisited over the years, I get a kick out of it, as I'm sure many others do. If only they had..........well I can't go on about it can I? 6.5/10