Watching King Solomon’s Mines was a bit of a déjà vu experience for me. I had heard about Allan Quatermain and the film based on his adventures in Africa, but I knew nothing else about the project. Naturally, I was expecting an action-adventure film with breathtaking scenic vistas and well-choreographed action. What I got instead was more akin to Trader Horn, a bland and lifeless narrative that served only to showcase a nature documentary. Like Trader Horn, there is shot after shot of animals in their native habitat spliced into what amounts to a bare-bones narrative. On top of that, the resolution to the film is lifeless and lacks any real excitement. It abruptly ends, too, leaving with a thud that left me frustrated.
The plot follows Allan Quatermain (Stewart Granger), an experienced British safari guide in Kenya Colony, Africa, who is persuaded by Elizabeth Curtis (Deborah Kerr) to undertake a dangerous journey into uncharted territory in search of her missing husband, who disappeared in search of the legendary King Solomon’s mines. She has a copy of the map he was using and, when Allan refuses to undertake the trip, offers him enough money to change his mind. The rest of the movie is nothing more than traveling through Africa, learning about the various animals and insects of the brush, dodging wildlife attacks and stampedes, and dealing with the natives, some of whom have altruistic motives. All of this leads up to finding the body of Elizabeth’s husband, crushed to death in a cave. That is the entirety of the plot in a nutshell, and it takes nearly two hours to get there.
There was so much potential for a great adventure film here, and instead, it feels like a cross between True Grit and a wildlife documentary. Allan Quatermain feels like an early draft for Indiana Jones before all the interesting character bits were figured out. He has the swagger and the know-how, but his backstory is a complete blank, and Stewart Granger plays it so straight there is nothing really to work with. This could be a fault of the original source material— I haven’t read the novel this is based on— but it is the screenwriter and the director’s job to make this exciting. The only people who will find this exciting are wildlife enthusiasts, and those people have legitimate documentaries they can go to instead. This is no Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom or even Animal Planet.
The biggest thing separating this film from Trader Horn is the choice to film it in Technicolor. That does add an element of beauty to the cinematography that was absent in the earlier film. I have nothing against the way this film was shot. It is gorgeous to look at as the real-life locations are used to great effect. Some, but not all, of this film was made on location in Uganda, Kenya, and the Congo. You can tell, though, when it shifts to New Mexico and California, which betrays the effect.
I don’t know if stock footage was used to portray some of the close-up shots of wildlife; however, I do know that it was later used in other films such as Tarzan, the Ape Man; Watusi; and, laughably enough, the 1970s version of Trader Horn. Sadly, an early scene in King Solomon’s Mines depicts the culling of an elephant, something that was done in real life ostensibly to thin out the herd. The other elephants trying to support their downed comrade was unexpected but a real event. Depicting it on-screen is unfortunate but a sign of the times in which it was filmed.
Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger reportedly had an affair on set. This didn’t exactly translate to chemistry in front of the camera, though. They are poorly matched. A big part of that is just how useless a character Elizabeth is. She comes across as a slightly less annoying version of Willie Shaw from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, saved only by not being so shrill and spoiled. Still, she spends much of the film complaining about the wildlife, the bugs, and being ill-suited for an adventure she insisted on going on. It’s like Mattie Ross from True Grit without the survival skills. I genuinely like Deborah Kerr in the movies but not in this one. When Allen kisses her for the first time, it feels unearned and unsatisfying. It also feels wrong because she still thinks her husband may be alive at the time.
One thing this film does do well is feature the jungles and deserts of Africa. The natives we meet are mostly culled from the existing native populations of the country, hired on the spot during the location shooting. This adds a level of authenticity to the film as well as a look into a culture that most Westerners at the time would not have known. These moments are highlights in a film that spends too much time following the leads as they walk through endless terrain and commenting on what they are seeing around them. To a certain demographic, that might be entertaining, but for me, it just didn’t work. I wanted a little more adventure in this action-adventure film. I didn’t get it, and that, coupled with a romance I just didn’t buy into, left me more than a little disappointed.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Motion Picture: Sam Zimbalist
Best Cinematography - Color: Robert Surtees (won)
Best Film Editing: Ralph E. Winters and Conrad A. Nervig (won)
____________________________________________________
Release Date: November 24, 1950
Running Time: 103 minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, and Richard Carlson
Directed By: Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton
Comments
Post a Comment