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.