This movie marked the end of Africa as the Dark Continent, as it was seen in the 19th century. In the movies of the period, there were always blank spots on the map -- Terra Incognita and Hereabouts There Be Dragons. The movies treated Africa as a kind of theme park designed for viewers who had only seen lions and giraffes in the zoo, if they saw them at all. "King Solomon's Mines", like the films that preceded it, contain a kind of colorful travelogue in which the narrator -- here, the protagonist Stewart Granger as the Great White Hunter -- explains to us what we're about to see.
"And now the natives in their colorful garb celebrate a religious ritual with an exotic dance. Afterward they sit down to a feast. The fact that the roast gnu still has hair on it doesn't seem to interfere with their appetites!" After "The African Queen" this Dark Continent model more or less disappeared from the screen. There wasn't a single lion or rhinoceros in "The African Queen," and the worst living menace that Bogart and Hepburn faced were an apparently limitless cloud of biting gnats.
Yet, "King Solomon's Mines" is more than just a travelogue. That old-fashioned element is gotten out of the way rather quickly, and what follows is a tip-top adventure story of a long and dangerous journey in search of a missing husband and a fortune in diamonds -- and the "natives" are treated with respect.
It was a popular picture in its time. I was sick and missed the class visit to its premier at Radio City Music Hall. It's well acted, as well as nicely plotted. Stewart Granger is a disillusioned white guide who manages to sport a nice Malibu sun tan. His melodious and theatrical voice was impressive. Deborah Kerr in, I think, her first American film is breath-takingly beautiful in a winsome way that makes you want to take care of her between nuzzles. Richard Carlson is his standard screen persona with a slight British accent.
The novel on which the film is based was written by H. Rider Haggard, 1856 to 1925, who had lived in South Africa and knew how to write cracking good adventure stories. I was addicted to them in adolescence. This was perhaps his most popular; this and "She", which gave us the phrase, "She who must be obeyed," which I don't like to remember because it reminds me of my marriage. I read some of Haggard's work more recently and -- well, I think it helps to be a teen ager to get the most out of them.
The location shooting was done partly in Africa, most of it by a second-unit crew, and it's convincingly African -- even the parts that were shot in California.
The film was hugely popular in 1950 and it's worth watching now because it still glows with some of the old magic.
"And now the natives in their colorful garb celebrate a religious ritual with an exotic dance. Afterward they sit down to a feast. The fact that the roast gnu still has hair on it doesn't seem to interfere with their appetites!" After "The African Queen" this Dark Continent model more or less disappeared from the screen. There wasn't a single lion or rhinoceros in "The African Queen," and the worst living menace that Bogart and Hepburn faced were an apparently limitless cloud of biting gnats.
Yet, "King Solomon's Mines" is more than just a travelogue. That old-fashioned element is gotten out of the way rather quickly, and what follows is a tip-top adventure story of a long and dangerous journey in search of a missing husband and a fortune in diamonds -- and the "natives" are treated with respect.
It was a popular picture in its time. I was sick and missed the class visit to its premier at Radio City Music Hall. It's well acted, as well as nicely plotted. Stewart Granger is a disillusioned white guide who manages to sport a nice Malibu sun tan. His melodious and theatrical voice was impressive. Deborah Kerr in, I think, her first American film is breath-takingly beautiful in a winsome way that makes you want to take care of her between nuzzles. Richard Carlson is his standard screen persona with a slight British accent.
The novel on which the film is based was written by H. Rider Haggard, 1856 to 1925, who had lived in South Africa and knew how to write cracking good adventure stories. I was addicted to them in adolescence. This was perhaps his most popular; this and "She", which gave us the phrase, "She who must be obeyed," which I don't like to remember because it reminds me of my marriage. I read some of Haggard's work more recently and -- well, I think it helps to be a teen ager to get the most out of them.
The location shooting was done partly in Africa, most of it by a second-unit crew, and it's convincingly African -- even the parts that were shot in California.
The film was hugely popular in 1950 and it's worth watching now because it still glows with some of the old magic.